A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva -- all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.
'The inauguration of the Ram temple was the pinnacle of the BJP's religious politics.' 'Politics is dynamic. What goes up has to come down.'
His comments come against the backdrop of a campaign by Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, which has claimed that applying for CAA would turn legal citizens into foreigners.
The former Congress president alleged that PM Modi had a "monopoly over corruption".
'Modi's image has no takers among the masses.'
For the first time, Modi is eyeball to eyeball with his bete noire, sitting a few feet across him. Given the last 10 years, a confrontation between them was unavoidable, inevitable, points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Vijay has a lot of young and middle-aged women fans, but as voters, they are possibly now with the DMK, or remain with the AIADMK. Recapturing this constituency would have helped Vijay's political launch and the GOAT script and dialogues could have gone a long way in helping out. But the kind of script and screenplay and the unusually and equally unnecessary long run-time (3 hours, 3 minutes) that GOAT offers takes the film experience over the heads of those that are not familiar with secret agents and uranium theft in Tamil cinema, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The longevity of the government is a doubt for me because when the going gets tough, there could a be a point in time where there might be pressure, from within the party or from the allies.'
BJP celebrates saffron Holi after the poll results showed a historic win for the party in Tripura and Nagaland.
Police said there were intelligence inputs that attempts would be made to trigger violence during the match, because of which it was cancelled.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said "surprisingly" the prime minister is grounded in New Delhi on Wednesday and not travelling around the country for new "inaugurations", for rebranding, or for claiming credit for past work.
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
After several senior Congress leaders accompanied Gandhi when he filed the appeal in the sessions court, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi asked if it was a display of his arrogance, an attempt to pressure the judiciary or the 'familiar tactic' of browbeating probe agencies.
A team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday held on-spot inquiries in Sandeshkhali to ascertain facts about alleged sexual abuse by some Trinamool Congress leaders even as fresh agitation rocked the trouble-torn village, where locals torched the property of accused Trinamool leaders and held demonstrations against the delay in arresting the main accused, Shahjahan Sheikh.
'They should not forget that had we decided not to rebel, they would still be chanting slogans from the footsteps of the Vidhan Sabha.'
Modi underlined his commitment to taking strict action against the corrupt amid criticism by opposition parties that probe agencies were used by his government to target their leaders.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has 17 crorepati candidates followed by Tipra Motha with nine and the Communist Party of India-Marxist seven, the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a civil society organisation, said.
In the event that like in the 17th Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi again gets locked out of the House, the Congress needs a second-in-command who will keep the momentum going inside Parliament, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The meeting took place at Bamni Kali Temple at Suri in Birbhum district on Saturday which Adhikari visited ahead of Kali Puja celebrations.
In his letter to Sitharaman, Venugopal said media reports have exposed the alleged "quid-pro-quo between BJP and several firms, which in a strange coincidence donated to it, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department (IT) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and others, raided or searched those enterprises".
From taking charge of Jharkhand as its youngest chief minister at 38 to establishing himself as a 'fighter' for tribal rights, Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, is an accidental leader thrust into politics after a family tragedy.
'Vijay acts as himself, so you cannot expect variety from him.' 'He dances the same way, bashes up villains the same way, woos the heroine the same way and says his dialogues the same way,' notes A Ganesh Nadar.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
The All India Matua Mahasangha has asked its members to apply for Indian citizenship only after the formation of a new government at the Centre.
'By design or default, the BJP's election strategy militated against the very essence of Karnataka politics and the idea of Karnataka.'
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
Seven men who allegedly barged into a hotel room and attacked an interfaith couple during their stay in Haveri district of Karnatka have been charged with gangrape after the victim complained that she was sexually assaulted by them, the police said on Friday.
'It doesn't help to transpose the Hindi heartland model on Bengal. Bengalis don't understand its dynamics. They won't comprehend the impact of Modi's dip in the Ganga because Bengal's political culture is different. Even in the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrams, Christ is worshipped on Christmas. It's difficult to polarise Bengal religiously'
Chief Minister Manik Saha said that the BJP will contest in 55 constituencies in its bid to return to power in the northeastern state which has a 60-member assembly for the second time in a row.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday received wholehearted support from a group of women from the troubled Sandeshkhali area who met her after a Trinamool Congress rally in Kolkata, party sources said.
The 34-year-old actor had been maintaining a distance from the saffron party after it failed to unseat Mamata Banerjee's government from power in the eastern state despite a high-pitched campaign.
'BJP has lot of money. Even a rich person like me is scared of taking on the financial muscle of the BJP.' 'What is the point of throwing money? Result toh aane wala nahi hai.'
While the opposition party asked the government to stop boasting about India being a pharmacy to the world and take strictest action, the ruling party accused it of deriding India in its "hate" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
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