The NCP is in talks with its ally Congress for a possible alliance with the Shiv Sena, after the Sena's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party fell apart over the chief minister's post.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The Congress has almost decided to accept the demand for a separate state of Telangana but is still to work out the nitty-gritty of Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation.
'The BJP core committee has been closely watching the political developments here in Maharashtra. We will take the right decision'
The BJP Legislature Party meeting is scheduled for Friday, during which the election of its leader, who will also be the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, is likely to be announced.
Speaking to reporters in Panaji, the BJP's Goa desk in-charge C T Ravi said there was no discontent among the eight MLAs who joined the party earlier this year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will have an understanding with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in Karnataka.
The former chief minister also sought to distance JD-S's alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the case, amid attacks by the ruling Congress seeking their response on the issue.
'If you look at the average age of all our candidates, you will notice that their average age is between 35 and 40. It is a kind of revolution that the MNS is bringing in Maharashtra.'
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Earlier, Vijay Wadettiwar questioned the recent meeting between Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar, who heads the rival faction of the party.
Seat sharing and campaign is likely to be top of the agenda, they added.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday said the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party had discussed with him before finalising the names of two "low profile" party workers as candidates for the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls from the state. "Only the BJP can take such decisions and give opportunity to ordinary karyakartas. From our core committee (state) we had sent some names, but ultimately our national president spoke to me and said it has been decided to give tickets to ordinary party workers, we discussed it, after which the two names have been finalised."
The BJP has nominated sitting MLA Dayanand Sopte from Mandrem assembly segment, which Parsekar had represented between 2002 and 2017.
B Y Vijayendra said power and position itself are not the ultimate objectives in politics.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named its candidates for assembly bypolls in several states, fielding six disqualified MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh assembly in the state days after they joined the party after leaving the Congress.
Asked by reporters if there will be surprise candidates in the fray from the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said: "Certainly, there is a plan for new experiments in certain constituencies and they will happen."
In fresh turmoil in Team Anna, two prominent activists P V Rajagopal and 'Waterman' Rajendra Singh on Tuesday quit its core committee objecting to the movement taking a "political turn" and claimed that it was mired in confusion.
After having gone out on a limb over the creation of Telangana, the UPA government is expected to go for the kill and do whatever it takes to pass the bill in Lok Sabha. But the question remains whether the Congress would really be able to push the bill in the noise and confusion. Renu Mittal reports.
While Brijlal Khabri, former BSP MP from Jalaun, is UP Congress Committee chairman, former UP cabinet minister and Mayawati's once close confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui heads the party's state media department. Completing the ex-BSP troika, Nakul Dubey, former UP cabinet minister in the Mayawati dispensation (2007-12), is one of the six UP Congress regional presidents. He is reckoned among the most active of the three.
Senior Congress leader Rajani Patil is set to be declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra after the opposition BJP on Monday withdrew its candidate from the next month's bypoll.
Speaking after the core committee meeting, Yediyurappa said the disqualified MLAs have expressed intention to join the party on Thursday and they would be given the membership.
The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
Opposition Congress claimed that the accused was linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ruling party, however, denied the allegation.
India received consular access on at least three occasions to Nikhil Gupta, who is detained in a Czech prison following charges by the United States relating to a foiled assassination attempt on a Sikh extremist.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiormani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
With Eranna Bhimappa Kadadi and Ashok Jasti -- one Lingayat and one from the OBC -- named as BJP's candidates for the upper house, bypassing the recommendation of the state unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, as well as the core committee of the state, BJP leaders in Karnataka say the move is calculated to diminish the stature of the CM and create conditions for him to be eased out.
The Congress chief met Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to chalk out a strategy on the controversial legislation. Vicky Nanjappa reports
'Let me reveal for the first time that around August 2019 Congress President Sonia Gandhi told the Congress leadership and CWC members to form a consensus over the name of a non-Gandhi leader.'
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was on Thursday made a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party.
With the Congress top brass in New Delhi likely to take a final call on Friday on the vexed Telangana issue, the development has sparked a flurry of activities in the Andhra Pradesh capital.
With the Congress all set to accept the long-pending demand for a separate state of Telangana, the matter is slated for discussion at the party's working committee meeting to be convened before the monsoon session commences on August 5
The Sena received a boost on Friday with 3 Independent corporators joining the party, raising its total tally in the BMC to 87.
Priyanka Gandhi gets into rigorous damage control mode in wake of her party's eroding popularity ahead of the polls, reports Renu Mittal
A decision on the vexed issue of Telangana is expected before Monsoon session of Parliament which is likely to start after August 15.
In the five years in politics Priyanka Gandhi has undeniably emerged as a thorn in the BJP flesh, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. It is time that this thorn is twisted a wee bit more when the elections have become far more uncertain than what it was when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
After six years of probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the closure report before a special court last week as it could not find enough evidence in the case to proceed with prosecution, the officials said.
The winter session will begin on December 7 and will last until December 29.
The Congress appears to be veering round to taking a call on the contentious Telangana statehood issue with party leader in charge of Andhra Pradesh saying consultation process is over and time for a decision has come.
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