'If a politician asks the policeman to do something which is not correct, then why blame the politician?' 'If you do it, then you are equally liable.'
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
'Somewhere in the midst of the three milestones of 1881, 1984 and 1999 are the clues that provide the answer to the troubling corrosion of Karnataka politics: The disappearance of values, the criminalisation of politics, and the complete collapse of ideology,' says Krishna Prasad, former editor-in-chief, Outlook.
The raids were carried out across 23 locations in the state and involved around 200 sleuths, they said.
Stalin owes his victory this time, like in 2019, to the hate-campaign of the local Hindutva forces, which kept haranguing him, and even his dead father, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Kerala may have the worst physical infrastructure -- potholed roads to overflowing drains -- of the four major southern states, but does anybody care? Given all this you may think Kerala's voters lack any options come Election Day. That would be a mistake.'
A complaint was filed on Tuesday in a local court seeking penal action against Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari for "hurting" religious sentiments of lakhs of followers of Swami Vivekananda by comparing him with mob boss Dawood Ibrahim.
Saisuresh Sivaswamy tells us what we must know from the election news in the print and television media.
The tenures of three more officers -- Joint Director Arun Kumar Sharma, Deputy Inspector General Manish Kumar Sinha and Superintendent of Police Jayant J Naiknavare -- have also been curtailed, it said.
Sticking to the demand for the sacking of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over 'Lalitgate', Rajasthan Congress on Friday submitted a memorandum to Governor Kalyan Singh charging that her position has become "untenable" in view of the controversy.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted on Wednesday night that Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria's explanation about his 2014 meeting with former IPL-boss Lalit Modi in London appeared "satisfactory".
'Vajpayee told the minister disapprovingly: "One should not fight with the tools one uses".' Ministers in the Modi government could have done with that advice.
By all yardsticks 2024 isn't expected to be like 2014 or 2019. But with the mandir expected to be ready in time for the next Lok Sabha polls, Modi will have a new ally in Ram to see him through, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Though EPS has sworn peace for now, or so it seems, his camp is said to be considering the possibility of calling an early meeting of the party's general council, to get a mandate in his favour before things went out of control. Ground-level indications are that OPS had lost his limited base, which alone had forced him to patch up with the other, reportedly at the instance of the BJP ally at the Centre, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The chief minister skipped meals and remained awake the entire night on a makeshift dais along with some senior ministers and party members.
From lining up allies to having them accept him as the Opposition's prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's real challenge has just begun, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
On a day of dramatic developments, The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday night sought the removal of its senior-most nominee in the Union Cabinet, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, hours after he proposed a hike in railway passenger fares, plunging the UPA government in an unusual political crisis.
'He (Modi) has spoken of being a prime minister for all Indians but he...presides over and has mostly been silent in the face of widespread communal violence, mob lynching and cow vigilantism'
The Congress has revoked Buta Singh's expulsion and assigned him to hold back-channel talks with Jayalalithaa and Mayawati.
Speaker Ramesh Kumar said the motion of confidence would reach finality on Monday and it would not be prolonged further under any circumstances, to which the government agreed.
Dinesh Trivedi continued to be Railway Minister on Thursday but only just with the United Progressive Alliance leadership appearing to have buckled under the Trinamool Congress demand to sack him, an action that has been temporarily delayed by the Union Budget to be presented on Friday.
A day after he was shunted out of the post of Mumbai police commissioner, senior IPS officer Rakesh Maria on Wednesday said he was not contemplating quitting.
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
Yechury could play the role Harkishan Singh Surjeet had played in 1996 and 2004 to unify the opposition, writes Archis Mohan.
'The BJP was looking at one or two disgruntled guys to see whether it can destabilise the government.' 'When the BJP does not win a state, it uses these back hand methods.'
'There is no future for the Shiv Sena under Uddhavji's leadership.'
YSR Congress party honorary president and member of Legislative Assembly Y S Vijayamma on Monday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to direct Central Bureau of Investigation to act "impartially" unyielding to any pressure from its political bosses as far as investigations against her son and Kadapa member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy are concerned.
'It would be a pity if Tharoor were to be punished for a tweet, no matter how cheekily offensive it may appear to our home-grown politicians. He has said and written far worse to merit retribution for something which is at best a sarcastic comment on dubious austerity,' says Kanchan Gupta.
However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling 'Modi brand' of 'soft Hindutva' and 'hard-sell nationalism' garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Noting that it was his government that had recommended a CBI probe into the actor's death, Kumar said the incident saddened both the state and the country.
FIFA formally signed the new World Anti-Doping code on Friday during its annual Congress in Sydney. Soccer's world governing body had previously been reluctant to sign the agreement because it was opposed to some of WADA's (World Anti-Doping Agency) rules, including uniform two-year bans for athletes caught using performance-enhancing drugs.
'Look at the number of billionaires, the number of new billionaires in India.' 'Adani and Ambani are not the only ones.' 'What's wrong with people making money as long as it benefits us?'
The legendary Seshan was not keeping good health for the past couple of years and he passed away at about 9.30 pm, a senior police official told PTI.
'I think he had this in his head to go to different places, get some experience and then become the Congress president.'
Breaking his silence, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday came out in strong defence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the 'Modigate' saying she acted "bona fide" and with "good intentions" and the entire government and party were one on the issue.
'Change is the rule of politics.'
By getting the Tamil Nadu assembly to act on his very imaginative public declaration to keep petro-chemical industries out of the Cauvery delta, which has traditionally been a DMK stronghold, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has not only set the ball rolling for the assembly elections due a year later but also sent out a strong message to the BJP government at the Centre, which took a unilateral decision to exempt petro-complexes from environmental clearance, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The party's gamble to go in for early elections paid rich dividends.
'To them, the day may not be far off when the state BJP starts claiming and propagating that Modi is next only to AIADMK's late boss Jayalalithaa,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Whether she will remain CPP chairperson or not, that she will decide.'