The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Hamas is going to be prepared. There will be booby traps and tunnels; it's going to be door to door fighting.'
Bajpai said he quit the AAP as he felt "suffocated" over the "misbehaviour and insult" meted out by the party and claimed that several other legislators of the ruling party in the national capital felt the same way.
Asserting that many people are disenchanted with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, former Aam Aadmi Party leader Shazia Ilmi on Thursday said that she would aggressively campaign against the outfit.
The seven-member committee consists of four members of Parliament and three leaders from Uttar Pradesh.
'Despite the BJP's successes at the state-level, replicating their 282-seat majority in 2019 is going to be an uphill climb.'
Attacking the Modi government, Sonia said it has sought to erode our institutions.
'Although perhaps not with a greater majority, and maybe even a slightly reduced majority in the Lok Sabha.'
Away from the distraction of its new high-profile politics, Wayanad's worries seemed very down to earth, discovers Shyam G Menon.
That AAP managed a sizeable vote share in Gujarat is creditable. The BJP can no longer ignore AAP's growing presence in its strongest bastion, explains Ramesh Menon, long-time observer of Gujarat politics.
Dubs Modi government a "one trick horse" which will make the Hindu-Muslim issue the dominant one in political discourse; asks Opposition to field one candidate in every seat against BJP nominee in 2019 polls.
'The Congress has collapsed and is fighting for survival. Other parties carry no weight in comparison to the BJP. This situation does not augur well for democracy,'
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'With the victory in Maharashtra and Haryana, the question which needs to be asked is why the government was reluctant to share names of these people, because there is a possibility that they may have been funding the BJP's election campaign.'
The Opposition must understand that while 2024 may draw mileage from the growing resentment towards the BJP, the real battle and proof of how well India learnt from its disastrous dalliance with the Right-wing, will be in 2029, observes Shyam G Menon.
Ahead of the all-party meet called by the government to discuss the naxal situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it will serve no purpose unless a comprehensive strategy is devised to deal with the problem.
This year promises to offer ample opportunities on the electoral turf to the SP, BSP and Congress to get their act together and play the "semi-final" of sorts before the "final match" two years later, reports Virendra Singh Rawat
There seems to be a desire for opacity when it comes to confronting China, points out Aakar Patel.
An average 59.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded as of 5 pm on Thursday across 89 assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections, officials said.
'It is not about people who have godfathers, but women with merit who are joining the BJP.'
SC dismisses plea against Sena-NCP-Congress alliance
'We have finished that fear.'
'The BJP had no traction in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah would have scraped through if he had not done all that he did.' 'When you pander to one community, the other community gets irritated.' 'Then, when you make fun of the cow and the treating of the cow as sacred, in your effort to belittle the Sangh Parivar and its obscurantism, you are hurting your normal voters too.' 'It is okay to make fun of the Sangh Parivar, but it is not okay to make fun of all Hindus.'
The Modi government's defeat on farm laws underlines the perils of governing an entire continent-sized, diverse and federal nation like the chief minister of a state, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'The honourable prime minister virtually handpicked me for the Amritsar East seat.' 'Amit Shahji announced that if I am elected, the whole of Punjab will be drugs free.'
'I am afraid the condemnation of mob attacks is a case of too little too little.' 'Much sterner action is needed,' BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha tells Subhash K Jha.
'The regime -- and particularly the home ministry under Amit Shah -- have sought to suppress and destroy these struggles through intimidation, bullying, threats, through false cases, arrests, custodial torture, the use of draconian laws like the UAPA.'
"Our party is stronger than the Congress in the state. While the Congress won 40 seats in panchayat polls, we scored a victory in 83 panchayats. AAP got over 40 lakh votes in these polls, where 1600 party candidates contested," Singh, AAP's UP in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's reported remarks that Bihar poll results prove that a majority of Hindus prefer harmony on Sunday received the support of the Janata Dal-United while the Bharatiya Janata Party played down the statement.
"The Congress party complains a bit too much. It accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'stealing' the mandate in Goa. It unsuccessfully petitioned before the Supreme Court. It attempted to raise issues in the Lok Sabha," he said in a Facebook post.
The Narendra Modi wave seems to have reached the Bengal shores, indicated by the more than two-fold increase in the membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit.
The Governor invited the 'attention' of Chief Minister Banerjee to the preamble of the Indian Constitution.
'Their vote bank has shifted to the BJP; the Congress is yet to realise it.'
'By manipulating India's electoral laws, the aim of the Modi government is to weaken democracy to such an extent that it ultimately crumbles.'
'He was always opposed to a form of nationalism that was narrow, selfish and arrogant.' 'He will always remain a beacon of inspiration for freedom-loving people across the world and for movements of resistance against oppressive State power.'
'The BJP will get the lion's share of the Opposition vote. I would give the Congress-Left around 15 per cent.'
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday defied a ban on his election meeting in Lucknow by addressing it and accused the SP government of following a communal agenda.
'When I joined politics at 53, I thought I had left it too late to make the kind of impact I felt I was capable of. What can I say about someone who is 88?'
"The space for dissent and debate is shrinking. People are jailed without trial through arbitrarily imposed charge of sedition," the Nobel laureate alleged.
'He won't be able to migrate; he must survive in that environment.' 'He will go back after the election to becoming invisible.'
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