There are around 15 lakh diamond workers in Gujarat, including nearly seven lakh employed in units in Surat, which is the largest hub of cutting and polishing of these precious stones.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh for the first time, drew a blank securing just 1.10 per cent of the total votes cast.
Former Union Minister and Congress candidate from Chhota Udepur, Naranbhai Rathwa, has approached the Election Commission taking objection to the shooting of Gujarat Tourism Development Corporation's campaign involving megastar Amitabh Bachchan.
The Congress has been organizing these mock assembly sessions in every district headquarter.
A dedicated party worker, who made his way up in the state politics from the municipality level, Patel was a surprise choice for the top post when the BJP decided to effect a regime change, replacing the entire ministry a year before the elections.
It was the summer of 2006 (May 18). Writers' Building, then the state secretariat, was buzzing with journalists. The event marked the start of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's second term as chief minister. And in style, it got off with West Bengal bagging the small car plant, Nano.
Five-time MLA Parshottam Solanki, who is also known as 'Bhai' among his followers, has been winning Bhavnagar-Rural with a comfortable margin.
Criticising Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government for its "insensitive" approach towards farmers, Congress leaders on Thursday gave Rs 1 lakh each to family members of three farmers who committed suicide due to crop failure early this month.
Gujarat Congress president Siddarth Patel and state assembly leader Shaktisinh Gohil on Wednesday led a delegation of party Members of Legislative Assembly and state leaders to President Pratibha Patil to seek her 'constitutional intervention' in the state to restore democracy, peace and law and order.
Nearly half of the MPs elected in the 2019 general elections in India were first-timers.
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.
"Word of the day! Definition of *snollygoster* US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician. First Known Use: 1845. Most recent use: 26/7/17," Tharoor had tweeted in 2017.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also slammed Kejriwal's continuation as the chief minister of Delhi despite being under arrest, saying it is the most unfortunate moment in the country's political journey and the worst kind of politics.
For the Congress to be taken seriously, it has to convince those around it that it could actually double its Lok Sabha seat share from the existing 52, and vote-share by a third more from the stagnating 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Episodes of targeted attacks on Muslims established that for a section of people and, sadly, even officials of the State, the election results conveyed no lessons.' 'Opposition parties must not be hesitant in speaking out whenever the mob with tacit State support targets Muslims,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The NTA denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
Congress MP from Maharashtra Vijay Darda on Sunday praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's style of functioning and called him a "tiger".
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
The BJP holds 28 of the 59 Rajya Sabha seats that will soon face election.
Zala, a close associate of Thakor, was the MLA from Bayad in Sabarkantha district.
The Congress is hopeful of soon finalising the Lok Sabha poll seat-sharing arrangements with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, sources said on Friday, days after the principal opposition party arrived at an understanding with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
The Gujarat unit of the Congress on Saturday said that the Time magazine as well as the Brookings Institution's recent articles on Chief Minister Narendra Modi, which praised him for the state's development, were "biased, partial" and "highlight wrong facts about Gujarat".
'Rahul Gandhi should have prevented Nitish Kumar from going.' 'He must pacify Mamata Banerjee if he has a cause of Mohabbat Ki Dukaan.' 'He should bring this Mohabbat Ki Dukaan on the political canvas.'
Taking a dig at Narendra Modi, the Congress on Friday said that instead of trying to cash in on activist Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, the Gujarat chief minister should first appoint a Lokpal in the state. Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said, "It is an irony that Modi is talking about the campaign by Hazare when he has not appointed a Lokayukta in Gujarat". Gohil was referring to the statements made by Modi while addressing a public rally in Assam.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
'An old party like the Congress cannot rely solely on the prescriptions of a 'Doctor' whose motives and intentions are still unknown and that he does not look attached towards any party or ideology,' point out Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
With central Congress Party leaders turning down Gujarat leader Narhari Amin's request to be allowed to contest assembly polls from the Gandhinagar South constituency, the senior party loyalist on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, asking his supporters to ensure victory of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Patel (71), the top strategist and troubleshooter of the Congress party, died in a Gurugram hospital in the early hours of Wednesday following complications related to COVID-19.
The party also promised reservation to minorities on basis of their population after the caste census.
Every time we look at the Congress, its future, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, we find the situation more hopeless than even a few months earlier, observes Shekhar Gupta.
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The party was retaliating to farmers' suicide comment by BJP national treasurer Piyush Goyal.
'The same thing takes place in the Congress and we have to call it democracy'
The prospect of the Delhi chief minister's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, who has so far maintained a distance from politics, assuming a new role is also being discussed by people.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
Several candidates, including Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the BJP's Amritsar candidate, are promising resumption of India-Pakistan trade via the Attari-Wagah land route.
Vinai Kumar Saxena's current job as lieutenant governor of an Opposition-ruled state will raise the bar -- not just for him, but also for the Aam Aadmi Party government, which never says no to a fight with the representative of the central government in India's capital.
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