Stressing that the Apna Dal-S stands for social justice, Union minister Anupriya Patel on Monday dissociated her party from "Hindutva and all those issues" and said it is ideologically different from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls scheduled for 2027, political experts are observing an increasing trend of temple-mosque disputes in the state, leading to heightened polarization. Recent bypolls saw the use of divisive slogans, and analysts believe this trend will intensify as the 2027 elections approach. The recent surge in claims about the existence of Hindu temples at the sites of mosques in various cities has fueled this polarization. The BJP-led government has been accused of promoting communal polarization, while opposition parties like the SP have criticized the ruling party's actions. The RSS chief has called for restraint in raising new temple-related disputes. Experts predict that communal polarization is likely to escalate in the coming days.
There are states that could swing either way and change the results of the 2024 general election.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
It will be a litmus test for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka when it battles the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) in the by-poll to the eight constituencies in Karnataka on Saturday.
The BJP and Congress have already launched spirited campaigns for the elections.
Calling former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party "communal" following its alliance with the BJP, he urged Janata Dal-Secular, to remove the word 'Secular' from its name.
Final tally of all parties in Karnataka assembly polls.
Headed by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, the JD-S has long been a strong third player in the southern state where the Congress and the BJP have been the two main parties.
The Lok Sabha constituencies that JD-S will contest are Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Tumkur, Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru North and Vijayapura.
By keeping the Sanatana Dharma row alive and adding the Ayodhya temple consecration scheduled for January 22 and adding the free darshan promise from four polled states to the entire country, the BJP may have a self-fulfilling concoction, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP had registered a one-sided victory on all the 17 SC-reserved seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But in 2019, out of these 17 seats, it lost Nagina and Lalganj seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
It is early to make out which way the wind is blowing, but there is no denying that challenges for the BJP, far outweigh the advantages in this region, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
With parliamentary elections round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka 'poached' two MLAs each from the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) in the last three days. While the number of new entrants into the BJP stands at four, party sources told rediff.com that the number is likely to go up to at least 10 as feelers have already been sent to the Siddaramaiah camp.
For now, the Congress and Janata Dal-S have decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy in the Karnataka crisis. Although it is rumoured that the JD-S has engineered the turmoil, they are not expected to swoop in till they get a clearer picture of the situation on October 11
The Governor's report comes four days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (S) staked a claim to form a coalition government. Congress has been pushing for dissolution of the assembly and holding of fresh elections. It is learnt that the Governor in his status report apprising the President, has referred to the petitions received by him from political leaders since October 7, the day BJP withdrew support to the JDS-led government.
"I'm an emotional person, but it is not my helplessness. Did I shed tears at a government programme? As chief minister I have worked towards implementing programmes strongly," he said.
The Congress in Karnataka on Wednesday found itself in a tight spot after a video showed a purported conversation between the party media coordinator M A Saleem and former Lok Sabha member V S Ugrappa attributing the Congress state president D K Shivakumar's involvement in a scam when he was a minister.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The assembly by-poll had assumed significance in the backdrop of the factionalism within the Congress, which had resulted in the party losing the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat in a by-poll two months back.
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.
The biggest mystery in Karnataka politics now seems to be the one regarding senior leader M P Prakash who fell out with the Janata Dal (S) recently.
The latest from Karnataka is that M V Rajashekharan, a minister at the Centre, is in the race to become the next chief minister. Rajashekharan has emerged as a consensus candidate if all goes well between the Janata Dal (S) and the Congress
There are 202 candidates in the fray, including Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane for the 40-member House, which will go to polls on June 2.
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.
Karnataka, by reposing its faith in BSY, remains a Hindutva stronghold, reports R Rajagopalan.
The MPs representing various political parties offered heartfelt tributes to the building that has been the epicentre of India's democratic journey.
'The BJP is using all the central agencies at its disposal (to undermine us).' 'We are also taking care that our MLAs are not poached.'
The ruling BJP-led coalition ended Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's over four-decade dominance in Rampur with its ally Apna Dal-Sonelal winning the Suar assembly by-election by a margin of 8,724 votes.
In line with exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Uttar Pradesh, after one hour of counting.
The bypolls were conducted for two Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Meghalaya and Odisha and the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab.
Glimpses from all the action from the campaign trail.
According to the results announced on Thursday, 25 Samajwadi Party candidates were defeated by less than 5,000 votes while a similar fate awaited three nominees of the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Ansari said the Muslim community is now shedding the 'illusion' created by opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress.
'It must have stung Devendra Fadnavis to see Modi asking MPs at the BJP parliamentary party meeting to give Yediyurappa a standing ovation for his victory in the by-elections that has resulted in pulling the BJP government in Karnataka off the ventilator,' notes Aditi Phadnis.
Sources in various parties suggest that two lakh votes of the Patel community, locally known as OBC kurmi, for which mother-daughter led Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are competing and over one lakh of OBC Rajbhars would be crucial in deciding the outcome of the assembly seats in Varanasi.
Aside from the 36 MPs, the meeting was also attended by BJP president J P Nadda and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, they said.
Voting for the seventh and final round will be held on March 7 for Varanasi and its eight adjoining districts.
The monk-turned politician will take the reins of the most populous state for a second time in a row after completing his full five-year term.
'For the Congress, it has become necessary to make alliances, but this is not easy to deliver at the local level,' says Aakar Patel.
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