Confusion prevailing in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) showed little signs of let up on Saturday, with just two days to go before the filing of nomination papers for the second and final phase of assembly elections comes to a close.
The stage is set for a direct contest between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy for the vice-presidential election. The BJP-led alliance has a clear edge in the poll necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.
With nominations for the first phase of Bihar elections closing soon, the INDIA bloc is struggling to finalize seat sharing, while the NDA has announced its candidates. Key political figures are actively campaigning.
'Raj Thackeray is working at the behest of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.'
After big win in Bihar, the BJP is likely to push harder in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK government and the uneasy BJP-AIADMK alliance are preparing for a tense election filled with seat-sharing fights, changing alliances, and the unpredictable entry of Vijay's TVK party, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Filing of nomination papers ended on Monday for the second and final phase of Bihar assembly polls, with the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) appearing fractured, as constituents would end up fighting each other in a number of seats.
'Stalin's intention is plain and simple.' 'The DMK wants to convert what is an 'incumbency-centred' election for the party-led alliance into one more 'Modi/BJP election' after Stalin's successive success in 2019 and 2021, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar expressed satisfaction over the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, stating that the exercise has 'purified' the voters' list after 22 years. He made the announcement during a press conference in Patna.
The opposition INDIA bloc has declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday condemned Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah's controversial remarks about Colonel Sofia Qureshi, a senior Army officer who briefed the media along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh during Operation Sindoor.
Congress leader P Chidambaram's remarks questioning the origin of the terrorists behind the Pahalgam attack sparked a fierce political row ahead of the debate in Parliament on Operation Sindoor.
''Now the roads in Bihar are as good as any other Indian state. The power sector has improved.' 'Connectivity, law and order, gender justice...' 'Bihar now stands for all these things that were totally absent when it was under jungle raj.'
The Centre's move on Chandigarh has raised the hackles of various parties in Punjab, with Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal terming it as a "direct attack" on Punjab's identity and constitutional rights.
Delhi's air quality deteriorates to 'very poor' levels, sparking a blame game between AAP and BJP over the causes and responsibility for the pollution.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP leader Jahanzaib Sirwal threatened to resign from the party, citing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's "unacceptable" remarks and the state police's "vindictive" attitude against the Muslim community.
'This election was won because of Nitish Kumar's face and his policies.'
A string of welfare schemes and promises tests the state's budget, which is already heavily dependent on central support and spends little as capital outlay.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday challenged Home Minister Amit Shah to debate with him on his three press conferences in which the Congress leader alleged 'vote chori' by the Bharatiya Janata Party in collusion with the Election Commission.
'This plan was never official. It was there secretly. It was by the high command.'
If women voters are mobilised in big numbers to the voting booths on November 6 and 11 by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA, then it will be quite difficult for the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan to defeat the incumbent government, points out Sheela Bhatt.
'This also exposes the fact that women are not safe in Delhi. People come here for safety. The police should wake up and address the issue of women's safety'
The Congress claimed that dynastic politics exists across party lines and also hailed the Nehru-Gandhi family's leadership.
The state Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday lashed out at Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge over the removal of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's publicity material in Chittapur taluk in Kalaburagi district ahead of a major event but the Congress leader alleged the saffron organisation had not taken permission for the programme.
Sources said a couple of resolutions are expected to be passed at the crucial meeting, with an eye on the upcoming Bihar polls.
The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had called Patkar to hear her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
The Election Commission has asked RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to hand over a voter ID card for investigation after he claimed to possess it despite it not being officially issued. The controversy arose after Yadav alleged discrepancies in the electoral rolls and claimed his voter ID number was changed.
'I disagree with much of Modi's politics, but it cannot be denied that in these years in office, he has carved more than a niche for himself in history,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor alleges Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary escaped a murder trial by falsely claiming to be a minor. He demands Choudhary's dismissal and threatens to expose further financial irregularities.
This divergence is likely to intensify political dynamics both within the party and across the state, particularly as the opposition Mahagathbandhan -- comprising the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress, and Left parties -- has been aggressively protesting the SIR and demanding its immediate scrapping.
The Congress party has escalated its attack on the BJP-RSS, alleging a conspiracy to silence Rahul Gandhi after a former ABVP leader made controversial remarks targeting him.
Bihar recorded its highest-ever voter turnout of 67.14 per cent in the second and final phase of the assembly elections. The election is seen as a referendum on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Kishanganj recorded the highest polling percentage at 76.26.
During the presser, Gandhi showed a picture of a woman who appears on the voter list 22 times in 10 booths in the Rai assembly constituency, and said this shows that this was a 'centralised operation'.
'...the electoral playing field is tilted significantly in its favour.'
This came after a media report claimed that Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh, who led India's press briefings on Operation Sindoor, will be the faces of an ambitious women-centric campaign to be rolled out by the BJP on the completion of 11 years of the Modi government on June 9.
From a modest start with baithaks of a handful of swayamsevaks in a small town in Nagpur, the RSS, which completes 100 years of its foundation on Thursday, has come a long way to become the world's biggest voluntary organisation with a pan-India presence, shaping the country's political and social discourse.
'We have been struggling with problems, but we want to elect Tejashwi to see him as the next chief minister.'
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that in his personal opinion, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should be banned as most law and order problems in the country are arising because of the Bharatiya Janata Party-RSS.
Savitribai Phule Pune University (SSPU) withdrew a notification for an elocution competition titled "Voice of Devendra" after opposition from the NSUI, who claimed it was a BJP agenda. The university clarified it was only promoting the event and has since removed the notification.
As the Centre announced the inclusion of caste enumeration in the next census on Wednesday, opposition parties said it is a victory for their long-standing demand and sought time-bound implementation.
'When you attend an RSS function, the nation is your first priority.'
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