'Bihar's voters' electoral memory is long, and their evaluations are relational; who came to the village, who followed up, who resolved a problem.'
An uneasy calm prevails in Ladakh as authorities enforce a curfew following clashes between security forces and protesters demanding statehood and constitutional protections. The violence resulted in fatalities and injuries, prompting detentions and political reactions.
BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's core group decided that it will demand the resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja in the wake of his reported indictment by CAG in 2G spectrum allocation and reiterate its demand for JPC probe into the issue as also CWG and Adarsh housing society scams.
'The government is distributing land in Ladakh as if they are selling cinema hall tickets.'
The Mahindra group has launched an internal investigation into the allegations against one of its employees for issuing rape threats to Sulata Deo, the Biju Janata Dal MP, in a Facebook post.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's reverses in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were due to poor vote transfer from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday.
'But I know why he did it.' 'He was being heckled by BJP members who were mocking the Congress.' 'In that context, he quoted the song to tell them: "We know your anthem, we know your ideology, we know how divisive you are".' 'It was not an endorsement.'
Congress leader and Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, facing multiple sexual misconduct allegations, was suspended from the primary membership of the party on Monday, KPCC President Sunny Joseph said.
Shakur Khan was detained on Wednesday night by an intelligence department team who were acting on security-related inputs.
A post by the oil ministry featuring V.D. Savarkar alongside Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters has drawn criticism from the Congress party, accusing the BJP of distorting history.
'Vijay should have stayed there for the night and in the morning he should have met the people.'
Opposition parties allege the Modi government is attempting to turn India into a 'dictatorship' with the introduction of three Bills that seek to provide for removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers arrested on serious charges, and vowed to oppose it 'tooth and nail'.
'Arundhati Roy is like a ballerina performing on a high wire, cool, supremely at ease but conscious of all the adoring eyes on her,' notes P Vijaya Kumar.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government marking its first anniversary on Saturday, the first year is likely to be remembered for the fulfilment of decades-old Hindutva demands as Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the huge majority his party won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to push through its core agenda.
The Bharatiya Janata Party core group will meet on Saturday evening to discuss the Presidential election and decide its future course of action in the wake of Congress declaring Pranab Mukherjee as its candidate.
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said 'there is no need for socialism in India', adding 'secularism is not the core of our culture'.
A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" here.
The Maharashtra government has officially declared the Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav as the 'State Festival of Maharashtra', emphasizing its commitment to preserving and promoting the festival's cultural legacy. The government has also addressed issues related to POP idols and pledged financial support for celebrations.
...the DMK chief minister's campaign -- which includes criticism of the BJP's 'pro-Hindutva, anti-Tamil, anti-federal' policies and building on his own government's social welfare programmes targeting especially women and youth -- appeals to Tamil Nadu's voters in next year's assembly election, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
'This is just the beginning. You have to wait and watch to see things getting better.'
Delhi's crime rate against women stood at 144.4 in 2022 -- the highest among all states and Union Territories.
China and Pakistan are in a tight strategic alliance. India must deal with them one at a time, but be prepared in case they decide to collude, points out Shekhar Gupta.
A dispute over property and the right to succeed the titular head of the Mewar royal family in Udaipur, Rajasthan, has escalated into a major controversy. Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, a BJP MLA and the newly appointed titular head, was denied entry to the city palace and Eklingnathji temple by his uncle Arvind Singh Mewar and his son Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar. The incident sparked violent protests and the district administration has appointed a receiver to manage the controversial portion of the city palace where the 'Dhuni' (sacred fire) is located. This dispute raises questions about the future of the Mewar family's legacy and its historical traditions.
A ministerial berth for Kerala BJP general secretary George Kurian in the third Narendra Modi government is indeed a reward for a loyal party worker who has been active in the saffron party movement post-Emergency in the late 1970s.
The police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the area on Sunday to maintain law and order.
BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said the Mahayuti partners will meet Governor C P Radhakrishnan to stake a claim to form a government in the state.
As the election nears, political positions on prohibition are shifting.
The Bharatiya Janata P arty core group will meet on Saturday to take a decision on replacing Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda with Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar and finalise the strategy for the vice presidential election.
'Let's see how this love story shapes up in the run up to the municipal corporation election.'
In controversial remarks, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday said terrorists have no caste or religion and questioned veracity of the claim that terrorists asked about faith of tourists before killing them in Kashmir's Pahalgam town last week.
The birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, whose political influence has surged with the passage of time, on Monday was marked by bitter trading of charges between the ruling BJP and opposition parties as they fought for his legacy.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Devendra Fadnavis will lead the new Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. The Mahayuti coalition won the recent assembly elections by a landslide, securing 230 out of 288 seats.
Union minister and the BJP's election in-charge for Rajasthan Pralhad Joshi, co-in-charge Nitin Patel, the party's in-charge for Rajasthan Arun Singh, state president C P Joshi, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kailash Chaudhary, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition and former state president Satish Poonia and other leaders were present at the meeting, which is likely to continue till late, the sources said.
The Ram Mandir issue continues to be on Bharatiya Janata Party's "core agenda", the party said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
She emphasised security and employment as her primary issues for the upcoming elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held the core group meeting of five states on Saturday at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has shifted its focus back to Hindutva after suffering significant losses in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. The party has been vocal about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh and has taken a stance to "protect" a Hanuman Temple in Mumbai. Observers say this move is an attempt to regain its core voter base and counter the BJP's narrative on Hindutva, ahead of the upcoming civic polls. Analysts believe the party's "secular" stand may not be effective in the BMC elections and that its return to Hindutva is a sign of frustration from electoral setbacks.