Early trends from counting of votes on Tuesday threw up disappointing results for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, which appears to be losing heavily in its strongholds of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan although it is expected to form the government with about 290 seats.
The Congress hit back at Nadda, saying his letter to Mallikarjun Kharge is a "4D exercise - denial, distortion, distraction, and defamation".
At a time when his party is targeting the government on the VVIP chopper deal, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Thursday came to the rescue of beleagured former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi while admitting that the required parameters in the tender were changed during the NDA rule.
Senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi on Tuesday invited nationalist President Sharad Pawar to join the Nationalist Congress Party, saying "he would be able to end quarrels within the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance and could also become Prime Minister".
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha in April this year, once the remaining six vacancies under the nominated category are filled and those newly elected take oath.
Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad was allegedly attacked by some people when he was visiting a village in the Khalilabad Kotwali Police Station area to attend a wedding, police said on Monday.
Trinamool Congress had not supported NDA's presidential candidate and abstained from voting. The party also did not disclose for whom it voted in the vice-presidential election.
Keen to win more allies, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been identified with the Hindutva tag, on Friday decided to strive for an "imaginative reprojection" of its "commitment to secularism" and reassured minority community that it does not support discrimination on basis of religion.
Questions are being raised on the future of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as differences among its constituents come to the fore and several parties call for serious introspection by the Congress after a string of debilitating electoral losses.
Kalam likely to refuse the front's offer; BJP hopes this may swing some front votes its way.
BJP president Rajnath Singh said if the NDA comes to power at the Centre in next general elections, it will cancel all the schemes being implemented by the United Progressive Alliance government to 'appease a particular community'. He said the welfare measures announced by the Centre to provide benefit to a particular community was 'dangerous' for the country and NDA will withdraw all those schemes straightaway.
Sources said Paswan's party may contest on five of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
Pramod Mahajan, who was supposed to lead the protests, did not turn up.
With A P J Abdul Kalam deciding not to join the Presidential race, the Bharatiya Janata Party core group met in New Delhi on Monday night to discuss its strategy including support to P A Sangma and reluctance of allies like the Janata Dal-United to go for a contest against United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee.
Paswan said he was willing to contest the upcoming Bihar assembly polls as an NDA partner "if the BJP so desires", and made light of estranged uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras' recent meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In their letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Congress leaders said during a discussion on the functioning of the ministry of agriculture and farmers' welfare on August 2, "misleading and incorrect assertions" were made by the minister.
Amid deepening fissures in Kumar's ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, BJP leaders have indicated that they are open to tying up with him again.
NDA demands fresh probe into Netaji's disappearance
Government sources said Modi will also chair meetings to review the aftermath of the Cyclone Remal, especially in the north east region hit by natural disasters.
'Those in the BJP are more keen to make India Hindia!' says MDMK Chairman L.Ganesan.
Rane, who resigned from the Congress party about two weeks ago after a long-drawn tussle with its state leadership, had claimed three days back that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had invited him to join the NDA.
The ruling DMK has already announced it will file a review petition against the November 8 five-judge Supreme Court bench upholding the 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections.
Clad in a yellow kurta with a saffron gamcha around his neck, atop an open saffron coloured vehicle, he was greeted by loud chants of "Modi! Modi! Modi Zindabad! 400 Paar Is Baar" all along the roadshow's route.
The National Democratic Alliance on Monday said it will allow the Parliament to function if formation of Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam is announced by the government on Tuesday, but would continue to raise irregularities in the Commonwealth Games-related projects and Adarsh Housing scam.
Coming out in strong defence of Home Minister P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal on Saturday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance of attempting to "foist" culpability on him in the 2G scam saying it was a desperate attempt to make Parliamentary democracy dysfunctional.
Virtually inviting Mamata Banerjee to rejoin the National Democratic Alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said she should "take a call" on the issue, considering her "suffocation" in the UPA.
Sanjay Jha's importance lies in his connections to senior BJP and RSS leaders to maintain a smooth relationship within the NDA government in Bihar and at the Centre and to contest the 2025 Bihar assembly elections together under Nitish Kumar's leadership.
Buch, under a cloud over allegations of conflict of interest levelled by United States-based short-seller Hindenburg, was asked to appear before the PAC, which is reviewing the performance of the market regulator.
The National Democratic Alliance could not have got a candidate for vice-presidential poll with more gravitas than Jaswant Singh, a former army officer who has headed finance, defence and external affairs ministries, authored books and even served as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party falling short of a majority in the Lok Sabha and needing the National Democratic Alliance partners to form the government at the Centre, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United head Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu have emerged as potential kingmakers.
Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.
Given the Bharatiya Janata Party and the NDA's legislative strength, Dhankar's election is considered a certainty.
Advani said the decision 'would only spur people of the country to unite to oppose the tendency of America'.
Once rolled out, theaterisation will be the biggest military reform in the country. It will see the creation of unified theatre commands within the 1.7 million-strong Indian armed forces.
The delay in finalising a seat allocation agreement among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections has ignited concerns among smaller constituents as the nomination process commenced on Tuesday.
'The BJP will use Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha to check Nitish Kumar.' 'They will not allow him to function freely as before.'
With four seats each won by junior allies Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular and Vikassheel Insaan Party, the NDA bagged 125 seats in its kitty, three more than the number required for a simple majority.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Monday said that the National Democratic Alliance lost the 2004 general elections due to 'over confidence' and use of wrong slogans like 'India Shining'."The impression even among the opponents and foreign analysts was that we will win....but we lost...one, due to over-confidence and secondly, using some wrong slogans like India Shining," he said. Advani was then the deputy prime minister.