India's opposition parties have sharply criticized the Union Budget, calling it inadequate to address the country's economic woes and accusing the BJP-led government of using it to woo voters in Bihar and Delhi ahead of upcoming elections. Leaders from the Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, and CPI(M) voiced their disapproval, highlighting concerns over inflation, unemployment, and the lack of substantial measures to support the agricultural sector and the poor. They also criticized the tax cuts for the middle class as insufficient and coming too late after years of high taxes and rising prices.
Amid controversy over destroying of 11,100 files relating to the home ministry, the government on Monday assured the Rajya Sabha that it will not allow tampering or destruction of any link with the country's glorious history.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Sanjay Raut also claimed that his party would win 100 out of the total 124 seats it had contested.
AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said its top leadership will take a call on attending the Mumbai meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA, following the statement by Lamba.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Asked whether the SAD would pull out of the National Democratic Alliance as well, Harsimrat said it was for the party to decide and a collective decision would be taken on the issue by all senior leaders together.
Congress veteran Kapil Sibal had on Wednesday filed his nomination as an SP-backed Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.
The Prime Minister's Office has asked the Union housing and urban affairs ministry to furnish details of projects that will be ready for foundation stone laying and inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the next two years, according to an official document.
Bihar assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, against whom the newly formed National Democratic Alliance government has moved a no-confidence motion, on Wednesday dug in his heels.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
"The governor has returned to Ranchi...so far he has not issued any order," an official source in Raj Bhavan said.
Two poll surveys on Thursday projected a majority for the JD-U-RJD-Congress alliance in the Bihar assembly polls.
Asserting that Bihar will see a tsunami of development if the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was voted to power in the state, party chief Amit Shah on Sunday hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying he was just a mascot for the "corrupt" Congress and "symbol of jungle raj" Lalu Prasad.
The Congress is showing a combative mood in defence of the party-led United Progressive Alliance's policy on coal allocation.
A college student and a Communist Party of India-Marxist member, she was administered the oath of office by collector Navjot Khosa at the corporation council hall.
Punjab Minister Anmol Gagan Mann on Wednesday said her Aam Aadmi Party will fight on all 13 parliamentary seats in the state.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan is working overtime to ensure the victory of his son Chirag Paswan, who is contesting from the Jamui parliamentary constituency in Bihar.
The first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee under Mallikarjun Kharge's presidency will be held in Hyderabad on Saturday during which the party's top brass will deliberate on evolving a strategy for upcoming assembly polls in five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Bihar assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary on Sunday called on Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav, at a time when the state was witnessing a big political churn.
The BJP-led government is keen to to get the land bill passed by March.
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.
Referring to her party's pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, she said it was based on "mutual respect" and "honest intentions", adding that "the SP-BSP alliance is perfect enough to defeat the BJP, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
The party's state unit president Jagadanand Singh announced the names of Mohd Qari Sohaib, Munni Rajak and Ashok Kumar Pandey.
Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
A 7.8 per cent increase in votes for the JD-U-RJD-Congress alliance over BJP-led NDA's tally fetched it another 120 seats catapulting the Nitish Kumar-led coalition to a landslide two-third majority.
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A day after reports surfaced about an alliance between the Lok Janshakti Party led by Ramvilas Paswan and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bihar, a senior leader of the saffron party has strongly spoke out against any such tie-up.
The party is likely to take a decision in a couple of days, with the nomination for the first phase of three phase-polls set to begin from October 1, they said.
The ruling All India Anna DMK bagged 37 out of the 39 seats in the state, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning one seat and its alliance partner the Pattali Makkal Katchi winning one.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have been engaged in consultations with each other over the post-poll situation in the wake of exit polls projections that the party-led National Democratic Alliance may form the government.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar he will oppose a case of sedition against JNUSU oresident Kanhaiya Kumar, reports M I Khan.
The Congress has tried to inflict capital punishment on true secularism, he claimed, asserting that the Waqf law has no place in the Constitution.
At the outset, all eyes will be on the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Monday when it is expected to review the stay granted by the Supreme Court on the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the 'Modi surname' case and decide on the revocation of his Parliament membership.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu has told party workers that he would be entering into a pre-poll tie up with the NDA and has been assured that he would be made convenor.
Police, however, said a link between the social media post and the assault has not been established yet.
Days after his shows at a Gurugram bar were called off following threats by right-wing organisations, stand-up comic Kunal Kamra on Sunday wrote an open letter to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), challenging it to condemn Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday ruled out extending any kind of support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government in the event of the party coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls.
'Wrong feedback was given against Parasji to the top BJP leadership in New Delhi by a senior BJP leader, who is also a Union minister from Bihar.' 'He deliberately provided wrong information about the RLJP to the BJP leadership to help Chirag Paswan.'
The CM said the state government has been extending grant for the Hindus and the Christians for their overseas pilgrimage.
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