By successfully orchestrating the ouster of rival Sanjay Joshi from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed that the Sangh Parivar has fallen in line with his style of functioning and larger-than-the-organisation persona. Neerja Chowdhury reports
'Unless he engages with the darkness within, unless there is remorse for what happened within his rule, I don't think he is going to be my leader,' says filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt in his forthright style.
'China was a relationship from which Mr Modi had expected the most it seems.' 'It showed in a string of summits, and somewhat breathless celebration of Xi Jinping.' 'It was hasty and simplistic,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The interesting bit about the Azamgarh poll finding on India TV was the whopping percentage of Muslims backing the SP-BSP alliance, which sort of negates Mayawati's appeal to the community to not split their vote with the Congress, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Celebs pay tribute to Girish Karnad.
An interview with BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu
Deve Gowda indicated on Sunday that they were ready to compromise.
Arvind Kejriwal said that 20-25% of AAP's votes transferred to SAD-BJP.
Former Chief Minister of Gujarat Keshubhai Patel flew into New Delhi from Ahmedabad on Tuesday and had meetings with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Dr Murali Manohar Joshi.
He claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party people were alerted beforehand about the demonetisation. "How can one explain the BJP people in West Bengal depositing crores in high-denomination notes just before PM's announcement on November 8?" Rahul asked. "BJP workers were seen holding up bundles of the new Rs 2000 notes, as seen from images on the Internet, before Modi announced this decision," he told reporters in suburban Bandra.
BJP member Ananth Kumar was debating Mamata Banerjee's promise to upgrade 309 stations as 'model' ones, of which 137 were in West Bengal. Intervening, Lalu Prasad Yadav said, "World-class station banana to ek soch hai. Yeh banna to hai nahi. Aap pareshan kyon ho rahe hain? In this connection, he said during his tenure also he had proposed to upgrade Patna station which never happened.
"The Opposition's mahagathbandhan is an alliance of corruption, negativity and instability. The Opposition has 'dhanshakti' (money power), we have 'janshakti' (people's power)," the prime minister said.
'Our drains are not filled with bodies, our hospitals not run out of beds.' 'That good news, or absence of expected bad news, is the truth that so many in the international community, and also within India, seem unable to handle,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Bharatiya Janata Party's M Venkaiah Naidu is proud of the fact that he never speaks to reporters off-the-record. He has a bluff, hearty, no-nonsense style -- that can be misunderstood. Archis Mohan reports
'The world's economy is booming and growing at 3%. But even in this environment, India's growth has declined.' 'This is because of the deliberate slowing down induced by eccentric actions like demonetisation,' argues Aakar Patel.
BJP MP modifies a popular Hindi proverb to reply to Vijayvargiya and others.
'It wasn't as if the senior police inspectors in charge of the police stations were not aware of the communal tension that was being created in their areas before and during the riots.' 'Yet they chose not to act,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.
BJP's overwhelming win in UP shows that 2014 was no fluke, says R Jagannathan.
'A false narrative is being created, that Modi is a habitual offender when it comes to lowering the political discourse in the country.' 'Nothing can be farther from the truth,' argues Sudhir Bisht.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray may soon ask the party's ministers in the Fadnavis government to quit their offices
Modi-Shah BJP has resurrected dangers and the enemy from the past and built a scary jingoism. It's a great diversionary tactic but history shows it never ends well, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Modi invoked Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri and said people, with their third eye, can see what is good for them and what is bad.
'Whoever whispered in his ears that go for demonetisation, misled him completely' and the PM lacked the sagacity to know that it would not work, Yashwant Sinha tells Archis Mohan.
A list of prominent journalists who also became successful politicians.
Beleaguered Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, who was booed off the dais by his party's supporters at a Dussehra rally in October, on Sunday called on party chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence.
Self-styled 'godman' Asaram Bapu, who is in jail since September 2013 for allegedly raping a minor, was on Saturday denied bail by a court in Jodhpur, the sixth time his plea for relief has been turned down.
Why 'anti-Romeo'? Why not 'anti-loafer' squad? Or 'anti-Majnu' squad?' wonders Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'The Modi Model we see now is still the old Gujarat Model.' 'But with an acknowledgement that governing India is more challenging than governing Gujarat,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Narendra Modi may be virtually an unquestioned leader in the Bharatiya Janata Party but Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh feels that its cadres need not get into the personality-driven campaign of the party during the current election.
Under fire from his colleagues over his style of functioning, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh has given general secretary Arun Jaitley, whom he dropped as party spokesman, the charge of the party's election management in Gujarat.
'Such a serious threat -- to assassinate the prime minister of India, no less -- was not handed over to the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad for investigation, but to the Pune crime branch.' 'So much for seriousness in tackling such a grave issue,' says N Suresh.
Budget 2018 bears imprints of a government unsure of second term with clear majority, says Shekhar Gupta.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda will battle it out against Congress strongman Narayanaswamy in this IT hub constituency of Bangalore North, which is all set to vote on development, infrastructure issues. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
'Never before in Bengal had a single party been re-elected with two-thirds of the assembly,' notes Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien.
'And if you think this is alarmist nonsense, you are helping it happen,' says Mitali Saran.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is being projected as a "cult figure" by his own party ahead of the Assembly elections by preparing 'Modi masks' to cash in on his popularity.
Paying back Narendra Modi in kind for his remarks of Himalayan arrogance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today hit back at him saying, "Arrogance is dripping from every inch of his body."
Sharmila said a section of people even wanted her 'martyrdom' during the 16-year old fast against the AFSPA that she decided to end last year.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi's decision to go the whole-hog against the Supreme Court's verdict -- which recently upheld the constitutionality of Section 377 criminalising homosexuality -- is not very typical of how the grand old party handles such issues.
Awful religious practices need to be abolished. But through social and political reformers, not by courts, argues Shekhar Gupta.
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