For the Congress to be taken seriously, it has to convince those around it that it could actually double its Lok Sabha seat share from the existing 52, and vote-share by a third more from the stagnating 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Parliament proceedings were washed out for the fifth straight day, as members from parties including the Telugu Desam Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, continued their protests on various issues.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the biggest tax reform since Independence.
'Parties which supported me were all threatened. This could hardly have been called a fair election.' 'This is Modi's India.'
'SBT's merger with SBI could lead to closure of several branches and hurt employment opportunities.'
Modi said different laws related to Hindus, Christians and Parsis and the Special Marriage Act 1954 has determined minimum marriage age of 18 years for a woman and 21 years for man but the Muslim Personal Law holds marriage of a girl legal after she has attained puberty.
Nitish Kumar, once seen as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance coalition on Tuesday to stake claim as head of the rival 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to be the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time.
Nand Kishore Balmiki, the main accused in the alleged forced conversion of about 100 people in Agra recently, was arrested after he surrendered before the police on Tuesday.
Consolidating its position, the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested high-profile Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh from the Samajwadi Party and won three assembly seats, including that of Chief Minister Manik Saha, in Tripura in by-election results announced on Sunday.
India will benefit hugely if the representation of women in Parliament is increased to a just level.
In a letter to Vice President and Chairman of the Upper House Venkaiah Naidu, the parties mentioned the medical college admission scam against a retired Orissa high court judge.
Counting of votes for the bypolls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand will be taken up on Sunday.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hailed the Union Budget as an "all-inclusive" document while the Opposition dismissed it as "anti-people" and mere rhetoric lacking the vision for creating jobs and taming inflation.
Tuesday was the 12th day in a row that Parliament did not functioned and the current stalemate has entered the third week.
The demand was raised during a debate on the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill 2017 in the Upper House, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 2 superseding the amendments earlier carried out by the Rajya Sabha.
Ahead of the visit of an all-party delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, political parties on Saturday pitched for holding dialogue with "all stakeholders", including Hurriyat, to douse the unrest and banning the use of pellet guns by security forces.
Police suspects that issues between student activists over using college walls led to the attack.
"Farmers would like to remind the PM that it is 'andolans' that have liberated India from colonial rulers and that is why we are proud to be 'Andolan-jivi'."
The MLAs of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight in a bid to thwart the Bharatiya Janata Party's possible attempt to poach them, and moved into a nearby luxurious resort.
A senior opposition member in Rajya Sabha on Friday sought a probe into the manner in which the death of former Union Minister E Ahamed was "handled", alleging he had died soon after being rushed to the hospital but his demise was announced much later.
The ruling party has indicated willingness to discuss opposition-sponsored motions on 'intolerance'; Jaitley has also shown willingness to accommodate concerns on GST
The combined Left parties drew a blank in the polls to the assembly which they had run with an overwhelming majority for 34 long years, with their vote share dwindling to a mere 5.47 per cent in 2021.
'To summarise, PM Modi's failures in the last nine years can be categorised under 'durniti' (bad policies), 'anyay' (injustice) and - perhaps most importantly - 'badniyat' (ill intention)'
Yielding to opposition demand, the government on Thursday agreed for a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Gaza situation on Monday but not before proceedings of the day were washed out over the issue.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani is likely to be the target of Opposition attack in Parliament where Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress charge against the government on Tuesday.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
'Metroman' E Sreedharan's decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party has given a boost to the saffron's hopes to make huge electoral inroads in Kerala, one of the toughest political terrains for the party, in the assembly polls likely to be held in April.
Opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Monday filed his nomination papers for the July 18 election, with a host of leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and Farooq Abdullah accompanying him.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking 'constitutionally appropriate' action against Finance Minister K N Balagopal for making a speech 'undermining unity', a demand turned down by the CM.
The Naxals are trying to set up organisational bases in the Northeast to forge ties with other insurgent groups to meet their military needs and the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border has emerged as another theatre of Maoist activities, the government said on Wednesday.
The MP from East Burdwan, who defected to the BJP last December, has been put on 'probation' by the TMC, which he wants to rejoin.
The senior Congress leader opined that the situation in Assam can now be divided into two phases -- pre-CAA and post-CAA, and it was necessary to unite all anti-CAA forces in order to protect the ethos of the Assam Accord.
AAP spokesperson Bhardwaj claimed participation of over 45000 people in the march despite police bid to foil it.
Cross-voting by Left and Congress MLAs on Friday helped Trinamool Congress gain an extra seat in West Bengal while a similar action by Congress MLAs in Andhra Pradesh saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi making its debut in Rajya Sabha as high drama marked the polls to the upper House in the two states.
Major opposition parties met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday and put forth their concerns over recent incidents of violence, including attacks by cow vigilantes, and attempts to "muzzle voices of dissent".
Election will be held in 60 out of the total 294 seats in the first two phases of the eight-phased polls which is slated to stretch from March 27 to April 29. The date for the second phase of election is April 1.
Yechury could play the role Harkishan Singh Surjeet had played in 1996 and 2004 to unify the opposition, writes Archis Mohan.
The govt asserted the Centre has no role in the preparation of the draft list.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa, who is eyeing a larger role for herself in the national politics after Lok Sabha polls, was on Monday presented a cake resembling Parliament by her party colleagues on her 66th birthday.
Senior leaders Damodar Raja Narsimha, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Kunduru Jana Reddy figure in the list of 111 Congress candidates for assembly elections in Telangana released by the party on Monday night, ending two days of suspense.
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