With the Bharatiya Janata Party deciding to move its Karnataka battleground to Delhi to parade its 105 MLAs before President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday, the Congress core committee, which met on Monday evening, decided to wait and watch the situation and not take any decision in haste.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
Muslim organisations in Dharwad have given a call for a 'bandh' (strike) on Monday, condemning the murder of 23-year-old college student Neha Hiremath in Hubballi recently.
'BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years'
Sources in the Special Cell said that now arrests are likely to follow across the country.
While former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi announced his decision to resign from primary membership of the party, minister and six-time MLA S Angara from Sullia constitiuency in Dakshina Kannada district announced his retirement from politics.
Parameshwara said the chief minister had written a letter to the prime minister on the issue, and added that cancelling Prajwal's passport after a warrant is issued against him is the Centre's duty.
The suspension came minutes after the party core committee that met in Hubballi recommended his suspension to its national president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, who is also Revanna's grandfather.
'The Karnataka government should be alert because in Gujarat during the same occasion, the Kar Sevaks were set on fire at Godhra'
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
The authorisation will be sent to Kharge and the MLAs decided to go by the decision of the party's top leadership, said Shivakumar, one of the AICC observers appointed to coordinate the CLP meetings.
As Election 2024 hurtles towards result day in a medley of mangalsutra, mujra, mutton, machli and other barbs, these may sound like character names from Hindi comics of yore. Instead, these are the mocking, sometimes vicious monikers given by political rivals to each other.
'Modiji has a vision for the country, not just to fight the elections but about achieving certain goals for the country.' 'Congress does not even have a vision for 25 days.'
While the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party hit out at the MLA and the Congress government, Shivakumar seeking to clarify, said no guarantee scheme will be stopped and it will be continued for five years.
In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Karnataka PCC President Dr G Parameshwar rubbishes reports of infighting in the party and predicts that the Congress will win 120 seats in Karnataka.
The controversy has sparked reactions across states. The famous Mankameshwar temple in Uttar Pradesh has now banned offerings of 'prasad' bought by devotees from outside and said they can offer homemade 'prasad' or fruits.
The MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli, Umesh Jadhav, and Nagendra -- did not ascribe any reason for not attending the opening day's session.
The Kannada and Culture Minister also said the BJP should be ashamed to ask for votes in the coming Lok Sabha elections as, he alleged, it has failed on the development front as well.
Amid the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu on Thursday left for Delhi to 'meet' the Congress high command.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
Chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states -- Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana's Revanth Reddy -- have announced they will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting over alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget.
The ULB polls were also considered as indicative of the voters' mood before the next Lok Sabha elections.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
The canteens would provide breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at a cost of Rs 10.
Siddaramaiah, who hails from the shepherd Kuruba caste, holds the record for presenting the highest number of Budgets in Karnataka -- 13 so far. He has often spoken about how he was mocked in 1994 before he presented his first Budget. 'Some people asked, "Can he count sheep?",' Siddaramaiah told a regional news channel.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held a virtual meeting with senior party leaders on Saturday and asked them to be vigilant, party sources said in Hyderabad.
Following his complaint to the poll panel, the CEO forwarded it to the city police for a factual report, resulting in the registration of an FIR against Shah by the Moghalpura police station at 7 pm on Thursday.
The 33-year-old Prajwal was the National Democratic Alliance candidate in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls on April 26.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will get a 'decisive mandate' in the Lok Sabha polls and may take even less than 48 hours to decide on its prime ministerial pick, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday, asserting that it stands to reason that the party which gets the maximum seats in the alliance will be a 'natural claimant' for its leadership.