Jailed MLA of Quami Ekta Dal Mukhtar Ansari will withdraw his candidature from Varanasi against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, "to strengthen secular forces and avoid division of votes".
The results mark a defining turn in the fortunes of several regional satraps, especially in the BJP, around whom politics in their states have revolved for decades.
This will be the first time BJP's prime ministerial candidate holds a discussion with IT, telecom czars.
Seeking to placate the Shiv Sena which is miffed over the recent thaw between Bharatiya Janata Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, party's Maharashtra in-charge Rajiv Pratap Rudy will on Tuesday meet Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai to reassure its ally and fine-tune the tie-up in the state.
A Janata Dal (United) leader in Bihar on Friday has dared the Bharatiya Janata Party to withdraw its support from Nitish Kumar led government in the state if it is not comfortable with the party stand on its secular agenda.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Sunday said if elected to power, the party would work for the welfare of Muslims, and irrespective of how many of them vote for it.
If Jaitley is finalised for the First Citizen's post, Modi will have scored two strategic goals, reports Rajeev Sharma.
The BJP and the AIADMK are unable to sort out ideological differences, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Janata Dal-United, which is opposed to Narendra Modi's projection as BJP's prime ministerial candidate, on Monday said it will discuss all aspects of his anointment as the campaign committee chief and will spell out its stand soon.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of forcing it to walk out of the alliance by not being forthcoming on Narendra Modi's future role, senior Janata Dal-United leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday said the announcement of a split in the coalition was a "mere formality".
The Bharatiya Janata Party, under fire by detractors for centring its whole poll campaign on Narendra Modi, found itself in a spot on Monday with its chief Rajnath Singh first projecting the party in a tweet and retweeting minutes later "Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar (Time for a Modi government).
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday made his prime ministerial ambitions known, saying he is more qualified and experienced than those "roaming around" for the top job.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Saturday reportedly told United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that his party wanted best of relations with the US, but opposed the nuclear deal after the Hyde Act was passed, as it closed India's strategic options."Advani told Rice that the BJP developed strong objections to this present treaty only after the Hyde Act was passed because we believe that it impairs our nuclear programme.
Dismissing reports of any discontent over shifting to Kanpur from Varanasi, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today said that there is a "huge wave" for change in support of BJP and Narendra Modi is on "top of this wave".
Bharatiya Janata Party ally Janata Dal-United on Tuesday hit out at Narendra Modi, saying he was "desperate" to become the prime minister and dubbed Gujarat's development model as non-inclusive.
Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday decided to recommend the name of veteran leader L K Advani to contest the Lok Sabha election from his Gandhinagar constituency.
The talk of an anti-BJP front got revived after leaders of various parties and prominent individuals congregated at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's New Delhi residence last month.
The BJP leadership knows it can't boast of governance in the state as the Bommai government has little to show. So, the game plan is to project Modi, who will reiterate how important it is for a state to have the same party ruling in power at the Centre, observes Ramesh Menon.
Denying any conflict of interest between L K Advani and Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Venkaiah Naidu has supported the Gujarat Chief Minister's challenge to the Prime Minister, saying that everybody has the right to question his performance as he was accountable to the nation.
In a veiled reference to Narendra Modi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's only goal is to grab the Prime Minister's chair for which it was "misleading people" and shedding crocodile tears.
According to BJP sources, the party propped up Chouhan in its election campaign when the Congress plank of promising to conduct a caste census started finding resonance with the OBCs.
Invoking Sardar Patel, BJP's prime ministerial hopeful, Narendra Modi asked the people of Gujarat to pay homage to the legendary freedom fighter by voting him to power in Delhi, and said if he is sent to jail he will open a tea stall there.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said in the state assembly that its friend-turned-foe Bharatiya Janata Party had betrayed him and The JD-U by projecting Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate of NDA.
In an apparent barb at Modi, the Sena said, "Special efforts are being made to bring in burqa-clad women faces to (Modi's) public rallies. Everyone is in a hurry to appease minorities."
Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi got more than 33 per cent coverage on national TV channels during prime time in March and April, beating the likes of Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Congress' Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP has nothing to lose after a point. For the DMK it is a difficult choice, as it would not want to give too much of space to a 'national party' lest the 'Dravidian duel' of the past decades should be lost forever, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Congress's policy is it will take benefits from everybody, but when it gets an opportunity, it does not want to share it with others'
The BJP has not projected any chief ministerial face in the 2023 assembly elections.
Actors Pawan Kalyan, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Junior NTR and Mahesh Babu are making a beeline to meet the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa tells you why
Nath also said that no one in the history of the world has undertaken such a long 'padayatra'.
Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday raked up "snoopgate" controversy to lash out at BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi saying the BJP's PM nominee is so desperate for power that he can even "divide the nation" to achieve his goal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday claimed that former chief of army staff General V K Singh is being targeted by the United Progressive Alliance government for sharing the dais with BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a recent rally in Rewari, Haryana.
Known to be close and loyal to Bharatiya Janata Party veteran and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior BJP leader and four time MP Lal Muni Choubey on Monday announced that he would contest as an independent from Buxar.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has accused BJP of practicing "politics of blood" by pitting one religion against another and one caste against another to come to power at any cost, escalating the Congress attack against the opposition party.
If Nitish Kumar did not make his choice now, he could not re-enter the NDA later on and hope to be counted in as a prime ministerial possibility whenever the chance arises, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday warned that Bihar's areas close to the borders (seemant) will become 'infested with infiltrators' if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not voted back to power.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Two members of a famous family are fighting against each other for the Jamnagar seat in Gujarat. Bharatiya Janata Party's young candidate, Poonam Madam, the sitting MLA from Khambhaliya, is pitted against her uncle and Congress Member of Parliament, Vikram Madam, who has been an MP since the last two terms.
In winning a seventh term, the BJP also matched the Left Front's feat in West Bengal.
Kicking off his two-day Haryana roadshow in Faridabad, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday slammed the Congress and BJP, saying gas prices will "increase manifold" if the two parties come to power.
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