Addressing a public rally in Sabroom in poll-bound Tripura, Shah said that the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist had put the Ram Mandir issue in the jurisdiction of the court for long, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for it after the Supreme Court's order.
There is a vital difference between Bofors and Rafale, explains Shekhar Gupta.
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan on Wednesday celebrated the Supreme Court verdict directing his release by playing the Tamil percussion instrument 'Parai' and now wants to breathe the air of freedom before thinking about his future, as the apex court ruling put an end to his three-decade prison term.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
'BJP leaders might ponder the all-consuming arrogance that grips the Modi-Shah combine a year ahead of the next general election,' says Sunil Sethi.
The BJP at 43 is a work in progress, with total ideological continuity and much substantive change in political method and style, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
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'.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
"This also shows that the ruling dispensation's exasperation (baukhlahat) and desperation (hataasha). But the people of the country are smart enough and they (the BJP) will be held to account (hisab kar diya jaaega) at the appropriate time", said the close aide of the Bihar CM, who had quit the NDA last year and has since become a strong votary of opposition unity.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hailed the party's performance in the Karnataka assembly polls as the victory of politics that unites the country.
Eyeing the revival of the crisis-ridden party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party chief Sonia Gandhi described the march as a "landmark occasion" and hoped that the march would help rejuvenate the grand old party.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
He made the remarks on the floor of the state assembly while thanking the House members for unanimously approving a constitutional amendment for extending quotas to SCs and STs by another 10 years.
The Congress vice president said Modi attacked him on Thursday but did not reply to the questions he had asked of him in his speech on Wednesday and again attacked the prime minister over his "non-stop false promises".
Clash of the two richest titans, a celebrity and a 'royal', is on the cards in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, known for electing erstwhile 'royals' maximum number of times.
Congress is the only other horse in the race for national power, never mind how distant. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah know better than to take the Congress lightly, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'They are fighting it out, but they have deeply traumatised; they are alive and they are carrying on in life.'
Unfazed by the protests against the Act, Shah challenged protesters to oppose the legislation as much as they can. He also asked students who are opposing the legislation to read it properly and understand its meaning.
China on Friday concurred with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's observation that an Asian Century cannot happen if India and China don't join hands and emphasised that the two neighbouring countries have 'far more common interests than differences'.
As the temple is inaugurated, unfortunately for Advani but unsurprisingly for the rest of us, the architect of the party's rise will not lead the ceremony and claim credit for his achievement, notes Aakar Patel.
At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Modi will utilise the Presidential poll to show that he is the only leader who matters in India, argue Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari. So the question being asked in political circles is: 'Who will be the next Kovind?'
Amid protests outside the Delhi University, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy went ahead with a seminar on the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya where he asserted that nothing will be done forcibly or against the law.
'Given that the RGF is a family-controlled trust, why would the Congress defend it every time someone accuses it of wrong-doing?' asks Virendra Kapoor.
'The Bharat Jodo Yatra has done very well in the south, and if they are able to pull voters in the south and rely on their allies in the north like in Bihar, UP and do well in Rajasthan, then there are chances that there might be a formidable opposition or at least a force to fight the BJP.'
It is clear that Kamal Nath is gearing up for the 2023 assembly polls, reports Sandeep Kumar.
He served as an effective link between the party and government during the two terms of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between 2004 and 2014. As political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he had access to leadership that no other leader in the party had and worked the channels to work out various issues.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Tuesday took out processions across the state, urging people to be on guard against the Bharatiya Janata Party's alleged politics of communalism.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
With election results just around the corner, Congress is floating the idea of an 'enlarged' United Progressive Alliance-III taking on board new allies and keeping their options open on leadership issues to stop Narendra Modi.
Several MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who was seen as the frontrunner for the post of Congress national president, had last week submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Pilot as the next chief minister.
The government on Monday countered the Congress charges of snooping on Rahul Gandhi saying it was making a "mountain out of what is not even a molehill" as information collection was part of a transparent security profiling used on 526 VIPs, including Sonia Gandhi and former prime ministers.
During his address in the Delhi assembly, Kejriwal also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the movie for political gains.
Jyotiraditya lost out on the chance to be among the youngest chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, as Kamal Nath, 72, was picked for the top job in the state.
With the defeat of Arun Jaitley in his maiden electoral battle, Amritsar has become a sort of 'Hanamkonda' for the BJP.
The highlight of the five-hour meeting, which ended with a plan to hold a 'chintan shivir' at the earliest opportunity to chalk the Congress' future strategy, was a demand by Sonia Gandhi's loyalists that Rahul Gandhi should assume the party leadership again.
'Ajit Pawar and some other people felt it was better to be supporting the BJP and have a coalition with the BJP than support the Congress.' 'But Sharad Pawar did not want to be a party to this kind of an opportunistic alliance.'
The Jharkhand poll results also show that the caste equations against BJP are consolidating. Cong leaders feel that the BJP is not invincible and can be defeated if like-minded parties get together.
