Nineteen Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Left, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party, came together to jointly announce the boycott, saying they find no value in a new building when the "soul of democracy has been sucked out".
The big surprise is that Narendra Modi, the greatest conjurer in our national politics, has not yet presented a theme to this election, observes Shekhar Gupta.
From bhikshus of Ashokan 3rd century BC and medieval Sufis to Oxfam, Omidyar and Soros now, non-State actors have any real power only when they work in conjunction with a real State, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'The BJP is racing against its opponents by putting a chain on their legs.'
Prajwal Revanna's former car driver Karthik and Bharatiya Janata Party leader G Devaraje Gowda accused each other of leaking the alleged sleaze videos of the Janata Dal-Secular Hassan MP which has caused a big embarrassment to the regional party.
In what may be a major reprieve for the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Commuist Party of India, the Election Commission on Monday amended rules whereby it will now review the national and state party status of political parties every 10 years instead of the present five.
Former Union minister Prakash Javadekar and another senior party leader Om Prakash Mathur was made poll in-charge for Telangana and Chhattisgarh respectively, a party statement said.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party scored big wins in three assembly polls, talk within the party shifted to the likely chief ministerial picks in these states, with senior leaders holding discussions on Monday.
'We are pleased to announce the candidature of @sagarikaghose, @SushmitaDevAITC, @MdNadimulHaque6 and Mamata Bala Thakur for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections,' the party said in a tweet.
Many ethical, competent corporate leaders aspire to join public life today. However, the transition to politics is far from easy, observes Indrajit Gupta.
With the party fielding three Union ministers, besides four other MPs, as candidates in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, it may continue with the strategy in Rajasthan.
'Ajit Pawar is trying to sideline us; he is trying to be in the BJP's good books at our cost.'
In an indication that the BJP is looking to welcome politicians from other parties into its fold, Shah asked party members to connect with well-known personalities and leaders from different communities if they want to be part of the "nationalist mainstream".
As part of the protest, BJP workers burned tyres, blocked roads, and closed shops in Nandigram, alleging that Trinamool Congress-backed criminals were responsible for the killing of Rathibala Arhi, a saffron party worker in Sonachura village.
Statements of five 'Angadiya' firm operators have also been recorded by the ED to establish the "money trail" of this alleged Rs 45 crore bribe amount.
'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'
Samal also claimed that the Odisha BJP was confident of winning both the polls.
The joint statement was issued by senior leaders of 13 opposition parties, including interim president of Congress Sonia Gandhi, the Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar, and the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Given the 2024 general elections, it is unlikely that the allegations around electoral bonds, raised by the Opposition, will disappear easily or with a shrug of the BJP's shoulders and fabled 56-inch chest, argues Shyam G Menon.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government will use the unorganised workers database - e-Shram portal - to provide the benefits of various government programmes to the nearly 300 million workers over the next five years, if it is voted to power for the third consecutive term in the upcoming general elections. "We have registered unorganised workers on the e-Shram platform. "We will reach out to the e-Shram registered 'shramik bandhu' and help them avail the benefits of various government programmes that they are eligible for," the manifesto of the party read.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
Several prominent opposition leaders including Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah will share the dais at a rally being organised by Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana's Fatehabad on Sunday.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said that there should not be any politics on the Supreme Court ruling and everyone should respect it.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dubbed the electoral bonds as the 'world's biggest extortion scheme' and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the 'champion of corruption'.
The issue concerning former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will drag on for a few more days, with the Bharatiya Janata Party postponing all meetings which would now be held after Deepavali, says Vicky Nanjappa
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met the top brass of Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party to discuss strategy for next Lok Sabha elections but former party president Nitin Gadkari was conspicuous by his absence.
Yadav accused the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in the state of floating the gimmick of reservation for minorities while doing no good for any section of society.
For renomination to the Rajya Sabha, Nadda will have to look for a seat outside his home state of Himachal Pradesh as the Congress is in power there.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said his party humbly accepts the mandate of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, and asserted that the battle of ideology would continue.
The opinion piece added that the party combines the most striking principles of three major political entities in the world -- the Likud Party of Israel, the Communist Party of China and the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.
Narendra D Modi and his party campaigned in these elections uncharacteristically without any big ideas. Of course, winning each election at all costs could be a big idea as well, observes Shekhar Gupta.
With billionaire Gautam Adani charged in the United States with alleged bribery and fraud, the Congress on Thursday said it 'vindicates' its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various 'scams' involving his conglomerate.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
After being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, Trump started his inaugural address with a sentence that echoed Modi's coinage some years ago, notes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has asserted that efforts to create a rift between people from different religions should be treated as a "national crime", and welcomed the government's outreach to Pasmanda Muslims.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is on a three-day visit to Odisha, is set to meet her counterpart in the neighbouring state, Naveen Patnaik, on Thursday afternoon.
The attack took place after the BJP MP was heard in a video targeting the state's ruling party by making alleged disparaging remarks against Kavitha, also a ruling party MLC.
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