'As soon as the BJP feels they are going to lose power, they will publish the caste census data of 2011 and conduct the caste census of 2021.'
They said it was then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who on February 1, 1986 got the permission for starting prayers at the disputed site and got the locks opened.
The saffron party will use Lord Ayyappa the same way it made use of Lord Ram in the north to take away the Nair vote and make electoral inroads in the state.
Thousands of people may have gathered at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday to attend a rally by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi but it remains to be seen whether the mammoth turnout will actually translate into votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh.
The publishing of the NRC will not rid India from illegal immigrants who are already here. But even if it manages to withhold their political and voting rights, it will be a significant achievement, says Anand Kumar.
FIXES BY THE GOVERNMENT: Energy price fixed, tax issues linger.
In true Karnataka political style, which cuts across parties and loyalties, any reinstatement of Yeddiyurappa, even with adequate legislative majority, could trigger rebellion from within, which could embarrass the Modi-Shah duo than any other development elsewhere in the country, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was back in action on Saturday after he met farmers over land bill in Delhi, a day before the party's big kisan rally.
'The BJP must realise that a resurgent Rahul Gandhi will take the battle straight into its camp.' 'He is not going to be held back by the misdeeds of UPA 1 and 2, so there is no point harping on them,' says Sanjeev Nayyar.
A BJP delegation, led by its Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari, walked out of the meeting at Kejriwal's residence.
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.
As West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry prepare for new administrations, one is reminded of the disparity that runs through the veins of the Indian states, notes Mihir S Sharma.
Delhi, which has gained infamy as one of the world's most polluted cities, has for some years now witnessed a sustained campaign from various quarters seeking a ban on firecrackers. While the Centre launched the newly approved, eco-friendly firecrackers earlier this month as a "safer and cheaper" alternative, the mood in the market is tepid, says Ritwik Sharma.
Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who as Gujarat chief minister was considered close to certain business groups and industrialists, has hardly been seen with any Indian business head.
Counting of votes is underway in assembly byelection to 58 seats in 11 states including Madhya Pradesh where the results will decide the fate of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
With the ignominy of a duck in Delhi, the free-fall in Congress' fortunes under Rahul Gandhi continued unabated with possibly grim forebodings for the grand old party.
The prime minister said the opposition's hatred against him was reaching new levels daily and they have a competition over who abused him the most.
'It's a natural alliance and this alliance has been has been formed without compromising the core ideology of the AIADMK.'
The BJP polled over 56 per cent of votes, more than the combined vote share of the Congress (22.5 per cent) and the AAP (18.1 per cent).
Sitharaman criticised the news report for raising issues 'selectively' and ignoring the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar's reply.
What will a split in the AIADMK mean for Tamil Nadu?
Tamal Bandyopadhyay offers some unsolicited advice for a government wh,ich came to power, with brute majority and the nation's pragmatic chief money man.
Dikshit cites lack of party support for delhi debacle; Pawar prescribes introspection; No party ready to form govt in Delhi
Ravi Kishan, the BJP's candidate, is an outsider. The BSP-SP candidate is from the powerful Nishad community. Yogi faces a tough task in ensuring that the Gorakhpur seat, which he represented from 1998 to 2017, stays with the BJP.
'Despite the BJP's successes at the state-level, replicating their 282-seat majority in 2019 is going to be an uphill climb.'
The DMK has been alleging that the AIADMK government was being controlled by the BJP government at the Centre.
"They call themselves the champions of speech and expression. But deny the same for the people of Kerala."
Modi assured to extend all required assistance to the state to face the situation, the Chief Minister's office said.
With hours to go for the results to be out in one of the most keenly-watched assembly elections in Maharashtra, major parties are keeping their cards close to the chest as most exit polls projected a hung House.
Though the 2019 alliance talks, if any, are a long way off, CM Jaya's current state of health and her long hospitalisation maybe a facilitating factor for the AIADMK to consider any BJP initiative favourably at the time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The choice before the next government is not between being a soft State and a tough State; it is between being a smart State and a dumb State, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Indonesia, Turkey and Afghanistan also see important polls in the seven short weeks between end-March and mid-May, says Shankar Acharya
To demand justice for the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir and the teenager in UP's Unnao, the Congress party led a candelight vigil to India Gate in New Delhi.
'Nitish Kumar's government has proved during these floods that it is a helpless government.'
The political resolution passed at the party's national executive claimed that the Modi government has created a new "history" in the direction of the poor's welfare with its bold initiatives.
The French have been rewarded for their obstinacy with exactly what they wanted -- an order for fully built Rafales without technology transfer.
The Congress chief gave 'F' to the Modi government for agriculture, foreign policy and job creation, and 'A+' to the prime minister for slogan creation and self promotion.
'The man stood alone, fought alone.' 'Some of those battles appeared Quixotic at times.' 'Ultimately, it was he who won though it may have seemed as if a Sancho Panza was fighting a relentless battle against the windmill.' N Sathiya Moorthy salutes the fearless editor who has passed into the ages.
Today, it is modish to be part of a yoga class, to post stories on Instagram while striking an impressively complex asana in a bralette and crop-top paired with neon yoga pants, to bond over green tea and yoga bars after a strenuous session at the studio and have subscriptions to yoga studios, not ashrams, says Manavi Kapur.
Longtime diplomatic observers feel that if Narendra Modi were to become prime minister or even a Cabinet official if the BJP captures power in the next election, there is no way the State Department would refuse him entry into the US, unless Washington wanted to risk the unravelling of the carefully nurtured US-India strategic partnership. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances