From a four-each score in 2008 to a 7-1 drubbing in 2013, the BJP, which had once proclaimed that Dakshin Kannada is its stronghold, appears to be on a weak footing today. Vicky Nanjappa tells you why
The Union Health ministry put the number of positive cases at 82, eight more since Thursday night, which includes the woman and a 76-year-old man from Karnataka who became the country's first coronavirus fatality besides 17 foreign nationals, Health Ministry officials said.
Unpredictable polling in Tamil Nadu, and criminal cases stacked against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will be two key factors to be taken into consideration when the government is formed at the Centre, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rawat has a short tenure in his new role, but it is likely going to be an eventful one, reports Sahil Makkar.
For a party that has adopted the successful social re-engineering model from Gujarat, Rajasthan and across the rest of the 'Hindi belt' over the past decades, Tamil Nadu continues to remain a tricky customer, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
There are limitations to milking national security, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Justice V Gopala Gowda's name has been considered positively by the Trinamul Congress as well as the Left.
The move comes after at least six Congress MLAs in Gujarat resigned from the party to join the BJP.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday convened a meeting of her cabinet, the first after she returned to the top post following her acquittal in a wealth case in May this year.
Failure to deliver on governance, corruption allegations, preoccupation with Lok Sabha and gram panchayat polls and factionalism have weakened Siddaramaiah's government in Karnataka. This may well hand the BJP a chance to make a comeback in the state, says Raghu Krishnan.
'When it is an open ballot, the division taking place in the open house will be for all to see.' 'As they say sunlight is the best disinfectant, this (aspect of the order) brings in transparency and it's in keeping with the best democratic principles.'
Though the list of superstitious beliefs is long, often dissolving distinctions of class, caste, religion and education, Karnataka's anti-superstition bill is seen as a big step ahead.
Gujarat has topped with a score of 71.14% on ease of doing business list.
'I know most of the politicians in this country and I know how fair-weather friends they can be.' 'If they get defeated in elections, they will blame it upon something that cannot respond to their allegations like the EVMs.'
A full one year after Jayalalithaa was hospitalised on the night of September 22, 2016, followed by long hospitalisation and death on December 5, Tamil Nadu continues to be rocked by instability and non-governance of every which kind, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in Delhi and parts of Karnataka. Police kept tight vigil in Kerala. In Gujarat, 50 people were arrested for Thursday's violence.
Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal, who had frosty relations with Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of the state, was tonight sent off to Mizoram in a reshuffle of governors effected by the government.
'Sachin Pilot had every legitimate right to demand to become CM.'
'Votes-for-notes no longer only means cash and goodies for fence-sitting voters,' points out Sunil Sethi.
NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja said his party has decided to support BJP candidate.
For the government to meet its GST roll-out deadline of April 1, 2017, the states will have to ratify the Bill before Parliament's winter session, starting November.
The government is banking on help from regional parties and rejigged numbers in the Rajya Sabha.
'Modi campers are aware that the Sangh may keep a Nitin Gadkari under wraps.' 'He may be pulled out of the hat if push comes to shove and if the Modi-led BJP is unable to deliver a decisive victory.' A revealing excerpt from Kingshuk Nag's new book, Mohan Bhagwat: Influencer-in-Chief.
As the BJP snaps at its heels, can the Communists stay relevant in the electoral game?
'How can one bring jihad into a relationship? How can one be restricted on the grounds of religion in marital things?'
The problem for OPS lies in the fact that most party MLAs believe Sasikala's clan was the force behind their obtaining the party nomination as much as it was Jaya's charisma that won them their seats in the May 2016 assembly polls.
For the fourth day, the Lok Sabha House fails to take up trust vote notices.
With two years to go before West Bengal elects its next government, the BJP's internal objective is to scale down the Trinamool Congress tally from 211 to 45 seats. This amounts to an annihilation of the TMC while enabling the BJP to win a record 250 seats in the 295-member legislature, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
In writing to the government for a change in the law, the Election Commission has actually acknowledged the future possibility of countermanding polls to curb the use of money power, says N Sathiyamoorthy.
Nitish 'sent his emissary, Prashant Kishor, to me on five different occasions.' 'Kishor seemed to indicate that if I were to assure in writing my party's support to the JD-U, the latter would pull out of the BJP alliance and rejoin the Mahagathbandhan.' A revealing excerpt from Lalu Prasad Yadav's Gopalganj To Raisina: My Political Journey.
'Modi is still immensely popular and, therefore, he can sustain any number of policy failures.' 'Modi himself has worn multiple faces so it would be naive to think that the Modi of 2021 will be the same Modi that will be campaigning for re-election in 2024.'
A down-to-the-wire contest is likely in some of the seats in the high-stakes Rajya Sabha elections in seven states, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana, where the fate of candidates including senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal and senior lawyer R K Anand is being decided on Saturday.
O Panneerselvam is the first chai-wallah to become chief minister in the country. Gujarat's Narendra Modi, the better-known chai-wallah to become chief minister, followed Paneerselvam around a fortnight later in 2001. The parallel should end there, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
She faced intense and protracted struggle to eventually head the AIADMK.
'BJP central observers have come to Goa and are scheming to merge smaller parties within their party to run the government.'
'Despite the BJP's successes at the state-level, replicating their 282-seat majority in 2019 is going to be an uphill climb.'
'Nobody is telling you not to speak or learn your mother tongue. But making other languages an emotional issue is wrong.'
Siddaramaiah said he was not unhappy about the Congress-JD(S) coalition as was being projected, and there was no doubt about the stability of the government.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan came down heavily on Congress leaders for "persistently and willfully obstructing the House" and suspended them for 5 days. The members who have been punished include a president's son, ex-chief ministers' sons and an ex-CM's grandson. Rediff.com brings you the complete list.
Reaching a consensus might also get tougher, as already seen with issues like inclusion of natural gas in GST and imposition of a sugar cess, both central proposals being resisted.
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