Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also asked the RBI to make public details of FDI inflows from Cayman islands since demonetisation.
Two other Rajasthan ministers Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena were also sacked from the state cabinet after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, its second in the last two days. The meeting was billed as a 'second chance' for Pilot, who had turned down appeals from the party's top leadership -- including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi -- to return to the fold.
'Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to allow us to project his real personality to let the people of India know exactly what he really was. He was always shying away from greater public exposure. Since the last two years we have seen enormous criticism, ridiculing the prime minister. He has been made into an object of jokes. It certainly hurts. I think this man deserves lots of good reviews... His contribution to social policy, his contribution to the economy, his contribution to coalition management, his contribution to foreign policy.' Dr Sanjaya Baru, Dr Singh's former media advisor who is in the eye of a storm over his book on the prime minister UPA speaks to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Gandhi, however, acknowledged that his opinion is different from that of his party on the "emotional issue" after the Supreme Court last month lifted the ban on entry of women of menstrual age to the hilltop shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala.
"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 Ranga Reddy Bar Association have decided not to appear for the four accused in the case.
In fresh escalation of political violence in poll-bound Kerala, a 28-year-old Youth Congress worker was hacked to death allegedly by Democratic Youth Federation of India workers at Evoor in Alapuzha on Tuesday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India - Marxist workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram district leaving at least 30 injured.
Political observers have said that the TMC, now desperate to shed the 'anti-Hindu' tag and embrace 'soft Hindutva', is carefully planning its moves, with help from poll strategist Prashant Kishor and team, as is evident from its decisions to organise Brahmin Sammelan, provide sops to Sanatan Brahmins, and financial aid to Durga puja committees.
Rohith's mother and brother raised the demand for enactment of Rohith Act during the ongoing Parliament session to prevent discrimination and institutional atrocities towards Dalits, tribals and marginalised sections at the educational institutions.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who inaugurated the celebrations, clarified that the Governor was not invited due to "protocol" issues.
'The Left is dying, but its economic ideology rules, unchallenged.' 'Modi is its newest standard-bearer.' 'Even in today's bitterly polarised politics, if there is one thing on which not just the BJP and Congress, but all other parties agree, it is that socialist economics is the only way to survive,' says Shekhar Gupta.
BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday.
'The Bihar verdict has shown that the people of Bihar don't desire to go back to the mandir-masjid rhetoric.' 'Jobs, wages and development are the aspiration of the people of Bihar and we hope the next government will keep that in mind.'
The government will stick to its decision on making Hyderabad a common capital for 10 years, but may agree to a special package for Seema-Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
81 per cent voter turnout recorded in West Bengal, 80 per cent in Assam.
Opposition parties on Tuesday questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh and asked them to take the nation into confidence on the matter, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that India's borders will remain intact under Modi's leadership.
More than 50 students supported the cause by participating in this fest late on Sunday night. Earlier on May 27, Students' Federation of India staged similar protest in Kerala by eating beef outside University College, Trivandrum.
Opposition parties on Sunday slammed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and demanded her resignation for "helping" scam-tainted former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi.
Counting of votes would be take place on March 3
Twenty teams of the NDRF, comprising about 900 rescue persons, have been deployed in the state.
Why not triple talaq line to Sabarimala, Yechury asks Centre
As their parties are locked in a fierce battle for Bengal, Tathagata and Saugata Roy, siblings who belong to the BJP and the TMC respectively, answer the same questions put to them about the assembly election.
"What do they want us to do? They label us as a threat to peace and cage, confine and gag us. So how can we be of help?" said Mirwaiz.
'As a person who has seen the treasure, I am worried about its safety.'
'Every day, when I deliver milk, I talk to the families and find out what is happening in their lives.' 'That is how you get to know the real issues and find solutions.'
The veteran Kerala Congress leader had been a dominant player in Kerala's coalition politics, serving under six chief ministers.
The real danger in India is not majoritarianism but minorityism, a bane we have already experienced. Majoritarianism in the India context means plurality and tolerance. No one needs to fear, says Vivek Gumaste
The bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha after the Speaker rejected Opposition demands to refer the key reform measure to a parliamentary Standing Committee.
Tripura's popular chief minister shows up the failures of the elitist central leadership of India's Left, says Devesh Kapur
This was a difficult election to win, but the Modi card, the caste divide and the division in the Opposition vote bank helped overcome many challenges.
The ruling coalition won 125 seats in the 243-member state assembly against 110 clinched by the opposition Grand Alliance to pave the way for a fourth successive term for Kumar in office.
The farmers' tractor rally - Kisaan Parade - against the farm laws was expected to be held after 12 pm. However, huge crowds gathered on the borders at around 8 am.
Singh also said that lynching incidents have been happening for years and mentioned that the biggest lynchings happened in 1984.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the delegation. She said Modi government was 'shutting down' people's voices and bringing legislations which are not acceptable to them.
The pleas also include a separate petition alleging hate speeches by other political figures including Congress party's Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
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.
The outrageous remarks by Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Pal reflect the reality of "politics of terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Thursday, as it moved Parliament to seek action against him.
Haasan said that interference in the functioning of an elected government is 'unacceptable in a democracy'.
