On all key issues, Congress is MIA, sighs Shekhar Gupta.
Never before in the history of the Republic has an election in the state mattered so much as it does now, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The front-runner of course is party treasurer and long-serving party legislator, S Duraimurugan. A Vanniar by caste from the rival PMK-strong northern belt, Duraimurugan makes up for his weak political grounding through his debating skills in the assembly, and witty repartee, both inside and outside. Apart from caste and regional representation, personal loyalty to the leader would count even more -- but there is no death of loyal and competent candidates in the party for the post, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Even if the anti-Modi 'Mahagatbandhan' gets a majority there is simply no way that Nitish Kumar can ensure even a stable government, leave alone a good -- clean, development-oriented -- government,' argues T V R Shenoy.
Accusing the Centre of setting a new trend of playing "dirty politics" for votes through the budget, an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said the allocation of more funds to poll-bound states is a kind of "bribery".
Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan are the other three states to pass a resolution opposing the contentious legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
There are also views within a section of the party that a turnaround in Uttar Pradesh is possible only if either of the Gandhis -- Priyanka or Rahul -- takes the lead in the state polls.
'If Mr Rahul Gandhi is coming to Rajasthan he should also know how his own chief minister is throttling the voices of the people belonging to the most backward classes.'
Raut also said the "ongoing Mahabharat" in West Bengal is more fierce than the real Mahabharat.
Kerala Congress-M says nobody has asked Mani to resign as UDF leaders meet to discuss the issue.
The TMC expects to emerge victorious by way of a majority of minority votes and a minority of majority votes, notes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
Congress workers must feel what their BJP counterparts did in 2009, but that could change.
Plotters of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts had also planned to kill then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi besides creating mayhem, one of the accused convicted for the bombings by a special court in Ahmedabad had admitted before the court in the past, the prosecution said on Friday.
The Congress on Monday deferred the election to the post of party president till the COVID-19 situation improves and decided to set up a group to assess losses in the recent assembly polls, with party chief Sonia Gandhi saying it has to put its house in order by facing reality and drawing lessons from the 'serious setbacks'.
'They don't just kill their enemies, they chop off limbs, sever heads.' 'How can anyone kill a teacher in front of small children and a son in front of his parents?'
A meeting of opposition leaders from many anti-Bharatiya Janata Party parties, most of them regional forces, hosted by the veteran leader and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday is being seen by political pundits as a beginning of an exercise by them to join forces to put up a more cohesive challenge to the saffron party.
"One cannot treat women with disrespect. Kamalnath ji is from my party. But I don't like personally that type of language that Kamalnath ji has used. I do not appreciate it. It is unfortunate", Gandhi, on a three day visit to Kerala, told reporters.
"Party is taking note on what is being said by whom. They have not come out against Narendra Modi, they have just made a comment on our strategy about Bihar. The section of media has highlighted it as a headline," Union urban development minister said.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Even as the BJP makes inroads into previously unfamiliar territories in eastern India, the party will have to be wary of losing out elsewhere, says Amulya Ganguli.
'Kerala society is more advanced than any other society in India and everybody is more aware of the laws and how to proceed against the accused. So, you cannot blame Kerala based on the crime records,' says state home minister Ramesh Chennithala.
Not only the BJP but key bureaucrats are also known to have hinted to the top leadership of the need to expand the Cabinet.
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
CPM politburo member Hannan Mollah said the party is facing one of the toughest situations following its defeat in Tripura, which has "forced us to rethink in a new way".
'Why would the Communists do this? I have three possible answers: One, they are specifically opposed to the Global Education Meet that the ambassador organised. Two, they are beginning to realise their days are numbered in Kerala. Three, the standard modus operandi of leftists is anarchism because they are not constrained by any codes of ethics. Roughly, the bad, the good, and the ugly,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'Amit Shah was, briefly, a stockbroker before devoting himself to politics. By instinct or training, he knows the value of keeping blue chips in one's portfolio.'
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the Congress and its erstwhile government in Puducherry, saying the V Narayanasamy led dispensation had 'different priorities' than public welfare and flayed party leader Rahul Gandhi over his recent 'north-south' remarks.
'The story of how Modi won a re-election in the face of severe agrarian crisis, mounting unemployment, looming economic crisis, is the story of how the power of the message can be put to devastating effect in the hands of a strong leader,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Governments in most of the world saw their approval ratings dip as they struggled to contain the raging virus, which hit economy hard everywhere, but Indian politics followed a different script, with the outgoing year marking further shrinking of a rudderless Congress while the ruling BJP soared riding on Modi's enduring appeal.
Is anyone in the BJP listening -- to what Nitin Gadkari had to say, but possibly left unsaid? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'We have finished that fear.'
The Trinamool Congress won 211 seats.
Passengers arriving from any state to Bengaluru must be in possession of a RT-PCR negative report, Karnataka Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said on Thursday.
This perversity in vaccine distribution needs immediate correction. It requires a complete withdrawal of the 'Liberalised Vaccine Policy', and a 100 per cent takeover of the vaccine procurement by the GoI, asserts R Ramakumar.
'Today, we being the majority pass a law and if the Opposition parties do not like it, they throw files at the Chair, and beat up women marshals.'
The couples wearing garlands and traditional wedding attire arrived at the polling booths and neighbouring Tirupur District immediately after their marriage, officials said.
Kanyakumari has the highest per capita income in Tamil Nadu and the second highest literacy rate. There are 23 candidates the fray.
Rumblings within the Bharatiya Janata Party came to the fore on Wednesday night as the party decided to field L K Advani from Gandhinagar for Lok Sabha polls, angering the patriarch who wanted to shift to Bhopal in a reflection of his tensions with Narendra Modi.
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