Surprisingly, the BJP's nearest rival in ad spend was not the Congress, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
Purohit's resignation came a day after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
The setback promises to have far-reaching ramifications within and outside the party as it is likely to fuel voices that have challenged the Gandhi family's leadership and also those who have been a votary of a non-Congress front to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"Sometimes Sachin Tendular scored a century, sometimes he got out for Zero," Biswa said while reacting to party's loss in Karnataka.
Obama in an interview to CNN on Thursday had said that India may "pull apart" if the rights of the religious and ethnic minorities are not upheld.
An Independent Rajya Sabha MP on Monday lodged a police complaint against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party leader has made a "hate speech" against the 'Miya' community on the previous day.
Shinde will consult the MLAs with him and then decide when to return to Mumbai, his associate said.
The bandh, called by Barak Democratic Front and supported by political outfits including opposition AIUDF and social organisations, was "total" and there was no report of any untoward incident from any district, another official said.
The BJP will enter this election, as it does every election, as if it is fighting to prevent a 2004-style defeat. This is a party that wins big because it always behaves as if its back is to the wall, predicts Mihir S Sharma.
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
The defeat in the elections has put a question mark on the five-time MP and former Union minister's political future.
Modi, in his rally just days ahead of the last phase of the Lok Sabha election, also said that "well-wishers of Naveen babu are worried over his deteriorating health condition."
Congress supporters celebrate the Supreme Court's interim order to stay Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
'Besides Ayodhya, the BJP lost in nine other constituencies with a Ramayana imprint; it tasted success only in Thrissur.' 'In Rameswaram, K Navaskani of the Indian Union Muslim League won with a 44% voteshare in a 84% Hindu constituency.' 'In the 21 seats in the Ayodhya and Varanasi regions, both crucial to the Hindutva project, the BJP won just 7.' 'It won just 3 out of 12 seats around Modi's constituency,' points out Krishna Prasad.
"I have not come to discuss about the NRC in West Bengal, I have come to discuss about the NRC in Assam," Banerjee said after the meeting.
Robert Vadra said he has tested positive after he came in contact with someone who was COVID positive.
The Congress leader said he had warned the people of Assam before the Assembly elections in 2016 that hard earned peace would be hampered if the BJP came to power.
The poll panel has convened a press conference at 4.30 pm.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
Gujarat legislator Jignesh Mevani was granted bail by a court in Assam's Barpeta district on Friday in a case related to the alleged assault of a woman police officer.
The rear windscreen of a car carrying Rahul Gandhi was damaged during the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', with West Bengal unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleging that the vehicle was "pelted with stones" in Malda district, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed the incident took place in adjoining Bihar.
'The BJP and RSS were working on the ground to define who is an illegal immigrant.'
'We are pleased to announce the candidature of @sagarikaghose, @SushmitaDevAITC, @MdNadimulHaque6 and Mamata Bala Thakur for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections,' the party said in a tweet.
Two local leaders were arrested for allegedly inciting violence during the eviction drive at Sipajhar in Assam's Darrang district on September 23 in which two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in police firing and over 20 injured, an official said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May.
The results of bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats spread across 13 states and a union territory have been a mixed bag for the BJP as its fortunes continue to nosedive in West Bengal against the might of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while bad tidings have also come from states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The 86-year old veteran Congress politician, who was on Non Invasive Ventilation (NIV) since he was admitted at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on November 2 due to post-COVID complications, was put under invasive ventilation, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the government accused the Congress on Thursday of instigating violence in the northeast.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said that upon being produced before the competent magistrate in Delhi, Khera would be released on interim bail.
The momentum the BJP has in its favour is partly due to the anti-incumbency wave the Congress is battling.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
MVA allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress on Thursday asserted that they will continue to support Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose party Shiv Sena is facing a rebellion in its legislative ranks, threatening the stability of his government.
The Congress on Monday deferred the election to the post of party president till the COVID-19 situation improves and decided to set up a group to assess losses in the recent assembly polls, with party chief Sonia Gandhi saying it has to put its house in order by facing reality and drawing lessons from the 'serious setbacks'.
'The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.'
'The Indian Army and paramilitary have to land more in Assam as the situation is very bad, especially in upper Assam,' says BJP MLA Binod Hazarika whose home was burnt down by mobs.
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday named Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and its general secretary Arun Singh as central observers for the election of the leader of its legislative party in Assam.
The Trinamool Congress registered a decisive victory in West Bengal on Sunday, contrary to results of most exit polls which predicted a tight race between the BJP and the TMC with an edge to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
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