Putting at rest speculation over his participation in senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's 'rath yatra' in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced he would flag off the event from Sitab Diara in Saran district on October 11 to mark birth anniversary of Jay Prakash Narayan.
Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Karnataka, the ride has been anything but smooth for the party. Today, it is headed for another showdown as veteran leader L K Advani's rath yatra comes closer to the state.
The Deepa Thoon controversy, if not allowed to die a natural death, could take the election focus away from the anti-incumbency impacting the DMK and into the secular space. Stalin would love to have it that way, all over again, after the three past elections, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Firing a fresh salvo at senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh has claimed that the former home minister stopped former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from taking action against Gujarat CM Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots on the ground that it could trigger uproar in the party.
Breaking his decade-long silence, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday sought to embarrass L K Advani by saying that he "covered" up for him when he said that the former Home Minister was not aware that he was going to Kandahar with three terrorists during the 1999 hijack episode.
In 2021, the Centre renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. But many wonder, why despite the public sentiment the country's highest civilian honour continues to elude the man who put Indian hockey on the world map.
'Every film had its challenges, but Mr India, Sadak and Gandhi were the toughest.' 'Mr India needed imagination, Sadak needed sensitivity and Gandhi demanded historical authenticity.'
"I raised the issue of attack on tourist bus in which two tourists were badly injured. Chidambaram told me that while he does not rule out the possibility of a terror attack but it would be too premature to say anything about it," Advani told rediff.com after attending the function.
Describing expulsion of Jaswant Singh as a "painful but necessary" decision, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday answered his criticism on Sardar Vallabhai Patel saying the first Home Minister had banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at Jawaharlal Nehru's behest.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has invoked the battle scene from Hindu epic Mahabharata to defend his "covering up" for Leader of Opposition L K Advani during the election campaign, when he had said that the former home minister did not know that he was going with three terrorists in a plane to Kandahar.
In his first address to National Democratic Alliance MPs in over a year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday emphasised its collective identity as a natural and organic alliance, asserting that its journey since its foundation in 1998 is dotted with successes and has many more achievements in store.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com recalls his encounters with the late Gopinath Munde many years ago, when he was Maharashtra's home minister.
The Union government has ordered the complete withdrawal of the counter-terrorist commando force NSG from VIP security duties and handing over its nine "high-risk" VIPs to the CRPF by next month, official sources said Wednesday.
The 1975 batch IAS officer joined the BJP after his retirement in 2013.
If women voters are mobilised in big numbers to the voting booths on November 6 and 11 by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA, then it will be quite difficult for the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan to defeat the incumbent government, points out Sheela Bhatt.
"I feel no one can reject the contribution of Maharashtra and Marathi people in the history and present of the country. If someone is rejecting it, then I feel it is wrong," Fadnavis said.
Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel took oath on Sunday in Gandhinagar.
Union ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Santosh Gangwar, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, BJP national general-secretary Arun Singh and party MP Maneka Gandhi also visited the hospital to know about his wellbeing.
On that fateful day, Narayan, popularly known as JP and a fierce critic of the then-Indira Gandhi government, addressed a massive gathering at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi.
Uddhav Thackeray criticized BJP MP Nishikant Dubey for his controversial remarks amid the Marathi-Hindi language row, accusing him of trying to divide people and disturb harmony.
If Advani's ideological leadership galvanised the party's cadres and core support, Vajpayee's soaring oratory, common touch, easy charm and convivial manners won over the masses and brought new allies on board.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray alleges the state government's three-language formula is a precursor to separating Mumbai from Maharashtra, speaking at a rally with Uddhav Thackeray.
Noted educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya was on Monday posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The BJP on Sunday said its senior party leader L K Advani had never said that he was not aware of the decision to send former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh along with terrorists in an aircraft to Kandahar for release of passengers of a hijacked Indian plane.
The Congress on Tuesday reacted with sarcasm and derision to the Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to drop its founder leaders L K Advani and M M Joshi from the Parliamentary Board, saying they have been put in an "old age home" and their 'Margdarshak Mandal' (guiding committee) will only be a 'mookdarshak' (mute spectator).
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a dig at feisty Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury, saying her laughter reminded him of epic serial 'Ramayana'.
Pakistan made a tactical error in not investing enough in L K Advani, former R&AW chief A S Dulat tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
In the last 11 years, India and the world witnessed what he stood for, what he promised and did not deliver, and what he actually stood for and practised without fearing how history would judge him. Modi's tenure has been punctuated with headline-grabbing decisions, symbolic gestures, and stage-managed moments that continue to define his leadership and India's politics, points out Ramesh Menon.
'Shibu Soren was the tallest leader of tribals in the country.'
'According to JP, Indira Gandhi was not much of a danger to democracy. He said, it was Sanjay Gandhi and his gang.'
By naming a sworn swayamsevak for vice president, the Modi-Shah duo have sent out a clear and positive message to Nagpur, where the RSS headquarters is located, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday, on a three-day visit, cut short his trip and returned home tonight by an Indian Air Force plane because of death of his mother-in-law.
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