The Congress will only survive if it can transform into something more like the BJP used to be: A coalition of strong state leaders held together by shared ideology or personal loyalty, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
'The Godse controversy may have helped Kamal Haasan reach out to a larger audience, both inside the state and outside, coming as it does when the main campaign for elections 19 is over and only those in the four assembly bypoll constituencies are drudging along,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'...that it takes fantasy seriously as a part of real life'... A fascinating excerpt from Jonathan Gil Harris's book, Masala Shakespeare: How A Firangi Writer Became Indian.
Born as Gundu Rao to a Kannada Brahmin family in 1933, Nagesh was the most sought after actor in the MGR-Sivaji era of Tamil cinema in the 1960s and mid-seventies, and was a regular feature in the movies of these late superstars. Nagesh, who was suffering from prolonged illness, breathed his last at his residence.
Almost all prominent leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as members of the National Democratic Alliance and North-East Democratic Alliance accompanied Modi.
The party has to zero in on its chief ministerial candidate from one of three leaders -- Union Minister for Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari, state BJP president Devendra Fadnavis and Leader of Opposition in the state council Vinod Tawde. But the biggest handicap with them is that they can't match Munde in terms of popularity.
Mayawati cold-shoulders Akhilesh Das at a felicitation ceremony held in Lucknow on Tuesday to mark the completion of her first year in office.
This restaurant channels the spirit of laidback Goa in the heart of frenetic Mumbai.
BJP's Colonel Rajyavardhan Rathore and Congress's Krishna Poonia face each other on Jaipur seat.
'We are telling them we have isolated them and their religion as not only unwanted,' says Aakar Patel.
Even after giving five rounds to former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee followed by the last round in 2009 to his close lieutenant Lalji Tandon, Lucknow is now all set to give a rough ride to Bhartiya Janata Party president Raj Nath Singh, who has taken the plunge after forcing Tandon's exit from here.
The Congress, out of power in UP for 27 years is making a big pitch to bounce back, on a cocktail of caste politics and promises of agriculture debt waiver worth Rs 49,000 crore and power rate reduction for farmers hit by high input costs and diminishing returns., reports Amit Agnihotri.
She faced intense and protracted struggle to eventually head the AIADMK.
The Karnataka BJP core committee had proposed only Tejaswini's name for the Lok Sabha seat, but Tejaswi Surya emerged the dark horse.
In an effort to make a dent in the Bahujan Samaj Party's Dalit vote bank ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Lok Janshakti Party plans to launch a series of demonstrations against the "anti-people and anti-Dalit" policies of the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh.
'The colloquial language forced a turn to the recent past and I thought about the hangings of men like Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon.' 'Whatever their deeds, proven or still in doubt, did their deaths not deserve to be mourned by a sister, wife, or child?' A fascinating excerpt from Amitava Kumar's Writing Badly Is Easy.
'The fabric of democracy is fraying,' says T V R Shenoy. 'It is being attacked not just by terrorists in Kashmir or by zealots in the North-East, but is being ripped apart even in Allahabad, in the Hindi heartland.'
'His son fought bravely like a true Shiv Sainik and emerged victorious against those whose machinations were to finish the Shiv Sena in the state.'
'The Congress-JD-S alliance will be intact for the next three years, for sure.'
Today, when one Kamalahaasan launches a new political outfit, vowing to cleanse Tamil Nadu polity and political administration of corruption, mal-governance and non-governance, he is pitted not only against Rajini with his commitment to 'spiritual politics', he is also pitted against the real 'Lotus' in Tamil Nadu politics, representing the ruling BJP at the Centre, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Her party's Brahmin mascot and her confidante Satish Chandra Misra emerged as the key man once again as he has been attached to the chief minister.
For over 50 years, this hotel has kept the filter coffee brewing.
Victory celebrations began at the Mall Avenue residence of Mayawati, where party workers distributed sweets among themselves and to hordes of journalists present there.
It's more than just a career in show business.
Kushwaha said a delicious "kheer" can be prepared with milk from the Yadavs and rice from the Kushwahas.
'If we encourage such forces, then tomorrow they will try to intimidate every teacher who doesn't teach their idea of what is right and wrong.'
'A unified Hindu votebank -- the creation of the largest and most reliable votebank in Indian politics, ever,' says Mihir S Sharma.
Joshi had reportedly said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP MP Uma Bharti and Hindu activist Sadhvi Ritambhara are from "lower castes" and know nothing of Hinduism.
Is Modi trampling upon senior BJP colleagues while taking decisions? How come Team Modi underestimated the political action-reaction when they were upsetting and uprooting the BJP's founding fathers L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the ticket distribution process?
The party has not applied the "one-family, one-ticket" formula for the Karnataka polls which it followed in the Punjab polls held last year.
'Whenever Dalits have agitated on the streets, the government has blamed Naxalites.'
A Ganesh Nadar wonders what Kamal Hassan hopes to achieve with this film.
Do they, these atheist ministers, known what the rituals are? To change something, you first have to know it, to understand it do they?'
The front-runner of course is party treasurer and long-serving party legislator, S Duraimurugan. A Vanniar by caste from the rival PMK-strong northern belt, Duraimurugan makes up for his weak political grounding through his debating skills in the assembly, and witty repartee, both inside and outside. Apart from caste and regional representation, personal loyalty to the leader would count even more -- but there is no death of loyal and competent candidates in the party for the post, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The simple tale of a couple and their struggle will tug at your heart strings.
'Philosophy, politics and practicality cross paths in Mohalla Assi's ambitious premise.' 'Except it is directed in such an unwieldy fashion that instead of rich satire, what emerges is a lumbering flab of incoherence and opinion glut,' notes Sukanya Verma.
Muslims have been given tickets in 36 of the 100 seats.
RSS ideologue Ram Madhav speaks on the BJP and why the RSS can't be blamed for its poor showing in the UP elections.
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