In a veiled attack on MNS president and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, the chief minister said he does not pay attention to 'new players' of Hindutva.
The Congress is now gearing up to take on the BJP over alleged corruption, jobs and issues tied to tribals, farmers and women.
Constituencies that are going to the polls in the first phase, slated for April 19, have just 19 days for campaigning. Contrast that with those going to polls in the 7th phase, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The fight was against those who were being immoral. Not once was there any directive from me or anyone to beat up women,' says Pramod Muthalik, the man behind the shameful Mangalore pub attack incident
'It is an existential crisis. We cannot recover lost ground through social media. We need to forge alliances and reshape our ideological contours.'
Biographies of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda, Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, and writer and freedom fighter Pandit Shriram Sharma have been included in the curriculum.
Stalin still enjoys a lot of sympathy and empathy as someone wishing well for the state, but not full-throated support as in 2019 and 2021, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A string of populist promises, including extension of the free ration scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Mahadev betting app issue and the Hindutva card are among key factors that have catapulted the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Chhattisgarh after five years.
The BJP enters challenging times where it has been given a task to hold onto the values of Ram in running the country as defined by Narendra Modi in Ayodhya, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Therefore, his entry into politics will prove to be mangal (auspicious) for everyone in Budhni, Mastal claimed, adding that he will ensure development of the constituency.
Pawar said, "Today, Savarkar is not a national issue, it is an old thing. We had said a few things about Savarkar but it was not personal. It was against Hindu Maha Sabha. But there is another side to it as well. We cannot ignore the sacrifice made by Savarkar ji for the independence of the country."
Jawan is disproportionately extolled for making political comments, but it is a small film like Bhagwan Bharose that usually sticks its neck out, notes Deepa Gahlot.
The Maharashtra Congress has convened a meeting of its legislators on Tuesday in view of the developments in the state that saw a split in the Nationalist Congress Party and Ajit Pawar being inducted as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government.
They all seem to forget that the Music Academy is as much an independent institution as T M Krishna is an individual musician. In drawing those red lines for the Academy management, they do not even seem to recognise that they too have crossed a red line themselves, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya, apparently referring to the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra, described it as a "political gimmick" that will not serve its stated purpose of uniting masses.
There are concerns within the Congress with respect to the articulation of the party's demand for the caste census, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently accusing the grand old party of attempting to divide Hindus through its push for the Other Backward Classes.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the country needs a strong government but not of 'one party with brute majority', and batted for a coalition rule.
'When there was no crime committed, everything had to be fabricated. They see it as a war, and everything is fair in love and war.'
Addressing the annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, Thackeray lashed out at Shinde, whose rebellion in June this year brought down the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state.
'Our fight is against his political masters, the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis.'
'The biggest change that the BJP can initiate in the run-up to 2024 is appointing new faces as chief ministers.' 'In doing so, it will send a message well beyond 2024.'
Vellore is one of the two seats that the DMK alliance won by the narrowest of margins in 2019. For the DMK's vote-score to be so low in a constituency with a substantial Muslim population has not missed the BJP strategists' eyes, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said he will soon return to Mumbai, and rubbished Shiv Sena's claim that as many as 20 MLAs of his group are in touch with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
The strategic move will also bolster the BJP's push to decimate Uddhav Thakceray-led party by depriving it of its pet Hindutva and ethnic sub-nationalism plank.
'There is ample evidence to suggest that attacks on the PM's probity and his connections with business houses do not resonate with voters.'
'These frequent visits show the BJP fears that the Congress will retain power.'
In the last 9 years, the BJP govt has marked some anniversaries and events with more zeal than Congress-led governments.
'A 14-year-old boy kept a status message in praise of Aurangzeb on a social media platform on Thursday. A complaint was received in this connection, based on which an offence was registered at Ashti police station'
Over 160 people, including a number of Israeli nationals were killed in the terror attack on November 26, 2008
Alleging a "pattern" of triggering communal riots and winning elections, Raut said this will break the country into pieces.
'The Shiv Sena and the Ambedkarites are two powerful social forces in Maharashtra with a presence in the toiling classes. However, they were made to fight each other by the powers that be. Now, they are joining hands while overcoming this contentious past.'
How did Arvind Kejriwal, a one-time votary of secularism, turn into a bargain-basement version of Narendra Modi, wonders Vir Sanghvi.
'My father groomed these people and Shiv Sainiks supported them. But now they want to become owners and our institutions are such that they have made a thief the owner of the house. What is happening in the country'
"You want my father's face, but not his son. I was ready to come along. If you ditch me when I wanted to implement a promise given to my father, what should I do?" he asked while targeting the BJP.
Later in the afternoon, he also said that he was planning to hold a rally of the Maratha community at the protest site on October 12. "It will be attended by all the Marathas. It will show our plight and disappointment.... I will continue my protest here and will not even see the faces of my children till then," he said.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Monday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's attack on freedom fighter V D Savarkar will lead to ebbing of sympathy he has gained due to his disqualification as Lok Sabha MP.
Calling former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party "communal" following its alliance with the BJP, he urged Janata Dal-Secular, to remove the word 'Secular' from its name.
A section of VHP is looking at the growing NaMo fever with increasing disfavour and could prove a spoiler for the Gujarat chief minister. Aditi Phadnis reports
Police sources said they are verifying the origin of this information.
