'Except for the Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, the BJP has not found any permanent friends.' 'This is because most parties are genuinely concerned about what Hindutva politics does to Indian society,' argues Aakar Patel.
Two namesake contestants from rival parties, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress, will slug it out in the November 25 Assembly elections from the prestigious north Bhopal constituency.
Protests continued to stall the monsoon session of Parliament, as it entered the last week on Monday.
'On a new kidney, her immune system still getting used to it, she took on the Pakistanis at the UN, held meetings with her counterparts from across the world, and presented a picture of incredible poise and dignity,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The Congress sent in Rahul Gandhi to play Aamir Khan at the FTII, but it turned out that he played Imran Khan instead, says Malavika Sangghvi.
Articulate segments of Muzaffarpur have been at the the forefront of all anti-establishment mobilisation, which makes their silence over the atrocities in a shelter home in the town puzzling. Could it be that if those accused of horrific crimes belong to dominant castes and if the victims belong to the vulnerable groups, then the middle classes become mute, asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Even as politics engaged him more, he never hid his way of life. On one occasion, Morarji Desai pleaded with him to stop drinking publicly. "You stick to your pissky and I'll stick to my whisky'' he is supposed to have told him.
Just as the mighty Bhim sacrificed his son Ghatotkach and Arjun sacrificed his son Abhimanyu in the battle against Kauravas, Yashwant Sinha must ask his son Jayant to sacrifice his ministerial office, says Sudhir Bisht.
The amended bill also provides for a stiff Rs 1 crore penalty and a jail term for private entities for storing Aadhaar data.
It is impossible to say when would these leaders stab each other for political gains," it said.
Kumar's comments at the party's national executive meeting came amid a strain in his ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and appears to be a message to his ally, some of whose leaders have been linked to alleged communal tensions and violence in the state.
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
The classic Third Year or Mid-Term Problem has afflicted all but two prime ministers who have lasted a full term, give or take a few months this way or that, points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'Sharad Yadav was deeply hurt by Nitish Kumar's decision, taken without consulting the senior party leaders at a time when opposition unity was to be strengthened against the BJP. He felt ignored and is likely to take a final stand soon.'
'As general elections draw near, the BJP and the JD-U (in whatever form it is) will do a deal -- the state to the JD-U in return for support at the Centre for the BJP.'
'This is the first time a majority ruling government is nominating a Dalit for President.' 'So, the moral credibility definitely will go with the BJP, particularly Narendra Modi.'
If Manmohan Singh was hobbled by allegations of sleaze and a stagnant economy, Modi faces the twin challenges of high unemployment and an uncertain and potentially volatile situation in Kashmir, points out Amulya Ganguli.
'His secularism merely declared the equality of all religions in India under fundamental rights.'
More than two decades after the then Janata Dal disintegrated, six of its constituents merged on Wednesday to form a new party which will be headed by Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav.
An estimated 47 per cent voters exercised their franchise on Sunday in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation polls
The Opposition is putting up a symbolic fight for the presidential polls as it knows that the BJP has the numbers to get its candidate elected to the top post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will soon get around to reworking their organisational set-up and administrative priorities to regain lost ground in the wake of the Delhi electoral debacle, but there's third course available to them as well. That is to introduce the presidential form of government, which prime ministers Indira Gandhi and A B Vajpayee flirted with before abandoning it. Will Modi go further than them? N Sathiya Moorthy analyses the scenario.
The desecration of Vidyasagar's statue during Amit Anilchandra Shah's rally, which the TMC projected to be a 'Bhojpuri' and 'Dhokla' invasion on West Bengal's culture, may help her gain some favour with middle-class and erudite Bengalis in the last phase of the polls.
The prime minister also said if there is a 'kabaristaan' (graveyard), there should be a 'shamshaan' (cremation ground) too.
'The JD-U has become an ideology-less accessory to the BJP,' says Ambassador Pavan Varma, who has been expelled from the JD-U.
Maithripala Sirisena was considered so meek and self-effacing that he appeared no threat to anyone. What a mistake his rivals made!
The passage of this major legislation comes ahead of the general election due early next year.
'Clarifying that modernisation of national defence and armed forces should be completed by 2035, Xi Jinping asserted the goal is to make the People's Liberation Army a "world class force" that "can fight and win" by 2050,' points out former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
Xi has already been elected as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China at its once-in-five-year congress in October last year.
Taking on the government in Parliament a second time in three days Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the government on the issue of net neutrality.
'Freebies are yet be proven a 'pucca' vote-catcher. But don't say that to KCR because he takes pride in two things: His record of delivery and imagination,' says Shekhar Gupta.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad and other leaders claimed the countdown for the ouster of the BJP and its allies from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had begun.
"We are actually shocked. The prime minister did not even take into confidence chief ministers of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, who are directly affected. Here is another show of arrogance of this government," Gandhi told media persons.
"Will anybody want a servant that who is on vacation when needed at home? And nobody knows where he is," he continued.
"If you are so bent on giving suggestions, you should elect a new Speaker," an angry Speaker Sumitra Mahajan remarked on Friday as she pulled up Jyotiraditya Scindia and Pappu Yadav for causing repeated disruptions and unruly scenes in the Lok Sabha, including tearing of papers.
The opposition on Thursday criticised as mere "fluff" and "gimmickry" the government's decision to restructure Planning Commission and rechristen it "Neeti Ayog" and voiced apprehension that it will discriminate against the states and help "corporates call the shots" in policy making.
Demanding the case be handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation, the victim alleged that the administration has done little to ensure the security of women in the state.
The Congress kept sheltering Quattrochi, and the BJP was more intent on shielding the Hinduja brothers. The fact is that the two roads crisscrossed, and neither the truth prevailed nor did the law take its course, says Mohan Guruswamy.
Confrontation between government and opposition is set to escalate with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday suspending 25 Congress members for five days for "persistently, wilfully obstructing" the House".
The Left parties said they have come together to provide an option to the public to provide "people's rule" in the true sense.
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