'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
'Rahul is only making a pathetic public spectacle of his lack of judgment and good sense by hallucinating that somehow, the Congress, or whatever political combine is cobbled together, will displace the BJP at the coming Lok Sabha election by constantly harping on the Rafale deal,' argues retired civil servant B S Raghavan.
'The purported jitters of the ministers under Modi, the intriguing part is that the stories churned out by the rumour mill have not so far been denied. For aught I know, they may not be true. Or, if true, all that Modi intended was to subject his ministers to a process of grooming to ensure that all of them adhere to a uniform code of propriety, discernment and credibility,' says the distinguished civil servant B S Raghavan.
The party's most important electoral challenge lies in whether it can meet the aspirations of the youth who were drawn by the promise of gainful work.
'Is Ansari flagging a genuine concern? Is a rectification called for?' 'And finally: Do minorities matter?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
Combating threat of terrorism and radicalisation are expected to figure high on the agenda of the talks between Modi and the leadership of Saudi Arabia, a country known as spiritual home of Islam which recently has formed a major coalition of 34 Muslim nations to fight terror, particularly the Islamic State.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said there should be no controversy over the issue of the party's prime ministerial candidate as that would be akin to committing a "hit-wicket" and turn out to be the only possible reason for the main opposition losing the upcoming general elections.
If the Congress can simply go from 110 million to 130 million votes, it will yield a very different kind of NDA.
'Mr Modi's next challenger/s will need to invent a new politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
It is an open secret that Manmohan Singh is not a popular figure in the Congress, but Sonia's presence, support and strategy are proving a blessing for the good doctor. When P V Narasimha Rao ran into rough times, Sonia remained indifferent and the Congress had left him to the wolves, says Rasheed Kidwai, author of books on Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party.
The results are a ringing endorsement of Modi's popularity, his government's achievements in the last five years and his campaign, which centred around national security, nationalism and Hindutva.
Under intense attack, HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday made a forceful statement in Lok Sabha, saying Kanhaiya Kumar and some other students had been found indulging in anti-national activities by the Jawaharlal Nehru University authorities themselves.
Does Mrs Donald Trump realise that her immediate predecessor, Michelle Obama, is not the only hard act to follow, wonders Kanika Datta.
'The sadhus and sanyasis of UP are not for any economics.' 'They only know the religious agenda and the RSS will support them.' 'Modi does not have full control of the party at the ground level like Indira Gandhi had.'
Will Malik's worldview, shaped by his years with the socialists, Charan Singh, the Congress and V P Singh, help him govern the troubled state? Or would his rule have the imprint of the party he joined in the latter years of his chequered political career?
'Modi is likely to make more announcements to win or retain popularity, and put himself at the centre of things even more than now,' says T N Ninan.
'India and China are at new inflection points, domestically and internationally. India needs to throw up a new leader whose vision is clear, experience laden with wisdom and articulation brimming with restraint and tolerance,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
Mounting an assault on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday asked the voters in Maharashtra not to be swayed by the party which "spreads hatred in society". She said BJP and Shiv Sena might have parted ways but in reality they are one.
'What will be achieved by the prime minister's condemnation of each and every unfortunate incident? Will just the PM's condemnation bring about closure to these cases,' asks Sudhir Bisht.
'Narendra Modi might not have made 145 in Maharashtra, but it is definitely true that the Congress, and other dynastic parties, are well and truly stumped.'
Permissive communalism, as represented by the Sachar Committee report, cannot become the basis to counter the threat of majoritarianism, says D L Sheth.
'For half a century, Delhi has not seen a truly powerful ruling party president.' 'The Cabinet, chief ministers, and even the heads of the most powerful departments and agencies now acknowledge where power lies, besides the prime minister's office,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the vote of thanks to the President's speech on the opening day of the Budget session.
Right now the challenge before the government is to double the speed of construction in order to complete the remaining 6.6 million houses before March 2019.
"The prime minister's post is very dignified and he should not have made personal attacks, but I did not mind. He does not give answers, but only makes promises which are hollow," Rahul said, addressing an election rally.
The sky turned cloudy around 4:30pm and gusty winds swept the national capital.
'On corruption the Yadavs of UP and Bihar will find it very tough to give an answer to the accusations of the BJP and its supporters,' says Aakar Patel.
Shah said the Opposition's 'irresponsible' conduct caused a loss of over Rs 333 crore of public money and the ruling National Democratic Alliance MPs' decision to forgo their salaries was a 'call of conscience'.
he also talked about India's tradition of respecting the nature through festivals like 'Chhat' and referred to the ongoing cleanliness campaign.
'His negotiations with Idi Amin and his men for compensation for the Indians, who left Uganda, were particularly tough. Apparently, Amin warned him that the body of the British negotiator, who came earlier, was found in a roadside gutter... As Jagat Mehta's special assistant during the last two years of his tenure as foreign secretary, I saw for myself how his conviction, courage and patriotism enabled him to fight against heavy odds, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'If they were really serious (about conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar) what were they doing for the last five years?' 'Why do they have to take so long?' 'Gandhi himself never got the Bharat Ratna so it does not really matter.'
'In Kerala, if the Left had worked on stopping fascism the BJP would not have become a force today.'
'Once the violence is contained, the politicians must play their role, but unfortunately that is not happening.'
'It seemed it was more than an anti-incumbency vote; it was an outright rejection of the BJP by the people after due deliberation and an expression of their disillusionment with Modi's leadership,' says B S Raghavan.
After Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi attacked Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over acknowledgement of his marital status, BJP on Friday asked why an issue was being made out of it when the Gujarat chief minister has "never lied" on the matter and there was "no aggrieved party".
In the coming days, the Congress may be run by a trimurti of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka, with Rahul holding the primary position both in Parliament and in the party and Sonia and Priyanka helping him out as and when required.
'Even if we expect that the economy will be hit and GDP is lowered for a few quarters by the reckless demonetisation, this will itself not be sufficient to dislodge Modi's popularity,' says Aakar Patel.
'You can accuse him of many things but one thing you cannot accuse him of is being bad at politics,' says Aakar Patel.
Jayendra Saraswati, the shankaracharya of Kanchi, discusses the temple entry for women controversy, the Ram Janmabhoomi temple issue and gurus getting into business with Rediff.com's Saisuresh Sivaswamy and A Ganesh Nadar in his first interview since being acquitted recently by a court.
'The debate, by being mostly in Hindi, lost much of its educative relevance to the southern states.' 'All the prime minister's debating skills and oratorical prowess went over the heads of the South Indian audience,' points out B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
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