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.
Amid opposition charges that the Bharatiya Janata Party was out to destroy the Constitution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that his government revered it and even Babasaheb Ambedkar would not be able to abolish it now.
'Every Congress leader in UP and the rest of India is calling me and thanking me that finally someone spoke about this JNU gang ruling the Congress party in UP.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday was joined by the mother of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student of the University of Hyderabad who died by suicide in 2016 following alleged harassment, in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hyderabad.
Accusing the Congress of playing gimmick after gimmick to woo dalits, Bahuijan Samaj Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Friday predicted that the next game of the party would be to install a Dalit as the country's prime minister.
The BJP and Congress have already launched spirited campaigns for the elections.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
On seeing them, Gandhi got off his vehicle, walked up to them and shook hands with several people in the crowd.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said he was in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims but emphasised that it should be based on social backwardness and 'not on the basis of religion'.
Enraged community members took out rallies in towns and cities, blocking roads, damaging buses.
'If the Maha Vikas Aghadi thinks that they have won 30 (Lok Sabha) seats and that would translate to winning 180 assembly seats they would be living in a fool's paradise.'
'In this assembly election, Muslims here will vote for one who works, but also one who safeguards their identity.' 'Their existence is more important they feel, than a faulty light meter. So yes, a Muslim representative will make a difference.'
'You are one of the drops that make that ocean, but when you leave it makes no difference to the ocean.'
Five-time MLA Parshottam Solanki, who is also known as 'Bhai' among his followers, has been winning Bhavnagar-Rural with a comfortable margin.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the two aspiring CMs.
The officials asked the residents to take a bath before attending a meeting with the CM so that they 'smell good'.
Wednesday's Vikravandi by-election has become a referendum on the Stalin government, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The youth -- their dreams of government jobs unfulfilled -- are voicing their frustration.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday vowed to thwart alleged attempts to rob Dalits and backward classes of reservations by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) which he accused of 'enslavement' and performing 'mujra' for Muslim vote bank.
To a question on switching loyalties between one party to another, she said she would stay put with the BJP for all time.
Stepping up his campaign against Rahul Gandhi in his home turf, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Monday visited a Dalit home where the Congress vice president had spent a night and claimed nothing has changed for the family.
Under attack over the controversial Rs 685-crore Dalit memorial, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday hit out at Congress saying it had no right to criticise when it has raised so many memorials for the Nehru-Gandhi family across the Yamuna bank in Delhi.
A case of murder has been registered against six persons and one of the accused is also a Dalit.
Taking strong exception to Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh's criticism of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's fad for her personal statues and monuments, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh has termed the tirade as a "reflection of the Congress party's anti-dalit mentality."
While it is the right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) which chose Kovind, Narayanan, a diplomat-turned politician, became vice president in 1992 and the president in 1997 courtesy active support from the Left, which had proposed his name first
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
'Don't be surprised if the Census forms come with a caste box.' 'I will be surprised if it doesn't. It will be a point conceded to Rahul Gandhi and his allies,' asserts Shekhar Gupta. The BJP machine could take all 3 in its stride, but this election has changed that, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Tharoor said there could be a surprise result in the election next year as there is an opposition coalition and there are chances of the INDIA alliance coming to power at the Centre by trouncing the BJP-led NDA in the general elections.
In what is being seen as a focused approach to the problems of Dalits and tribals in various states, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has begun interacting with some select legislators belonging to these categories.
Seeking to challenge Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's bid to attract Dalits, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari walked the extra mile to show his concern for the community on the eve of the three-day party meet beginning in Indore on Wednesday.
In a season of political deal-making, it would seem the BJP is not only keener to win new friends but is ahead of rival Congress in the game. Its only competition, if at all, has come from regional satraps and the Left parties, which on Tuesday resolved to fight the elections together against both the Congress and BJP.
This strategy was discussed when Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently visited Mysuru to discuss the BJP's Lok Sabha plan, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Incidents of arson, firing and vandalism were reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab as protesters agitated against the dilution of the SC/ST Act.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said his party would conduct a "caste census" if elected to power as only such an exercise would ensure the "participation of OBCs, Dalits, tribals and women".
A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the order on a bunch of petitions which had opposed the legislations brought by the Nitish Kumar government in November 2023.
Ram Vilas Paswan, 74, who was the Lok Janshakti Party patron, had undergone a heart surgery at a hospital in New Delhi a few days ago.
During his visit to Tumakuru district on Friday, the former chief minister who was accompanied by other party members visited the residence of a Dalit family where he allegedly ate 'idlis' from a nearby hotel and not the food prepared by the family.
'One needs to understand what kind of means the BJP use to bring other party leaders in their party.' 'They are unscrupulous politicians and money plays an important role.'
The BJP got the benefit of a split in Muslim votes in some seats of western UP, and its candidates registered wins from Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Aligarh Lok Sabha seats.
