Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil was the first who expressed his desire to put in his papers even before Modi government took charge, but he was told by Congress leaders not to do so as it would then put pressure on the others to do the same, reports Anita Katyal.
The BJP is not taking the AAP challenge lightly. Amit Shah has cautioned party insiders to ensure that AAP does not cross a vote share of 24%. He has always seen AAP as a much more significant challenge than the Congress, observes Ramesh Menon, author, Modi Demystified: The Making Of A Prime Minister.
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who joined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election, lost to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar by 2.84 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party hit out at him and claimed that people often ask why maturity, wisdom and responsibility have not come to the Congress leader despite the passage of 51 Julys, a reference to his age.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
'The message has gone loud and clear (among the people of Assam) that the BJP is only interested in polarising (the country) and they are basically interested in (capturing votes in) the Hindi heartland and they don't bother much about rest of India.'
This is the first reshuffle in the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.
The brutal killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan's Udaipur was a "terrorist incident", he said, alleging that Riyaz Attari, one of the main accused, was a BJP member since 2019.
A clean sweep for the BJP and the emergence of the AAP do not look good for the Congress, which now faces a serious leadership crisis, says Bharat Bhushan
'It is a well-thought-out decision. I feel it is difficult for him now to step back.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country but only after following all democratic processes and discussions on it.
'He is a key fulcrum point in the pan-Indian creation of an effective Opposition to the BJP.'
Senior state leaders of the two parties pointed to propping up of the "new set of leaders not having much political stature" and lack of communication for the failure to reconcile differences.
'The BJP's solo aim in Mumbai and Maharashtra is to finish off the Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP.'
Leaders from across the political spectrum came out and congratulated Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray after he was sworn in as the Maharashtra chief minister.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday held parleys with the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana amidst the possibility of a change of guard in some of the states where it is in power as the party prepares for a massive rejig in the wake of its unprecedented debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
Permissive communalism, as represented by the Sachar Committee report, cannot become the basis to counter the threat of majoritarianism, says D L Sheth.
Ahead of Assembly polls due early next year in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that political strategist Prashant Kishor's Indian PAC will manage the poll campaign of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital.
'According to the survey, ideological issues like Article 370 and Ayodhya received only 14 and 12 per cent voter-backing, respectively.' 'It could well imply that hardline Hindutva issues have only that much voter-purchase, compared to Modi's overall popularity of 52 per cent -- putting the man way above the mission,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Maharashtra HM had said on Tuesday that the Mumbai police will probe allegations by actor Adhyayan Suman that Ranaut took drugs.
Reaching out to tribals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lauded their contribution to Indian culture through the ages and said Lord Ram drew inspiration from them during his exile as he slammed the Congress for "neglecting" adivasis during its previous rules.
Ranaut, who had said she feared Mumbai Police after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and likened the Maharashtra capital to Pakistan occupied Kashmir, thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah and declared that no one could crush a patriot.
Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the Congress was a people-oriented party, unlike the BJP which was about one individual.
From the 'group of 23' leaders, who had written letter to Gandhi seeking Congress' overhaul, Azad and Sharma continue to be regular members of the CWC,
The Congress on Thursday declared 12 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including party general secretary K C Venugopal, Deepender Hooda and senior Supreme Court advocate K T S Tulsi.
Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states where by-elections were held two days ago.
Sibal also said the present dispensation wants an 'Opposition-mukt Bharat' not just a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'.
Reacting to allegations that his party was dividing anti-BJP votes, Owaisi said he was running a political party that has a right to contest on its own.
'There is a need for the Congress to introspect.' 'Introspection means to find out where we have gone wrong in the last eight-ten years, how we have gone wrong, where we have failed to succeed.'
As per reports, Sachin Sawant, a spokesperson for the Congress party, a part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, has alleged a conspiracy to shift Bollywood, the Hindi film industry, out of Mumbai.
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pankaja Munde -- who lit the funeral pyre of her father Gopinath Munde on Wednesday at his ancestral village of Parli in Maharasthra along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party general secretary Amit Shah -- will lead the the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the assembly elections scheduled for later this year.
Scindia's exit from the Congress in March this year with over 20 MLAs, led to the collapse of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh and enabled the BJP's return to power.
As trends show a resounding victory for Mamata Banerjee and her party the Trinamool Congress in the state of West Bengal, opposition leaders have begun congratulating 'Didi' for her strong show in the polls.
According the latest CNN-IBN-CSDS-Lokniti post poll survey, the National Democratic Alliance is projected to win 274 to 286 seats, and the Bharatiya Janata Party is projected to win 230 to 242 seats on its own, it best ever poll tally.
The Hindi booklet, distributed at a camp of Congress-affiliated Seva Dal in Madhya Pradesh, had also claimed that Savarkar and Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse were in a physical relationship. The book alleged that Savarkar received money from the British after he was released from Andaman's Cellular Jail.
Amid a plethora of senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis took the oath of office at a mega function organised at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the three farm laws, which have now been repealed, were a big reform after 70 years of freedom which was not liked by some people and the government has moved 'a step back' and will 'move forward again' as farmers are the backbone of the country.
'If the BJP doesn't want to accept the will of the people, then we will show them what a majority means.'
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances