The results of bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats spread across 13 states and a union territory have been a mixed bag for the BJP as its fortunes continue to nosedive in West Bengal against the might of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while bad tidings have also come from states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The political crisis in Karnataka appears to be going out of hand. On one hand former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has parked himself along with 55 of his loyalist MLAs in a resort in Bengaluru, while on the other hand 10 Lok Sabha members from Karnataka have threatened to quit in case the Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership does not take a decision on a leadership change in the state
The chief minister also said that the Janata Dal-Secular-Congress coalition government is secure under the leadership of senior Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah.
Kings XI Punjab will be led by KL Rahul this year, and Kumble is well aware of the qualities of the Karnataka-born batsman having seen him from childhood.
The Congress leadership should have immediately called on the Karnataka chief minister to implement the Supreme Court order and crack down on the violence, says R Rajagopalan.
The letter signed by other Congress leaders stated that the PM had used "threatening and intimidating" language against them.
Elections 2024 is not as open and shut as has been presumed. There is some life left in it, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The accent on 'making the south feel wanted' was the reason why P Muralidhar Rao, who was dropped as general secretary, was partially reinstated in the central apparatus as prabhari in charge of Madhya Pradesh. 'Pressure from the RSS was brought to bear on Rao's return,' a source said. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
Indian elections are won and lost on 'negative' imageries and campaigns - but not certainly on 'negativity' as a political trait and electoral creed, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
"We have also assisted nationals from other countries, who approached us, in their return to their respective countries. And we will remain open to doing so in the coming days."
Does Uddhav (and indeed the Sena) have the pizzazz and staying power to continue to be an actor in Maharashtra politics as a paler version of the NCP and an orange rather than saffron version of the BJP, asks Aditi Phadnis.
She said she had told the party leadership last year that it was difficult to travel in the three hill states due to her health.
Congress leadership would take a call on who would be its deputy chief minister on Tuesday.
A handsome victory for the BJP in UP would act as confirmation of its recent political choices. The UP chief minister would be cemented in the popular mind as Mr Modi's chosen heir within the Hindutva fold, and presumably as his successor in New Delhi, observes Mihir S Sharma.
Bharatiya Janata Party top brass is confident of tiding over the present crisis in Karnataka till the presidential poll gets over but appears to be getting increasingly reconciled to replacing Sadanand Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as chief minister soon thereafter.
Yeddyurappa and his 65 legislators, who were revolting for a leadership change in Karnataka, finally agreed to attend the budget session after an assurance from the party's central leadership that their grievances would be looked into.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP will need to win at least six seats to remain in power.
If it splits now, who takes what away and leaves what behind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
"It is natural that people cannot tolerate those who are growing. Vijayendra in no way at any moment has interfered (in administration). "As state vice president (BJP), he is doing his duty by travelling across the state to strengthen the party," Yediyurappa said in response to a question.
Krishna said that these two leaders 'have taken the country to great heights and this is not an exaggeration'.
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The brewing discontentment in the party may adversely impact the TMC's prospects in the next assembly polls due in April-May next year.
The party leaders and ministers also credited the victory in Bihar to the Modi government's success in navigating the country during the COVID-19 crisis.
A convincing win for either of JD-S's two chief rivals, the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, in the Karnataka assembly polls, could inevitably lead to a life-threatening split in the JD-S, with several of its leaders joining either of the two national parties.
'The honourable prime minister virtually handpicked me for the Amritsar East seat.' 'Amit Shahji announced that if I am elected, the whole of Punjab will be drugs free.'
'While it is very easy to blame the chief minister, the bureaucracy should be held accountable. Chief ministers come every five years but bureaucracy is a permanent setup. The bureaucracy is trained for handling such situations with alacrity.'
Among the other names tipped to make it to the Cabinet are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Baijayant Panda.
The new Congress president is building a core team of youngsters while waiting for his mother's coterie to retire, reports R Rajagopalan.
"V G Siddhartha, chairman and managing director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited is not reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities," Coffee Day Enterprises said in a regulatory filing.
'Whatever misunderstanding occurred in the party in the last one month, we need to forgive and forget in the interest of the country, the state, the people and in the interest of democracy,' Gehlot said in a tweet.
Tamil Nadu's unending legislative fight for exemption from NEET has now flagged the question if it's time to review the Supreme Court's famous verdict in the 'Mandal case', fixing 50-per cent upper-limit for all reservations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to information received from sources, there will be a meeting at 5 pm through video conferencing but its agenda is not clear.
The cabinet expansion is on the cards for nearly two months ever since the BJP won the maximum number of seats in the December 5, 2019 bypolls and got a majority in the Karnataka assembly.
He said that non-ideological opportunistic coalitions always get trapped within their own contradictions.
Among the ministers in the new cabinet are 8 Lingayats, 7 Vokkaligas, 7 OBCs, 3 SCs, 2 Brahmins, 1 ST and 1 Reddy, and a woman.
A day after the Congress's second straight defeat in the national election, resignations were flying.
A senior BJP leader said its top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is 'upset' with the sixth-term Lok Sabha MP, who was a minister in the first Modi government, and the Karnataka leader has been asked to take remedial measures, including tendering an apology.
