"They call themselves the champions of speech and expression. But deny the same for the people of Kerala."
The National Democratic Alliance, led by strong man Narendra Modi secured a whopping 352 of 542 seats, making it evident that his message of muscular nationalism, security and Hindu pride had worked wonders.
With Rahul showing a significant lead over Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in opinion polls across southern India but lagging in the north, the Congress believes his contesting from the south will help galvanise cadres.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
According to some accounts, internal Congress surveys indicated a tough battle for the chief minister in Chamundeshwari.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
Former Karnataka chief minister H d Kumaraswamy's entry into the Chikkaballapur constituency will make the going tough for his opponent, and Union minister and former chief minister Veerappa Moily, who had won the 2009 election from here comfortably, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Nagaraj reached Mumbai accompanied by Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa's personal assistant Santosh and BJP MLA R Ashok.
Aditi Phadnis and Archis Mohan take a state by state takedown of the party's chances in the poll-bound states.
While the Congress has convened a meeting of all its MLAs on Wednesday to take stock of the evolving situation, the BJP legislators have been shifted to Haryana in an attempt to keep the flock together and thwart any poaching attempt by the Congress-JDS combine.
Amid speculation over the fate of alliance between the Janata Dal-United and Rashtriya Janata Dal ahead of the crucial Bihar polls, JD-U President Sharad Yadav on Thursday insisted that both the parties will fight the assembly polls in the state together in alliance with the Congress to challenge a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party.
'Then all the usual troubles will break out.'
"Only the Congress and the JD-S are celebrating, people of Karnataka are not," he told reporters.
Beginning his film career in antagonistic roles, he later emerged on his own to become a hero. Ambareesh also had a successful career in politics having been an MLA, a Lok Sabha member and a former minister at the state and central levels.
A six-time member of Parliament, Kumar had climbed the political ladder steadily from being an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker to be the Union minister in his thirties.
Opposition parties have expressed solidarity with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Opposition parties on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the Centre over its handling of the farmers' agitation, callings its dialogues with the protestors 'monologues', even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party defended the new laws asserting that its government is committed to the welfare of peasants and increase their incomes.
Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are over. Another set of state elections is due in 2018. Here's an assessment of the next round of the electoral challenge and how it could change India's political equations.
'The BJP was looking at one or two disgruntled guys to see whether it can destabilise the government.' 'When the BJP does not win a state, it uses these back hand methods.'
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
The newly-formulated Third Front left its imprint in Parliament on the opening day of the reconvened winter session when it surprised the ruling coalition by derailing the Anti-Communal Violence Bill
'The BJP had no traction in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah would have scraped through if he had not done all that he did.' 'When you pander to one community, the other community gets irritated.' 'Then, when you make fun of the cow and the treating of the cow as sacred, in your effort to belittle the Sangh Parivar and its obscurantism, you are hurting your normal voters too.' 'It is okay to make fun of the Sangh Parivar, but it is not okay to make fun of all Hindus.'
From corruption to communalism, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, the electoral potboiler had it all.
'The next prime minister will be from an Opposition party and not from the BJP.' 'The BJP may be the single largest party, but not with a majority and there will be a fractured verdict.' Anti-Modi and non-BJP parties will be in a majority.'
Over 20 political parties, except the Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front, took part in the massive rally.
With her various overtures and right noises at the right time, Mamata is once again trying to reshape her image from being a regional leader to one with national appeal and acceptability. After all, the charge of building a Federal Front may also bring to the fore Mamata's chances to become prime minister in 2019.
Kejriwal, who had joined International Yoga Day participants last year along with Lt Governor Anil Baijal and the then Union minister and now Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, was found having high blood sugar following his nine-day, arduous sit-in at the Lieutenant Governor's office.
The confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy was defeated with 99 members voting for the motion and 105 against it in a House of 225 including speaker P R Ramesh Kumar and a nominated member.
Demonetisation hit informal sector hard and caused job losses which was not addressed by the budget, Moily said.
'For short-term gain, the BJP makes extraordinary promises, they take extraordinary decisions, but in the long term it is going to impact both them and the country.'
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
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