From putting up a decent performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh winning 10 seats stitching an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank in the current general elections, dealing a severe blow to its reputation of representing the voice of Dalits in the state.
Soon after the suspension of 33 opposition Lok Sabha MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all democratic norms have been thrown into the dustbin by this "autocratic" government and it has shown zero accountability towards Parliament.
Using the Mahabharat reference as a leitmotif, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that an atmosphere of fear prevails all around with a group of six trapping the entire country in a 'chakravyuh' he promised would be broken by the INDIA bloc.
Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu's party secured a 'supermajority' in Parliament by winning over 60 seats in Sunday's crucial parliamentary election, seen as a litmus test for the pro-Beijing politician whose policies are being closely watched by both India and China amidst regional power dynamics.
The council of ministers discussed the showcause notice, and alleged that it was a "gross misuse of the constitutional office' of the governor and said that a concerted effort is being made to destabilise a lawfully elected majority government in Karnataka for political considerations.
The BJP MP who facilitated the entry of the intruders, remains scot-free and has not yet been questioned, the Congress leader said.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
'Rahul Gandhi is the face of the INDIA alliance. If he contests against a BJP candidate and defeats her/him, it will send a strong message.'
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Even non-partisan observers are saying the Congress and INDI alliance are not making any significant effort to campaign on the ground, he said.
Nitish slammed the opposition and expressed confidence that they will be defeated in the next Lok Sabha elections.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
The two major parties offer the United States choices that are basically unacceptable and the bench strength, such as it is, is not entirely capable of winning popular acclaim, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
There was an 8% decline in the BJP's vote share across six regions in UP, and that some OBC castes moved away from the BJP.
In an apparent reference to Sonia Gandhi, Modi said some INDIA bloc leaders left the Lok Sabha and moved to the Rajya Sabha as they have no courage to contest elections.
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
The EOW stated in its closure report that it did not see any criminality or wrongdoing in the matter, adding that the bank in question did not suffer any losses in the process of sanctioning loans or selling the Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill.
Lok Janshakti Party MP Mehboob Ali Kaiser, the lone Muslim to have been elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Sunday, in a shot in the arm for the opposition party amid the elections.
But as voters gear up for crucial assembly and parliamentary polls on May 13, all eyes are on the high-stakes battle in Pulivendula, an assembly constituency that has been a Reddy family stronghold for over four decades.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti on Saturday vowed to shave his head if Narendra Modi retained the prime minister's post while his party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would form a 'strong and stable' government at the Centre.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced income tax relief for the middle class, a Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for job creation schemes over the next five years and a spending splurge for states run by her party's new coalition partners as she unveiled the Modi 3.0 government's first budget after the general elections.
'I would think that India faces less damage from opinions voiced overseas compared to the damage it suffers if the right to free speech of its citizens is curtailed in the name of image management,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
Kishore said the Congress and its supporters are bigger than any individual and Gandhi should not be stubborn that it must be him who will deliver for the party despite repeated failures.
There is little doubt that the prime minister's own charisma exceeds that of his party, but 2024 is proof that no party can ultimately depend on one person to deliver victory all the time, points out R Jagannathan.
'If things don't work on the ground and they continue moving at this pace, it will vanish.'
Development economist Jean Dreze said the Indian democracy is currently navigating a crisis that is not only limited to the 'recent wave of authoritarianism' but also suppression of opposition voices by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
On the announcement of his gurantees, Kejriwal said, "I have not discussed with my INDIA bloc partners about this. I will press upon my INDIA bloc partners to fulfill these guarantees."
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
Some of the Congress's new-found enthusiasm for hitting the streets will show its result in the Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka elections. That is when we will know if the Congress will go to the regional parties or the parties will come to the Congress.
According to a statement issued by JD-U national general secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan on Tuesday, this is the party's first list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh, where voting will take place for the 230-member assembly on November 17.
Leaders of the JD-U, which has two ministers in the Union government, insist that the resolution also spoke of "special package and other types of help" and that Bihar could still get a lot from Narendra Modi government.
'The 2024 election results will lead to much intense targeting of Modi, more intense debates, many more breakdowns in Parliament and many more movements on the streets.' 'The results have hit Modi's standing, and the politics of the Opposition parties will be sharply focused to ensure that Modi doesn't get back his charisma of being 'invincible' with help of State power.' Sheela Bhatt looks at the political situation through the prism of 2024 Lok Sabha election results.
He will be around for another crack at the elections, and a clear majority, predicts Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The senior Paswan sought an appointment and waited for more than three months but Rahul Gandhi did not relent, said Chirag Paswan, who at that time too was keen to leave the UPA and join the National Democratic Alliance.
The suspension of 49 Lok Sabha MPs came a day after, a total of 78 -- 33 from the Lower House and 45 from the Upper House -- lawmakers were suspended from Parliament for disrupting proceedings.
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