An AIADMK survey estimates that the party will get between 25 and 30 of Tamil Nadu's 39 seats. This makes Jayalalithaa a major player in New Delhi, if not a contender for the prime minister's post.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar is the 27th King of the Wadiyar dynasty.
There are 13 new faces, including two women, in the cabinet. Five ministers had held positions in previous LDF ministries.
The by-elections are seen as a prestigious popularity test for the ruling Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition, as the outcome is expected to have a bearing on the state's political scene.
He accused the Congress of putting up obstacles to the temple's construction through 'its lawyers' in the Supreme Court.
'The BJP had no traction in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah would have scraped through if he had not done all that he did.' 'When you pander to one community, the other community gets irritated.' 'Then, when you make fun of the cow and the treating of the cow as sacred, in your effort to belittle the Sangh Parivar and its obscurantism, you are hurting your normal voters too.' 'It is okay to make fun of the Sangh Parivar, but it is not okay to make fun of all Hindus.'
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
Karnataka government on Saturday moved the Supreme court seeking a review of its order directing the state to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu even as it faced strident calls from opposition parties not to release the water "at any cost".
Shatrughan Sinha won't attend, citing 'important personal engagements.' Will L K Advani be present? M I Khan reports on a swearing-in ceremony the likes of which Patna may not have seen before.
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, whom Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier gave a berth in the Rajya Sabha, was the surprise entry even for senior ministers who were seen asking each other about the background of the man from Punjab.
With the fall of Congress, Chidambaram's political graph too started moving southwards.
Participating in the debate on the budget, leaders of parties like the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Left launched an all-out attack on the BJP government for allegedly selling off the country's assets and PSUs to big industrialists.
Sources said while the Janata Dal-Secular will have nine new ministers, the Congress will have nearly 12 of its legislators inducted into the cabinet. Lone Bahujan Samaj Party MLA N Mahesh will also be a part of the cabinet expansion and will be given a key portfolio.
A final call will be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
Kumaraswamy predicted that the political instability would continue in the state.
Elections 2024 is not as open and shut as has been presumed. There is some life left in it, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
With the Modi government battling propriety issues over the Lalit Modi row and the furore on Vyapam scam, leaders of "like-minded" parties will meet for Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Iftar dinner on Monday where they are likely to deliberate on the strategy for Parliament session beginning July 21.
For the first time, large display screens and consoles for participation from galleries, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, special cables between the two Houses and polycarbonate separators will be in place.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
'The results show that he is the best person to manage individuals in the party.'
Pawar and his Manch can deliberate to their hearts' content, but so long as the Congress does not play ball the BJP has little to worry, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
So far as entitlements and privileges of a PM's wife are concerned, the rules, though, are not as clear.
Opposition parties on Tuesday questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh and asked them to take the nation into confidence on the matter, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that India's borders will remain intact under Modi's leadership.
Congress leaders were in for a rude shock on Monday when the media sidelined their much-touted Jawaharlal Nehru birth anniversary event, and instead turned its full attention to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was addressing thousands of supporters in Sydney's Allphones Arena
The prime minister said there was a need to cleanse Indian politics of Congress culture.
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam hugged Modi emotionally on a couple of occasions.
"The people of Karnataka have made up their minds to throw out the Siddaramaiah government. They are disappointed with it on many fronts, with corruption being the main issue. The relationship between corruption and Congress party is akin to water and fish," Shah said.
These parties also asked the Centre to present a revised comprehensive economic package that will be a 'true stimulus' and sought reversal of all unilateral policy decisions, especially pertaining to labour laws, as they put forth a 11-point demand charter before the government during a virtual meeting, called by the Congress to discuss the situation arising out of the pandemic as well as the lockdown.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
'Bommai's predicament is pathetic right now because deep inside he is not like this, but to remain in power he has to talk and speak against his own conscience.'
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Despite his Janata Dal-Secular finishing a poor third in the electoral battlefield, the 58-year-old Vokkaliga leader wore the crown.
Aditi Phadnis and Archis Mohan take a state by state takedown of the party's chances in the poll-bound states.
'Incompetent dynasts can lead to national ruin,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The ULB polls were also considered as indicative of the voters' mood before the next Lok Sabha elections.
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Constitution must reflect the reality of mature states because otherwise it is the Centre that will become irrelevant,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
"Anybody fighting for an ideology and appealing to the voice of conscience cannot be a scapegoat. I am a fighter and I will fight and I am sure that many will join me in this fight," she said in response to a question whether she was being made a scapegoat in the presidential election.
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