The Congress, out of power in UP for 27 years is making a big pitch to bounce back, on a cocktail of caste politics and promises of agriculture debt waiver worth Rs 49,000 crore and power rate reduction for farmers hit by high input costs and diminishing returns., reports Amit Agnihotri.
Rahul exuded confidence that his party will emerge victorious in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly polls and defeat the BJP in the 2019 general polls.
'I had to submit my resignation from the BJP after just two weeks because they were very regressive.' 'There was no space for a free thinking individual.'
How has Raj Thackeray, who is as much a businessman as politician, been able to pull it off, when most Opposition politicians live in fear of IT and ED and CBI, asks Krishna Prasad after attending a Raj rally in Nashik.
The year 2015 was a mixed bag for the Grand Old party --with the performance in Bihar being a consolation while the the National Herald case came back to haunt its leadership.
Each 'adarsh village' should have piped drinking water, connectivity to the main road, electricity supply to all households, library, telecom and broadband connectivity including CCTVs in public areas. Emphasis will also be on e-governance, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
"Governance, governance, governance," was what Nitish Kumar said were his three priorities when he took the helm of Bihar in 2005.
The PM will spend much of Friday outside Delhi; will devote day attending official events in Jharkhand and a political rally in Banka, Bihar
The Congress leader said democracy allows dissent and debate and not monologues in an apparent barb at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Namo, Namo as India's prime minister? Not yet, says Pakistan-based journalist Amir Mateen.
Though the Cabinet reshuffle on July 5 has a clear stamp of the Prime Minister's Office, the changes have also increased the coherence between the Bharatiya Janata Party, the government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Will BJP's gamble of giving ticket to a Kadva Patel in the Leuva Patel-dominated Rajkot constituency pay off? Haresh Pandya analyses
The failure of the Congress to win the hearts of even the Muslim victims of Muzaffarnagar riots exposes what's wrong with Rahul Gandhi's leadership. His statement that Pakistan's ISI was targeting the victims may have cost the party their trust. Rather, those who advise Gandhi are so brazen politically that they ask the UPA government to give reservations to the Jat community, perceived to be the aggressor by the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh.
With an eye on the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly election, BJP's national executive will begin its two-day meet in Allahabad on Sunday which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah among others.
Jayalalithaa's attack on BJP's PM hopeful a little too late in the coming, says N Sathiya Moorthy
Kejriwal sought to remind AAP volunteers, MLAs and Delhi government ministers that things will get worse in the coming days and exhorted them to 'leave' if they are not strong enough.
It was never the quality of the CV that defined an incumbent's performance or legacy.
'Ashok Singhal was an amazing missionary, a monk in civil dress. His personal ego and pride simply evaporated before the national cause.'
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his Cabinet and inducted 21 new ministers. Of these, 4 - Manohar Parrikar, JP Nadda, Suresh Prabhu and Birender Singh were appointed as Cabinet ministers. Other than this, Modi has inducted 17 other ministers of state. Here's a quick look at them:
No country has grown without educating its people. India's shameful lag in primary and secondary education has persisted for several decades, and the crisis in higher education is now threatening a social and political calamity, says Ashoka Mody.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh says the Bihar chief minister may be fighting a losing battle.
'If chutzpah nationalists brought the Babri Masjid down, chutzpah secularists did precious little to stop it from being torn down.' 'If chutzpah nationalists ensured carnage in Gujarat, chutzpah secularists allowed Muzaffarnagar to become their next hunting ground.' 'Chutzpah secularists readily banned SIMI, but dragged their feet when it came to banning the Bajrang Dal.'
With less than two months to go for the Lok Sabha election, the expected process of political realignments has begun, reports Anita Katyal.
State leaders have emerged as the biggest road block for Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi who is trying to give young leaders bigger responsibilities, says Renu Mittal
'AMU is a secular university with an Islamic ethos.' 'We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. Let me tell you Muslims do not need reservations. They need affirmative action in education.'
'We were supposed to be a united nation based on unity and diversity.' 'Now what we are doing is there will be a class called Marathas, Dangars, etc.' 'The 100 per cent of our nation's population will be in classes and you will be allocating the nation's education and service resources in terms of classes.' 'How does it work out in terms of equality? Where is your equal nation?'
'A new doctrine now needs to be evolved for a new situation, and the army will do it.' 'You won't see more Kashmiris driven in front of army columns.' 'Nor will the army massacre hundreds, Dyer style,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Congress leader Kantilal Bhuria, who wrested the Ratlam Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh from the BJP recently, speaks to Prasanna D Zore.
'The BJP has not moved on since its 2014 victory. There is nothing new to offer. There is far too much negativity about the other side and far too little about what has been achieved by its government.' 'That may have worked when the BJP was in the Opposition but if they believe that the people of India will continue to hold them to such a low standard of expectations, they are really taking the voter for granted or misreading his pulse.'
While so-called 'cow protectors' have indulged in widespread vigilantism under the garb of protection of cattle, there has been little effort to save them from the real threat to their survival -- urban garbage, open dumps and apathy of cow owners.
'Why do sections of Muslims seem to prefer Lalu and Mulayam who symbolise wilful neglect of governance and development? In this election, secularism is less at stake. What is more at stake is the degenerative, cynical, opportunistic, and discredit-worthy misuse of secularism by the non-BJP leaders and their social constituencies,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the vote of thanks to the President's speech on the opening day of the Budget session.
Reiterating his 'suit-boot ki sarkar' jibe, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a feku (a brag).
'What of Modi? They are willing to take their chances. Maharashtra's Muslims recall how the Congress scared them with the Bal Thackeray bogey for decades, yet, when it came to using all the might of the State to protect them from Shiv Sena goons, be it in 1970, 1984 or 1992-1993, it did nothing. For them, the Congress's secularism is a cruel joke.' 'This argument that we ('seculars') must vote for the 'winning secular candidate' has one more implication: Those who are against Hindutva must forever be stuck with the same corrupt, cynical and tired old parties, who are not even secular,' says Jyoti Punwani.
BJP President Amit Shah -- arguably the second most powerful politician in the nation -- granted a rare television interview to the Network 18 group of news channels. Rediff.com's Rajesh Alva checks out what the BJP boss said in this word cloud assessment of the interview.
'What hurts people most is dynastic impulses and corruption under a family-ruled Congress party -- and Nehru has borne the brunt of it... I cannot be blinded by how the Nehru family has functioned but just as Gandhi can't be judged by his descendents, why should Nehru?' asks political scientist Ashutosh Varshney.
The BJP needs to revisit its strategy ahead of the forthcoming Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections, says Dharmendra Kumar Singh
Nitish Kumar is on the brink of taking another wrong turn. It is hard to fathom why he would tie up with the Congress, which has little political capital left in Bihar. Aditi Phadnis reports
Permissive communalism, as represented by the Sachar Committee report, cannot become the basis to counter the threat of majoritarianism, says D L Sheth.
'The Opposition has no option but to make it an 'All versus One' fight to even think about winning.'
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