'Given that the RGF is a family-controlled trust, why would the Congress defend it every time someone accuses it of wrong-doing?' asks Virendra Kapoor.
'In his 2014 election campaign, Mr Modi had boasted that he would apply the Gujarat model to the rest of India. We just have to ensure he doesn't start with Parliament,' says Shashi Tharoor in this fascinating excerpt from his new book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi And His India.
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav might have repeatedly castigated his Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav for his loose grip over the administration.
It is a fight for survival for the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, which has been its citadel. In an interview party President Sharad Pawar speaks on the NCP's prospects and how the Bharatiya Janata Party is exploiting Narendra Modi's popularity in the state assembly elections.
Narendra Modi's victory does not represent a victory of 'the Indian nation', but only an elite-driven polarising phenomenon. The sooner we -- and the BJP -- recognise this, the better, says Praful Bidwai.
While its performance in Bihar, has boosted fund collections, corporate contributors are still waiting to see its performances in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal before committing funds to the Congress.
Stepping up his attack on Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Jaswant Singh on Tuesday said "personality cult" was not good in a democracy and it would harm the party.
'She really doesn't care if she is called heartless.' 'For her, the job needs to be done. That's all that matters.'
The Election Commission has taken action against Narendra Modi for flashing the Bharatiya Janata Party symbol while addressing a presser after he cast his vote in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
'The 2019 battle is a battle for the kind of India that we want to live in.' The Congress's long history is pockmarked with sins great and small, but Mr Gandhi has the advantage of representing a new generation with a relatively clean slate, and a chance to redefine contemporary perception,' says Mitali Saran.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
The going is not going to be easy for the DMK and its allies in Elections 2024. Despite the seats sweepstake in the 2021 assembly polls, the vote-share difference of 5.6% (DMK's 45.38% versus AIADMK-BJP's 39.72%) is not insurmountable on a bad day, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Their vote bank has shifted to the BJP; the Congress is yet to realise it.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party regime will have to make good on this election slogan to restore state-owned banks to health, says Rajiv Lall.
Aggressive campaigning and the existing 'Modi wave' and a lack of will on part of the Congress has put the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan far ahead of others. The party is comfortably placed in 21 out of the 25 seats, and they have been able to do this because of maintaining the same tempo that enabled them to defeat the Congress badly in December's assembly elections. P B Chandra reports
'The Congress should have accepted our demands.' 'Gone are the days when it could decide how many crumbs to throw at us.' 'Now, we make the demands.'
It is welcome that the government tried to make its intentions clear last week - especially as risk concerns return to global markets.
Digvijaya Singh is no longer in Rahul's close circle of advisers. His move to the Upper House was to ensure that the senior leader does not meddle in Madhya Pradesh politics in the run up to the crucial Lok Sabha polls. Anita Katyal reports
Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, on private visit to the United States, said he was keeping a tab on the developments while the state Congress attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging the opposition party was trying to destabilise the government.
Singh asserted that the people have made up their minds to vote out the government
The National Democratic Alliance on Monday finalised its seat sharing for Bihar polls with the Bharatiya Janata Party contesting 160 out of the 243 assembly constituencies while allies Lok Janshkati Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha being allotted 40 and 20 seats respectively.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit may not be contesting the assembly polls, but she is very much in the thick of preparations for the Congress. Dikshit tells Kavita Chowdhury that she is not interested in any post in Delhi politics but does not rule out a role at the national level in the future.
'Scindia's willingness to consort with the BJP, a party he has rightly, and eloquently, excoriated in various speeches and statements in the recent past suggest a shallowness and hollowness of convictions and principles.'
Stakes are high for senior Congress leader Narayan Rane, who is facing a resurgent Shiv Sena on his home turf in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, where he is contesting the assembly polls along with his son Nitesh.
Though there is a full-throated clamour in the Congress that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi be formally named as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Nehru-Gandhi scion is personally not convinced that his projection will yield electoral dividends.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell nine short of a majority, while the Congress, JD-S stitch alliance to keep saffron party out.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh is coming under increasing fire from his own party colleagues for quite a few reasons, says Anita Katyal
As the Narendra Modi government nears completing a year in office, the Congress on Wednesday stepped up its offensive against the prime minister accusing him of weakening democracy by running a "one-man show" while scoring maximum on "arrogance" and minimum on governance.
'Neither the Centre nor the state is helping us, rather they are coming up with new ways to create stumbling blocks for the return of money.'
'If the authorities go about completing this project the way they have proposed, this is going to cause a HUGE environmental impact not only on Malabar Hill but also on the rest of the city.'
The man, who identified himself as 'Rambhakt Gopal', was subsequently overpowered by police and detained. The gunman went live on Facebook before the brandishing the gun.
The AIADMK's staying power is not in question, but it has to regain the winning streak. That will require its leaders and leadership to re-wire themselves, to be able to re-think situations in ways different from what they had been accustomed to, suggests Sathiya Moorthy.
There is anti-incumbency in urban areas. Rural Punjab, the Akali base, will hold the key.
'We all know that when the Babri Masjid was demolished, P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister.' 'He did not do anything to stop the demolition.'
The 84-year old veteran Congressman, who died from post-COVID complications on Monday, was a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist.
Non-Congressism is the answer to India's current difficulties, says Dr Shambhu Shrivastava, who gives a historical perspective of non-Congress experiments in 1967, 1977, 1989 and 1998.
'From the time Rahul Gandhi entered the scene, I started feeling dissatisfied. No true Congressman will be able to agree with the way Rahul Gandhi functioned. He has not attained enough maturity or wisdom.' 'You cannot compare Rahul Gandhi with Narendra Modi. When you take into consideration Modi's political experience and abilities, nobody can think of projecting Rahul Gandhi against him.' 'The main culprits behind such a humiliating defeat are Veerappa Moily and P Chidambaram. It was Moily who did the maximum damage to people and the party.' T H Mustafa, one of the first Congress leaders to criticise Rahul Gandhi, speaks out in this interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
What is the road ahead for Rahul Gandhi? Shehzad Poonawalla offers a blueprint.
'I am aware of the problems and difficulties faced by many during the NRC process but I assure you that no injustice will be done to any genuine Indian citizens'
BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that he did not bring up the Modi visa ban issue even once during his deliberations in Washington, DC, also dismissing the controversy over letter to President Barack Obama by Indian parliamentarians, reports Aziz Haniffa.
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