Extending its winning run in the south, the Congress on Sunday won 64 assembly seats to form government in the Bharat Rashtra Samiti-dominated Telangana, with the southern solace coming in the midst of a saffron sweep of the Hindi heartland where the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested two states from the grand old party and retained one.
The Election Commission has announced dates from October 18 for polls in the state.
He also said there are leaders who stand firm in their ideology but their number is gradually declining.
The government on Wednesday hoped that four political parties in Andhra Pradesh -- Congress, Telugu Desam Party, MIM and YSR Congress -- will take a call on Telangana issue by end of December, enabling it to convene an all-party meeting.
Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
'All-India alliances are not the priority today.' 'Therefore, the CPI-M's political line dovetails with the emergent political reality in the country,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
Setting aside ideological differences, the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India Marxist have joined hands in Sikkim to unitedly fight Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling's Sikkim Democratic Front in the assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year.The decision to form the UDF was taken in a meeting of Opposition leaders. The alliance is between the three national level parties and two other regional parties.
Despite heavy snowfall in Srinagar, the rally to mark the culmination of Bharat Jodo Yatra went ahead, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other prominent leaders of opposition parties addressing the march.
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
Veteran Communist Party of India leader Govind Pansare, who was shot at earlier this week, died at a hospital in Mumbai late Friday night after he was airlifted for treatment to the city this evening from Kolhapur. He was 82.
CPM politburo member Hannan Mollah said the party is facing one of the toughest situations following its defeat in Tripura, which has "forced us to rethink in a new way".
The Left Front on Sunday took strong exception to United Progressive Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's comments against those opposing the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement and alleged that the Congress was forcing elections on the country. "The Congress is going to an election mode. It is the Congress which will be responsible if the governments falls and an election is imposed on the country," Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan said.
They said they will raise issues related to rising prices, unemployment, corruption and caste census.
Tension was palpable in the area, and a large police contingent was deployed to prevent any further flare-up.
It is the first time that Modi and Xi came face-to-face since the Chinese People's Liberation Army occupied Indian territory in Ladakh in April 2020.
This demand was put forward by the party delegations, which separately called on Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, who is in the state capital to review the poll preparations. The two major parties in the state, Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Congress, however, did not make this demand.
'By treating Nepali politicians as shabby buffoons to be pampered one day and collared another day, India badly exposed itself.' 'A belief got entrenched in the Nepalese mind that we are a dangerous neighbour,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Is Mamata Banerjee's decision to support United Progressive Alliance's presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee going to change the dynamics of opposition politics in West Bengal? Both Congress and Communist Party of India Marxist rule out that possibility and insist that instead the heat would be more and more on the ruling Trinamool Congress in the coming days.
The Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday finalised a 14-member coordination-cum-election strategy committee comprising members of various parties, and it will function as the alliance's highest decision-making body and start work on seat-sharing immediately, sources said.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings, including with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.
Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving in Bengaluru on Monday for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The issue was first raised by Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha during Question Hour, when he asked Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan if the land in the Kaliabor area was allotted under the state's 'Basundhara' scheme.
The political heat in West Bengal has been giving the rising mercury levels serious competition since the high court order.
As Congress intensified efforts for a consensus candidate for the vice president's post, the Communist Party of India Marxist said it is in favour of a candidate who does not belong to the Congress. This was conveyed by CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had recently contacted him as part of efforts to seek support of political parties in selection of a candidate in the vice presidential election.
More than Congress legislator Karma's loss, it's the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Bheema Mandavi which surprises many; for, the Communist Party of India's candidate Manish Kunjam's anti-Salwa Judum campaign in Dantewada had made the latter a favourite among the rural masses. Kunjam had seemed a sure winner in case Karma fell from grace
The Lok Sabha MP from Maldaha Dakshin said Congress' alliance partner Communist Party of India-Marxist forged a tie-up with Indian Secular Front of Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui as it feared it will not be able to win a single seat.
'Kanhaiya is eager to play a more active political role as a young leader of a major mainstream party.'
The Left party leader said the lesson from Gujarat was that 'deep-rooted communalism cannot be fought just by momentary electoral tactics, however well-designed' but by taking up the immediate problems of the people 'affected by the unabashed rightwing economic policies.'
The Delhi battlefield may not be a cakewalk for the Rhodes Scholar.
Karat, however, clarified that the third front should be formed on the basis of a policy and not as an electoral arrangement.
The governor accepted Kumar's resignation, and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed, they said.
'The Congress's arrogance and unrealistic claims have weakened the anti-BJP movement at the national level.'
The elections for the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha election is expected some time next week. The vacancy arose because the term of K Rehman Khan has ended. The Bharatiya Janata Party will take the contest seriously; much like it did for the Presidential and vice-presidential polls and may ask the Telugu Desam Party or the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to contest.
TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose submitted a letter to the Election Commission on Thursday.
Nearly 57 per cent of total income of five national parties during financial year 2013-14 was from sale of coupons (smaller donations), a leading election watchdog NGO has said.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed its disapproval of the move by some Members of Parliament writing to United States President Barack Obama, seeking denial of visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the "nation is bigger than politics".
Speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the CAA is 'against the Constitution and humanity'. The resolution was supported by both the opposition parties Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front. The BJP legislature party opposed the resolution.
The Opposition is also expected to target the Eknath Shinde-led government on shifting of mega projects like Foxconn to Gujarat, according to political observers.
Listing out issues over which the Trinamool Congress has differed with its ally Congress so far, the Communist Party of India - Marxist on Thursday asked how the two parties could continue to co-exist in the United progressive Alliance coalition and the government."We can't understand on which issue the Trinamool Congress agrees with the government. First, we want to know how they are co-existing," said CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury.
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