Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
Now it's all jibes about his chameleon-like politics and fading grip on the administration. But there was a time Nitish had the BJP trembling in the state, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, a towering figure in the state's tribal movement, was cremated with full state honors in his native village of Nemra. Thousands gathered to pay their respects to the 'Dishom Guru,' including political leaders and villagers.
The BJP's surprise announcement of a caste census in the next census has sparked political debate, particularly in Bihar where the issue of backward empowerment holds significant electoral weight. The move is seen as a strategic maneuver by the ruling party to counter opposition efforts to mobilize support among disadvantaged sections of society. The decision is also viewed as a recognition of the growing influence of OBC politics in India.
The Indian Youth Congress has filed police complaints in multiple states alleging a "coordinated and defamatory" digital campaign targeting Rahul Gandhi and undermining the dignity of women, following a row over his image on sanitary pad packets to be distributed in Bihar.
Workers from the BJP and Congress clashed in Patna during a protest march organized by the BJP against the use of abusive language towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's late mother. The protest turned violent, with stone pelting and vandalism reported. Police intervened to control the situation, and an investigation is underway.
At the customary meeting ahead of the session beginning Monday, the opposition raised various issues, including voter roll revision in Bihar, the Pahalgam terror attack and Trump's 'ceasefire' claims.
The Sena-UBT pointed out that the Congress only spoke about itself in the Ahmedabad meet, and INDIA or Bharat was nowhere in the discussion.
Among parties, the NCP stood out with five of its MPs raising an average of 410 questions each. On the other hand, two Apna Dal (Soneylal) raised only five questions each on average.
The Congress has proposed AAP should contest five seats while the Samajwadi Party and Left parties could contest one seat each.
At present, the BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House while the JJP has 10. The ruling combine also enjoys the support of six of seven independents.
While the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of assembly polls, the burst of fresh optimism in the main opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties fizzled out.
'Ordinary Indians are not happy with the tone and tenor of the American president.'
Here's the full list of 49 MPs suspended from Lok Sabha:
Senior BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Choubey has expressed his desire to see Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the Deputy Prime Minister. However, the JD(U) and the RJD have dismissed Choubey's remarks as inconsequential, with the JD(U) pointing to Amit Shah's recent statement that Nitish Kumar is the coalition's leader for the upcoming assembly polls. The RJD has also ridiculed Choubey's statement, stating that the BJP is looking to get rid of Nitish Kumar and that Tejashwi Yadav will be the next Chief Minister of Bihar.
'When the Bill was passed all have been exposed. There is no difference between communal and secular.'
The committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar is meeting later on Thursday to adopt its draft report in what is likely to be hotly contested by opposition members of the panel.
Voters in Muslim-dominated Nuh in Haryana have made the Congress victorious in all three assembly seats in the district, with one of the contestants registering the highest victory margin.
Interacting with reporters in Kolkata, the Trinamool national general secretary reiterated that his party stood with the government in matters of national interest, combating cross-border terrorism, and safeguarding sovereignty.
Pradhan, who had filed his nomination on Wednesday, said he accepts the decision of party national president Akhilesh Yadav, who he met in the morning.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar appear to have got the maximum representation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new council of ministers, while assembly poll-bound Maharashtra also found a significant presence.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar's decision to allow Singh to speak on the Bharat Ratna honour to Charan Singh drew sharp protest from the Congress, leading to a heated exchange of words between the opposition and the treasury benches.
Shah pulled no punches in lambasting the RJD supremo for alleged nepotism, accusing him of making his wife the chief minister, getting his daughter elected to Parliament and "now both his sons want to become the CM".
However, the national party count has gone down to six from 14 in over seven decades.
Indian National Lok Dal president and five-time Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala died in Gurugram on Friday at the age of 89.
As the Centre announced the inclusion of caste enumeration in the next census on Wednesday, opposition parties said it is a victory for their long-standing demand and sought time-bound implementation.
The deceased leader's nephew, Kapoor Singh Rathee, said that his uncle's elder son Bhupinder and younger son Jatinder have received 18 threat calls from an unknown number.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he was proud of the manner in which the multi-party delegations presented India's views in various countries on the need to eradicate the menace of terrorism following the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
'It was really difficult for Laluji to expel his son from the party and sever family ties with him.'
The Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday announced its support for the candidature of Bharatiya Janata Party's Ashwini Vaishnaw in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha
Haryana MLA Kiran Choudhry has resigned from the Vidhan Sabha and is likely to be fielded in the Rajya Sabha bypolls by the Bharatiya Janata Party, nearly two months after she joined the party after quitting the Congress.
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The BJP got the benefit of a split in Muslim votes in some seats of western UP, and its candidates registered wins from Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Aligarh Lok Sabha seats.
As the election nears, political positions on prohibition are shifting.
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.
