A dominant force in the country's politics for decades, the grand old party's free fall continued as it lost Punjab to AAP and finished with just two seats out of 403 in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
With their high-decibel campaigns so far, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party may appear to be locked in a direct fight in Uttar Pradesh.
Words and actions like those of R N Ravi and a vocal section of the state BJP have only added to Tamil fears and suspicions, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
The AAP on Thursday said if it is voted to power in UP, it will provide 300 units of free electricity to domestic consumers, waive 'inflated' bills and ensure 24-hour power supply.
As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
Amid signs of increasing bonhomie between her and her Telangana and Tamil Nadu counterparts Rao and Stalin, Banerjee had approached the two on Sunday to set up meetings of opposition chief ministers.
Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
Mamata said that she raised the issue of violence in Tripura in which TMC workers were allegedly assaulted by BJP workers.
Indian football being hit with a FIFA ban looked a real possibility on Tuesday after the commercial partners of the sport's governing body in the country approached the Supreme Court over contentious clauses in the draft constitution.
Leander Paes said he is currently busy working on a biopic to portray the father-son duo's legacy on the big screen.
The curtain came down on rumbustious electioneering over the last two months when assembly polls were also held in four other states - Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur.
'Mamata Didi is the only politician who can take on the might of Modi.'
With the Congress presidential polls round the corner, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said decisions, including that of one-man, one-post, taken at the Chintan Shivir at Udaipur in Rajasthan earlier this year are expected to be followed.
'Wait for more action the day after (the Friday meeting).'
'Putra-moh Congress ko nasht kar raha hai (Sonia Gandhi's love for Rahul Gandhi is destroying the Congress).'
The former India captain says he will consider contesting for the president of AIFF in the future.
It seems the grand old party is trying to stage a comeback in the state which it ruled at one time, but also to its progeny the Trinamool Congress which has vowed to come to power in Tripura in the 2023 state assembly elections.
The party is less forthcoming about who the chief minister will be if it stays in power.
"Let them show whatever they have got. We are winning with a majority," Akhilesh Yadav said, dismissing predictions to the contrary on some TV channels.
Some Congress leaders consider Kishor as an "overrated" person and argue that in 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, he led to the decline of the party.
'When I said the Gandhi family had to step aside, it was because we have consistently seen that the public has not accepted them.'
England included Kevin Pietersen, Mathew Hoggard and Gareth Batty in place of Owais Shah, Lian Plunkett and Sajid Mohammed for the fourth ODI.
'We have not decided yet if we will be joining hands with the BJP and, if so, what kind of ministries will be distributed among the rebel MLAs'
Gandhi may shift to either Goa or Chennai for a few days, sources said.
Asserting that there is a silent wave in his favour, Utpal Parrikar, elder son of late Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is contesting the February 14 Assembly election as an independent candidate from the Panaji seat, has said he was a favoured choice after his father's death in 2019, but was denied poll ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party due to local politics.
It was not a one-way ride up though for the man who now could potentially become the BJP's national president over time.
Parrikar asked voters to take money from other parties but vote for the BJP.
The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha assembled together in the Central Hall and chambers of both the Houses in view of the COVID-19 situation.
The EC's advisory, re-issued ahead of the three-phase elections in Bihar beginning later this month, asked the media, both electronic and print, to 'refrain' from airing and publishing such programmes during the prohibited period to ensure free, fair and transparent polls.
Regional films may have prevailed over the country, but regional leaders still have far mountains to climb to reach Delhi, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Elections are scheduled in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab.
'Whoever thought that building toilets and providing free rations to the poorest of poor Indians would give Modi a halo other political leaders would envy?' asks Sheela Bhatt.
Sibal also said the present dispensation wants an 'Opposition-mukt Bharat' not just a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'.
'How and why did we lose so many seats in places where we were expected to win?'
Any defeat for the BJP now would imply that anti-incumbency against Modi has set in, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
India's star boxer Vijender Singh does not want to carry the baggage of last year's maiden defeat on the professional circuit as he returns to the ring.
With the announcement of the dates of the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttrakhand, political parties have sharpened their attacks on their rivals in order to score a political advantage and attract voters to their fold. Bharatiya Janata party leader Rajnath Singh claimed that Congress party's presence in UP polls would be insignificant.
