By all yardsticks 2024 isn't expected to be like 2014 or 2019. But with the mandir expected to be ready in time for the next Lok Sabha polls, Modi will have a new ally in Ram to see him through, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Savarkar was the closest the RSS had to a freedom movement icon, however flawed.' 'Indira Gandhi wasn't going to gift him to them.' 'And a non-career politician like Dr Singh understands it.' 'It is just that his party never listened to him,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Kirron Kher, actress-turned-politician, recounts how it was Jaitley who made her contest the elections from Chandigarh. Speaking to Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar, the Chandigarh MP talks of the BJP stalwart's generosity and how he was the focal point of any place he was at.
Whenever they are announced, the bypolls to 20 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu will be a mini referendum on the state government's performance. It will also be a do-or-die battle for the ruling AIADMK, opposition DMK, as well as the rebel AMMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'That Modi and the BJP can continue to treat the rising and expanding middle class this way shows that they have gamed its mind quite perfectly,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
'In India a strong leader with a majority has never yet been defeated by a challenger.' 'He (or she, as with Indira Gandhi in 1977) must defeat himself,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Rahul Gandhi also predicts a NDA collapse 'not seen in many years'
Bundelkhand is thought to be an area where Mayawati has some influence. Both Amit Shah and Shivraj Chouhan believe every weapon in the arsenal must be used to ensure victory.
Accusing Narendra Modi of being "desperate" to become prime minister, the Congress on Sunday said it will remain a "pipe-dream" and the "divisive" leader's nomination will help the United Progressive Alliance to return to power for a third term.
He said his 'Rashtra Manch', a political action group, would start a movement against the policies of the Centre.
'Coronavirus has occasioned us to see how copious Modi's mojo bag is,' says Shreekant Sambrani.
'Look at Kejriwal. With his work, he's made a place in our hearts. But the BJP leaders have only abuses for us," protesters at Shaheen Bagh tell Jyoti Punwani.
The high-stakes battle in the virtual Presidential-style contest between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a few other regional satraps also in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections begins on Monday in six constituencies in two states in the first of the nine-phased polls.
The high-stakes battle in the virtual Presidential-style contest between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a few other regional satraps also in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections began on Monday in six constituencies in two states in the first of the nine-phased polls.
The Congress vice president asked people if Vibrant Gujarat had helped them in any way.
From avoiding speaking unnecessarily to the media, to avoid power brokers in the capital, to barring them from touching his feet -- headmaster Modi doled out advice to the Bharatiya Janata Party's class of 2014 - the first-time party members of Parliament who are yet to find their feet in the national capital, writes Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal
For far too long, people in J&K have felt the government doesn't exist for them.' 'My first priority is to make them feel that not only does it exist, it is there to work for them.
The 84-year-old former external affairs minister said that there is a disconnect between the Congress leadership and the rank and file of the party.
The results, while bringing the Congress back to power in this state, also end the rule of the 66-year-old BJP stalwart, who has earned several monikers during his 15-year-long tenure -- Doctor saheb being a trained Ayurvedic medical practitioner, chaur wale baba for his popular rice scheme and the 'Mobile Wale Baba' for giving free smartphones to 50 lakh women and students.
Thanks to Sharad Pawar and him alone, Maharashtra has shown that the Modi-Shah duo can be halted. The next step is to take the battle to Dilli, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
''The Congress has forgotten how to mobilise people on political issues,' says Aakar Patel.
A politician-fashionista and digital brand strategist talk about dressing style and fashion trends.
'While it seems that the sole option left for the Shiv Sena chief is to sit in the Opposition and wait and watch, there are two other choices before him to show his party rank and file if he is a quitter or a fighter.'
In an open message to Shah, which he shared on the social media, Patel said the agitation will not stop just because the BJP chief wanted it to.
JD-U leader Ajay Alok said that the latest developments clearly indicate that the BJP has accepted defeat in Bihar.
Gandhi said if the Congress was voted to power, his party's government would function from Gujarat and not on orders from Delhi.
The Narendra Modi government was responsible for "abetting and pushing" the 2002 Gujarat riots while the Congress government tried to stop the 1984 riots, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Monday, but offered no apology for the anti-Sikh violence.
'It will be a ghastly mistake for the CPI-M to face the 2019 poll on its own.' 'At best, it can hope to split non-BJP votes in some pockets, but the humiliating rout will spell its doom,' warns M K Bhadrakumar.
'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Modi and Shah's next focus will be South India, and the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections. Shah is unlikely to abdicate control over the party even after he joins the government. Modi and Shah both know only too well that the party makes the government, and not the other way round.
The 71-year-old remained Sonia Gandhi's most trusted lieutenant for most of her tenure as the longest serving Congress president, standing by her side through sun and shade.
'BJP leaders might ponder the all-consuming arrogance that grips the Modi-Shah combine a year ahead of the next general election,' says Sunil Sethi.
It was not very easy to leave the family which I built for 20 years but then I got a very warm welcome from the Thackeray family.
The grand alliance of the JD-U and the RJD have decided a seat sharing program to contest together in the coming Bihar assembly polls to defeat the BJP-led NDA.
'Mayawati is an experienced politician with a track record in national politics much longer than Modi's.' 'She must be sensing from the tremors in the Hindi heartland she crisscrossed in recent months that the prospect of another Modi-led government at the Centre is fast receding,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
To counter PM Narendra Modi's aggression, Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav will hold a joint road show on March 4 in PM's constituency, reports Amit Agnihotri.
'Pure, uncluttered anti-Modi-ism, however angry, can't be an ideology or an electoral alternative.' 'The best it can do for you is damage Mr Modi enough for him to finish below 200.' 'Can it enable you to cross 100 to begin with?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
This was the second time D K Shivakumar foiled Amit A Shah's plans.
Evergreen stars honoured at young achievers event.
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