'If the government does not take any action soon, 21 cities of India will become like Cape Town, with no water.' 'Four cities -- Delhi, Gurgaon, Meerut and Faridabad -- will suffer the worst.'
'UP, Maharashtra, AP (including Telangana), Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, MP, Bihar, Karnataka and Kerala.' 'We chose these nine not only as being among the biggest, but also because in these states radical change is possible,' explains Shekhar Gupta.
BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday revamped the party's national executive. Of the 178 members, only eight are women.
India is observing the sixteenth anniversary of the Kargil War this week.
In UP, the BJP focused carefully on the sub-caste divisions within the Dalits and also gave a large number of tickets to SC candidates from sub-castes.
'The Modi Sultanate -- like the Congress Sultanate -- does not understand local aspirations and politics. It will repeat the same mistakes whenever it takes on powerful regional leaders.'
'How do we explain that on the economic, internal security and strategic fronts, India's unstable coalitions have acted more decisively and boldly than all our full-majority governments yet?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
Rajkumari Kaul's death over the weekend brings back memories of phone conversations at a time when landline numbers were still in vogue, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was still to become prime minister, remembers Girish Nikam.
Ajit Doval is now India's all-powerful security boss. This concentration of power disrupts our layered security system. Will it not weaken whatever remains of the power and authority of the home, defence and finance ministers? asks Shekhar Gupta.
he said rent that she paid was determined by the government and was the same as for others in her category," the statement said, after a report claimed that she managed to convince the Vajpayee government to reduce the monthly rent of her 2,765.18 square metre house in Lutyens' Delhi from Rs 53,421 to only Rs 8,888 as it was "beyond her paying capacity".
'The armies that are lined up and firing at each other without ceasing, without much change on the ground and without much benefit, are replaced by civilians (also in uniforms, of team colours) screaming abuse,' says Aakar Patel.
'You won't find such an apathetic indecisive party in the world.'
'Extravagant new promises can buy him time, but far from solving the problem, they compound the risk.' 'His main alternative is to stress not aspirations, but resentments.' 'He has already de-emphasised aspirational appeals: Nothing has been heard for over two years of the coming of achhe din,' points out James Manor.
Party's performance will also work as a catalyst in Uttar Pradesh elections.
'He is not the leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha. He is just an MP.' 'In the order of precedence of the Republic of India, Rahul Gandhi is at 21st position,' says Sudhir Bisht.
It would be a miracle if demonetisation doesn't extract a political price from the BJP and Modi, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
"The odds, were stacked against us. Of the 51 missions, attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have prevailed. With today's spectacular success, ISRO joins an elite group of only 3 other agencies worldwide to have successfully reached red planet," Modi said.
In the crazily complex cauldron that is India, where caste, community, class and cash are just the primary ingredients, no one has yet come up with a fool-proof method to ascertain how voters make up their minds, on which button to press, in the privacy of their 'confessional' booths, notes Krishna Prasad.
'Where they lose, you never ask why they failed there, like in Bihar and Punjab.' 'You are stuck on the UP victory, thinking they have the mandate to rule for all times to come.' 'The BJP has 282 MPs, but can I honestly say that the BJP is the party for everyone?'
'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
In this May 2014 interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com, the politically conscious Karnad spoke of why he is concerned about Modi coming to power.
'There is a problem with the rise of a popular view that sees Kashmir through the prism of the larger, chronic Hindu-Muslim tensions.' 'By redefining the Kashmir problem simplistically in Hindu-Muslim terms could end up keeping Kashmir but losing most Kashmiris,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'In the first elections, Hindutva forces got only 6% of the votes and won only 10 seats.' 'It was a great defeat for them.' 'They have held that grouse against Nehru since then.'
If the fight against black money seems half hearted, the same is not the case with gau raksha, says Subir Roy.
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 finance minister has told the BJP's core voters we are hearing you and we are sensitive to your aspirations.'
The BJP has already cobbled up 28 seats to counter-bargain with the PDP's 28 seats in future talks. It is up to the Kashmir-based parties like the National Conference and PDP to assess the damage of going with the BJP which is perceived as the 'Hindu' party in the state. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com's takeways from a historic but fractured mandate in Jammu and Kashmir.
Did we miss the DeepState's Brazil Model in action in India in 2004 and 2009, asks Rajeev Srinivasan.
'The BJP is thinking of advancing the polls before the situation deteriorates further in Kashmir.'
Modi sought the cooperation of public in making the "war on corruption" a success and said the wrongdoings of some are being caught only with the support of common people who are coming forward with concrete information about hoarders.
Sources reveal that Modi's first choice to contest Lok Sabha election from the 'safest' Lucknow constituency could have affected BJP president's personal plans, who was getting increasingly uncomfortable in Ghaziabad. Sharat Pradhan reports.
Rai Mamta Kumari's first shot at politics ended before it could begin. She had gone to file her nomination with a procession of 56 four wheelers and distributed 1,800 food packets. But then something went wrong.
Addressing a 'fateh' (victory) rally with leaders from the ally Shiromani Akali Dal on the dais, the Gujarat chief minister, who donned a saffron turban, also dismissed as "rumours and a pack of lies" the controversy about migration of Sikh farmers from Kutch region in his state, promising that no Sikh farmer will have to leave Gujarat.
He also dismissed as 'a mere eye wash' the house arrest of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba chief Hafiz Saeed.
'A new doctrine now needs to be evolved for a new situation, and the army will do it.' 'You won't see more Kashmiris driven in front of army columns.' 'Nor will the army massacre hundreds, Dyer style,' says Shekhar Gupta.
How has Raj Thackeray, who is as much a businessman as politician, been able to pull it off, when most Opposition politicians live in fear of IT and ED and CBI, asks Krishna Prasad after attending a Raj rally in Nashik.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, whose party has extended crucial outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra, on Monday said the decision was prompted by the need to avoid fresh elections but made it clear that the party will play the role of an effective opposition.
Senior pros Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir failed with the bat as Jammu and Kashmir powered by their skipper Parvez Rasool shocked Delhi by two wickets in the opening match of the North Zone leg of the National One-Day Championship for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
'Being authoritative is one thing -- Nehru was that -- but being authoritarian is quite another -- the current prime minister is clearly one.'
'My wife has done everything... She has had to give up a lot,' HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar tells Sahil Makkar.
