In Haryana, the split between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal worries the Congress.In Maharashtra the main problem of the Congress is the anti-incumbency against its alliance partner the Nationalist Congress Party.
Congress on Sunday won two assembly by-elections in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana appearing not to have been hit by the spate of scams rocking the United Progressive Alliance coalition at the Centre while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a humiliating defeat in Karnataka.
"We have come out of NDA and are no longer part of it," Chautala told mediapersons and charged the BJP with ditching them "again and again" and vowed to not to be part of the alliance again. He said that keeping the Congress party at bay has been his main aim so he had "compromised" by being part of the BJP many times in the past.
Chautala said that the loss/gain of the break-up with the BJP would also be known only after the polls.
It may be recalled that at the time of the last Presidential elections in 2002, Naidu had worked for evolving a consensus on the candidature of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam while the Left parties had fielded Mrs Lakshmi Sahgal.
Opposition parties in Haryana on Monday asked Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to drop Home Minister Gopal Kanda from his cabinet.On Sunday, Kanda allegedly ordered his security men to open fire on agitating Indian National Lok Dal activists, who had stopped his convoy at Sirsa. Kunda was caught on camera by a private news channel while issuing the order.The INLD had called for a shutdown and its activists had organised a sit-down demonstration.
The SP has offered 11 seats to the Congress and seven seats to the RLD for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Without staking claim to form the government, the Indian National Lok Dal on Friday requested the governor to provide an opportunity to other political parties or groups to form the government in Haryana, saying people have not given a clear verdict to the Congress."As an alternative to the Congress, which has failed to get the mandate, the other parties/groups should be given a chance to form a non-Congress government," INLD president Om Parkash Chautala said.
Amid a row over change in stand over voting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday asserted it is a secular regional outfit and maintains equal distance from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance bloc led by the Congress.
The Congress on Friday claimed that a 'silent undercurrent' is brewing across western Uttar Pradesh against the 'failures' of the Modi government, as it flagged issues such as 'neglect' of sugarcane farmers and examination paper leaks.
Bharti accused the media of distorting her statement, attributing it to the BJP's agenda.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
BJP candidate and former chief minister Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi on Sunday defeated his nearest rival and Congress nominee Jai Prakash in the Adampur assembly seat by-election, retaining the family bastion.
Voting began on Thursday in the by-election to seven assembly constituencies in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
A firebrand youth leader, a seasoned politician who became a legislator for the first time, and a veteran physician are among the 12 new faces elected to the fourth Assembly of Delhi. The Congress leads the debutants pack with six MLAs, the Bharatiya Janata Party has five and the Indian National Lok Dal one.
Several prominent opposition leaders including Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah will share the dais at a rally being organised by Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana's Fatehabad on Sunday.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a response from the Centre, Election Commission of India, and 26 political parties on a petition seeking to restrain opposition parties from using the acronym INDIA for their alliance.
A contest between Jai Parkash Gupta (Independent), Shashi Pal Mehta (Bharatiya Janata Party), Dharampal Gupta (Indian National Lok Dal) and Sumita Singh (Congress) is on the cards.
Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala today said his party is the "only alternative" to the Congress in Haryana and claimed that success of a recent rally is an indication of wave in favour of INLD.
'The BJP uses its partners as a stepping stone to grab political space. They are in the habit of betraying their partners. That is how they treated Naveen Patnaik, Chandrababu Naidu, the Asom Gana Parishad and Farooq Abdullah.'
Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise.
In a development that could help the ruling Congress ahead of the Haryana assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to part ways with Indian National Lok Dal led by former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
Seeking the abolition of the SEZ policy, the INLD suggested framing of Manufacturing Investment Region policy to boost investment and production.
Congress leader Kumari Selja ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the Haryana assembly polls.
There is a proposal from the BJP camp that they would resort to a proportion-based increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for individual states, based on what they now have. On the face of it, this sounds like a fine argument that those demanding a 'freeze' now cannot oppose without reasons and justification, avers N Sathiya Moorthy.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Haryana CM faces state Congress president Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Chautala is seeking re-election from Narwana and he is pitted against his old rival and state Congress president, Randeep Singh Surjewala. Chautala had defeated Surjewala by just 2,194 votes in the last election.
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday hit out at the Election Commission for the 'tone and tenor' of its recent letter to his party while also urging the poll body to act against 'communal and incendiary rhetoric' allegedly used by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during poll campaigns.
Development economist Jean Dreze said the Indian democracy is currently navigating a crisis that is not only limited to the 'recent wave of authoritarianism' but also suppression of opposition voices by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
'It is not as if Hindus are not being touched at all, and only Muslims are.'
In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.
Jailed Indian National Lok Dal leader Ajay Chautala's elder son Dushyant figured in the list of candidates declared by the party for all the ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.
'The BJP is racing against its opponents by putting a chain on their legs.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana by bucking anti-incumbency, managed to make significant inroads into the Dalit seats and Jat strongholds.
Chautala, who was convicted in the teachers' recruitment scam case, is now planning to pursue a BA course.
Three private gunmen hired by Rathee for security also suffered injuries in the attack.
Can Nitishbabu create an anti-BJP phalanx like Jayaprakash Narayan did in 1977 or will his efforts come undone by Opposition leaders' political ambitions and, of course, the BJP's agency-aided campaign of intimidation?
