The ruling BJP and opposition Congress have together fielded sons of sitting and former MLAs in at least 20 of the total 182 constituencies.
With the exit polls predicting a victory for the National Democratic Alliance, Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Tuesday went into a huddle, triggering speculations about finding a successor to Narendra Modi, but the party dismissed such conjectures and described the talks as "routine".
A total of 19 legislators from the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party were suspended from the Gujarat assembly for a day on Wednesday after they shouted slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party government before walking out of the House over the issue of a fake trainee PSI found undergoing training at a state-run police training academy.
Stepping up his offensive against Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that there is a "partnership" between the BJP PM candidate and Adani and accused the industrialist of "funding" the Modi marketing blitz to return "favours".
Hype has been created over the issue of Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate after appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as election campaign chief to "target the party", BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said on Monday.
The Congress vice president asked people if Vibrant Gujarat had helped them in any way.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took a dig at Congress President Sonia Gandhi alleging the "misrule" of the party led by her will script its "worst-ever" drubbing at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in coming assembly elections.
BJP MP Poonamben Maadam on Thursday said that it was mere a 'misunderstanding' that led to a verbal spat between party MLA Rivaba Jadeja at a public event after they exchanged barbs over the 'use of slippers' while paying tributes to the bravehearts.
Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Dhanraj Kella, legislator from Wadhwan constituency, is the first rebel member to resign from the BJP and as a legislator after distribution of tickets. He submitted his resignation to Speaker Mangaldas Patel.
When the votes get counted for the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will be hoping to set a few new records.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Gujarat assembly was on Friday adjourned for an hour as Congress Members of Legislative Assembly stalled the proceedings for the third consecutive day, seeking dismissal of two Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, who have been accused of watching porn in the House. As soon as Question Hour began, Congress MLAs began to shout slogans, demanding the dismissal of those watching "nude clips in the House". They left their seats and gathered near the Speaker's podium.
Gujarat has been the petri dish in which Hindu fascism has been fomenting a political experiment, she wrote in the inaugural issue of the Indobrit, a magazine.
Modi had won the last election in Gujarat with the active support of RSS and its allies like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. However, with the organisation deciding to remain aloof this time around, things might turn out be different for the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi mostly stayed away from the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, choosing to focus on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
As Modi takes guard for a third term with trusted and seasoned hands around him, the BJP is hopeful that he will prove his detractors wrong and continue to fuel the party's expansion horizontally and vertically with his inventive policies in government and new set of ideas in politics with the core of Hindutva, development and welfarism remaining intact.
Party sources revealed some half-a-dozen more legislators faced suspension for their outbursts against Modi.
As a consequence of prominence given to the brutality during those few days, a very important aspect of that episode got almost glossed over. This was the intervention by a very significant section of people who restored faith in humanity, and conveyed the message that only a small section of Indians, that too politically backed, were consumed by anti-Sikh majoritarianism. The overlooked facet of the events of 1984 was the story of significant sections of the city's populace, public figures and nondescript ones, stepping out hand-in-hand, to first stand with little but bravery in hands, in the way of attackers, and thereafter to provide immediate relief to those who lives were uprooted and who lost family members in the violence, recalls Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
These resignations came a day after BJP high-command issued notices to Patel and Rana and suspended two other leaders, Vallabh Kathiria and Somabhai Patel -- 'for hurting the party's interests' during the Gujarat elections.
That for many of the UPA allies it will be the first time they would contest in Gujarat's mainly bipolar polity, shows how the Congress has succumbed to the pressure of its allies.
Jaitley, who is on a two-day visit to the state, held meetings with party leaders here to form election strategy, BJP sources added.
The priority in ticket distribution will be given to youth, women, and those with a clean image, he said.
Members from Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), Congress, RJD and BSP termed as serious the killing of one Sohrabuddin allegedly in a fake encounter in the state.
The BJP's massive victory will make it hard for the party to derive a criterion for selecting ministers, as the claimants will be many and the berths, few.
Gujarat BJP leaders on Friday said if the physician-turned-politician, once a member of the powerful Narendra Modi ministry in the state and rising star in politics, wants to return to active politics, the saffron party will definitely assign work to her.
Second line of leadership might soon have to play a key role, says Premal Balan
'... dividing society not just on religious lines, but also creating rift in families and among brothers and sisters.'
Even BJP leaders in Gujarat feel that party's image has taken a beating due to two controversial issues that have cropped up just when the term of its government is to end in December this year.
Two Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Legislative Assembly, accused of watching obscene pictures on an iPAD in the Gujarat assembly, have been given a clean chit by the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar.
Narendra Modi, who powered Bharatiya Janata Party to an emphatic victory in Gujarat, was today sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time at the head of a 17-member ministry, in a ceremony boycotted by Opposition Congress and National Democratic Alliance ally Janata Dal-United.
Bharti accused the media of distorting her statement, attributing it to the BJP's agenda.
The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
Gohil, speaking after the HC ruling earlier in the day, maintained that in the past the apex court has provided relief to accused in different cases.
Undaunted by Bharatiya Janata Party president L K Advani's praise of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, party rebels of the state on Wednesday met a number of senior leaders as part of their efforts to seek Modi's ouster.
Sharing his experience of the yatra so far, the Congress leader said he felt sad while talking to farmers, youth, and tribals.
The six MLAs resigned from various committees of the legislative assembly saying that they were "choked" with the environment within the party.
The Gujarat government's competitive examination for the recruitment of junior clerks was cancelled hours before it was scheduled on Sunday after its question paper leaked, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday used a sting operation by a news channel to defend former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, and claimed that the CBI was being forced to press "politically motivated" and "malafide" charges against him.
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