'It is almost certain that in the absence of note-bandi, the party would have lost in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
Results show that the BJP has fared poorly in rural regions, underlining the need for the party to challenge issues like farm distress and unemployment.
True, Azam Khan is being targeted rather disproportionately and also because of his Muslim identity. That must be protested and resisted. But to say that he is a big messiah, and his profit-making educational enterprise is an issue concerning all Muslims of India, is absolutely unjustified, assert Mohammad Sajjad and Md Mohammad Zeeshan Ahmad.
Maria Sharapova's French Open hopes were shredded by a familiar foe on Monday, while Roger Federer plunged a dagger into French hearts.
In Mandya, the heartland of Cauvery, protesters took out a march with 28 sheep, depicting them as members of parliament, decrying their silence.
Vajpayee told reporters while celebrating Holi at his residence in Delhi that he was confident about the BJP's prospects in the key state of the Hindi heartland.
The counting of votes for the high-stakes assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will begin at 8 am.
The operation in Musa Qala is one of the largest against the Taliban since the invasion in 2001. It was launched after weeks of air strikes and probing attacks had softened up their defences and killed hundreds of their fighters.
Amid rumblings in the Bharatiya Janata Party over Bihar poll rout and attack on its leadership by party veterans, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday strongly defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah, saying they cannot be held responsible for the defeat.
'Modi's first foreign trip at the very outset of his second term as PM reinforces a growing impression that this regional tour underscores a shift in emphasis in India's foreign policy that was traditionally focused on the northern tier of countries to the Indian Ocean rim,' explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Opposition parties have slammed the decision to change the long-standing practice, alleging it was being done with an eye on the assembly polls in five states.
If anything has become clear during this campaign, it is this: Mr Modi can bat on almost any wicket and hit the ball over the ropes, points out T N Ninan.
The compulsions of the Hindutva vote bank over 25 years in Maharashtra have made the two parties the oldest ideological partners and it is unrealistic to believe the situation has changed, reports Sunil Gatade.
It is believed that Mandodari hailed from Mandore, which was the ancient capital of Jodhpur state.
More than 20 national leaders will attend the meeting, TMC sources said. Most of them have already arrived in Kolkata.
The second leg sees eight new foreign players joining the seven teams for a round of league matches followed by a best of 3 finals.
There will be pressure on the fiscal situation, especially at a time when the monsoon can also disappoint. More populist expenditure is on cards if the mandate is a hung Parliament or a coalition government.
Barring oil and gas, all BSE sectoral indices finished in the green.
They said it was then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who on February 1, 1986 got the permission for starting prayers at the disputed site and got the locks opened.
The party will discuss way to put behind the problems that have been plaguing it.
'From 10 am on Tuesday to 3 am this morning, we must have made not less than a thousand phone calls.' 'We kept fighting till the end and we did not leave the room till we got 113 certificates.' 'Two-three losses would have changed the game and the BJP wanted to become the largest party which they did not become.'
Samawa is the capital of Muthanna and lies deep in Iraq's Shiite heartland and such attacks there are rare.
'The brutal violence of the UP government's first response to the anti-CAA protests suggests that the BJP will test drive the NPR/NRC in UP, where it has both a massive majority in the assembly and a chief minister whose instinct for Hindutva extremism and whose appetite for punitive policing allows a prime minister as darkly majoritarian as Modi to appear statesman-like,' notes Mukul Kesavan.
Rahul feels collective decisions taken with his mother and sister helped the party in the December assembly elections. Hence, he wants to follow the same strategy for the Lok Sabha election, too.
From being called 'paon paon wale bhaiya' (foot soldier) by villagers to being addressed as 'Mama' (maternal uncle) by children, Chouhan's long innings at the top was interrupted when the BJP fell short of seven seats from the majority mark in the 2018 polls.
'The north east does not want the solution that the BJP has given and it has become clear that it has not been fully thought through,' says Aakar Patel.
Jaffna police Superintendent Charles Wijewardene was killed by a mob after a soldier's gun went off by accident at a barber shop, killing an employee.
