The Bengal outcome can have a marginal impact on national politics. Whereas elections in UP next year might still change the course ahead of the parliamentary poll in 2024, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
Subhash Yadav and Sadhu Yadav, who were powerful faces during the 15-year Lalu-Rabri rule, are now working towards ensuring that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his sons face defeat in the forthcoming Bihar elections.
'Intolerance is in our blood. Every person has some level of intolerance. One can't get rid of it, but one has to check and control it for the sake of a peaceful society and country,' says actor Tam Alter.
The BJP, on the other hand, learnt from past mistakes to clinch power.
The CPI says its candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is getting 'excellent' support from all segments of society in Begusarai.
The prime minister also launched a blistering attack on Banerjee, saying she did not care to express regret after a "leader very close to her" called Scheduled Castes "beggars".
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said it will 'depend on the situation' who becomes the face of the Opposition to take on the BJP, but added she has no problem if someone other than her leads.
Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi talks to Satyavrat Mishra about the prospects of the party in Bihar. Modi says only the assembly elections or general elections are the true barometers of popularity. Edited excerpts:
The Congress president's election comes up early next year and party workers fear Sonia may pass on her mantle to Rahul. If that happens or if she continues to remain at the helm but Rahul calls the shots, there could be large scale desertions of workers and leaders worried about their future.
Even as the Congress is preparing itself for the 2014 general elections, at least five of its state units are waiting for the high command to appoint organisational heads. These units have passed resolutions authorising Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appoint state chiefs.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the organisational elections should be utilised to "reinvigorate and rejuvenate" the party following the debacle in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
He was also the second in Goa who died while still in office.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party, which has often been mocked by opponents for not having a well-defined ideological plank, seems to have finally found its calling in Bengali sub-nationalism, as a section of top party leaders feel only an 'inclusive message of regionalism, which the Bengalis can identify with, will counter the aggressive nationalism and Hindutva practised by the saffron camp'.
On Tuesday night with veteran BJP leaders raised a banner of revolt against the leadership of Narendra Modi in the wake of Bihar debacle saying that the party has been "emasculated" in the last one year.
'The brutal violence of the UP government's first response to the anti-CAA protests suggests that the BJP will test drive the NPR/NRC in UP, where it has both a massive majority in the assembly and a chief minister whose instinct for Hindutva extremism and whose appetite for punitive policing allows a prime minister as darkly majoritarian as Modi to appear statesman-like,' notes Mukul Kesavan.
A defeat in UP will, therefore, dent the Modi government's efforts to win more seats in the Rajya Sabha.
Perhaps the BJP will win the UP elections, but that will be a political win and will leave the problems on the ground from the economy to national security to disaffected farmers and minorities intact, asserts Aakar Patel.
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
'The poor manner in which the RJD stitched its alliance and mismanaged its electioneering, now reveals that Tejashwi was more interested in enhancing his political stature by cutting down many senior leaders, by downsizing and shrinking RJD allies, by displaying arrogance and inaccessibility and by committing silly mistakes in candidate selection,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
Congress's K R Ramesh Kumar will be the speaker of Karnataka's Vidhana Soudha (assembly), while the deputy speaker will be appointed from the JD-S.
Highly placed sources said late Tuesday night that the decision has been conveyed to 75-year-old Dikshit, who will succeed Nikhil Kumar, a former Delhi Police Commissioner.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's quest to strengthen its base in north India starts from Bihar, says Bharat Bhushan.
Nitish Kumar had a week's time to prove his majority, but Laloo Yadav made full use of Siwan don Mohammad Shahabuddin. A revealing excerpt from Rajesh Singh's Baahubalis Of Indian Politics: From Bullet To Ballot.
As per reports, nominations for the party national president will be filed between 10 am to 1 pm on Sunday. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on the same day.
Right from the great Muhammad Ali, who was an influential figure during the African-American Civil Rights Movement to Cte d'Ivoire footballer Didier Drogba, who had a major hand in bringing peace to his country, sports personalities across the world have always played huge roles in social and geopolitical movements. The scenario is no different in India, as a lot of sporting stars have taken the political plunge. Take a look at the sports personalities contesting in elections 2019.
Minority conference organised by the JD-U turned out to be a poor show with few from the Muslim community attending it, exposing the falling credibility of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a secular leader, says M I Khan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in large numbers. "Today, there are bypolls taking place in various places across India. I urge those voting in these seats to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy," he said in a tweet.
Under the agreement, RJD would contest 175 seats while leaving 51 for the Congress, 9 for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and 8 for the Nationalist Congress Party.
Riding on its development agenda, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party was on Tuesday set for a resounding victory in the Delhi assembly elections to retain power for a third term. Here's how leaders reacted to the impending victory.
'The Congress agreed to it, but the RJD has some problem with Kanhaiya.'
'The BJP can kill two birds with one stone by wresting back control of the message; and the steps are fairly obvious. Once the media is neutral, there is a level playing field,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
After being checkmated by the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal-United-Congress alliance in the Bihar bypoll, Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the 'Mahayuti' needs to pull up its socks and refrain from gloating over the 'Modi wave' to fight the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
'Delhi 2015 is a warning of an intensifying nightmare in the offing.'
George Fernandes' underground crusade against the Emergency catapulted him among the leading opposition figures.
'It is the RJD, otherwise known for misgovernance, which has offered a candidate of clean and performing credentials, rather than the NDA,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
The Congress is of the view that firming up of proper opposition alliances in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra is crucial.
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