'In this assembly election, Muslims here will vote for one who works, but also one who safeguards their identity.' 'Their existence is more important they feel, than a faulty light meter. So yes, a Muslim representative will make a difference.'
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday suspended his indefinite fast, which he began five days ago over the quota issue, stating that his community members say they want him alive to fight for the cause.
The Congress leaders maintained that such propaganda against the party would not work and the truth shall prevail.
Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, saying the ruling party's 'washing machine' has resumed its operation to clean tainted leaders and it was an 'ED-facilitated power grab'.
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
It's obvious to all that the Congress is overestimating its success and the BJP is underestimating the people's message delivered through the ballot box, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Despite the upbeat statement, the party is expected to reflect on what caused the sharp fall in its numbers. It is expected to win about 240 seats against the 303 it had won in 2019.
Emerging out of the ED grilling in Mumbai, Rohit Pawar denied any wrongdoing and asserted struggle was imminent in fight for ideology while declaring he wasn't scared.
Baramati Agro works in the fields of animal and poultry feed manufacturing, sugar and ethanol manufacturing, co-generation of power, trading of agri-commodities, fruits and vegetables and dairy products.
He, however, made it clear that his party candidates, as and when they contest elections, will do so only on MNS symbol 'railway engine'.
The party's top leadership, which is now looking for a replacement for Gandhi, will have a new team once the new Congress chief is appointed and some more resignations are likely to pour in till then.
'I am trying to make the political system more answerable to the people.'
The Democratic Front, in its manifesto, also sought to tap rural voters by promising at least 200 days of job under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
Later, Pratibha Singh said she and her son Vikramaditya Singh have received a joint invitation and she is yet to take a call on attending the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday named 72 more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Anurag Singh Thakur, and former chief ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Basavaraj Bommai.
With many of his close associates leaving his side, it is virtually a lone battle for Congress stalwart Kamal Nath to help his parliamentarian son Nakul Nath win from Chhindwara for a second time amid the Bharatiya Janata Party's aggressive push to wrest the seat.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Uddhav Thackeray saying he buried the Hindutva ideology of Bal Thackeray for power and joined hands with Congress and socialist parties.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday reiterated that he will stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is not fulfilled by the Maharashtra government.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase on Sunday said the oath taken by nine NCP MLAs as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government does not have official support of the party.
Deshmukh, a member the MPCC's Parliamentary Board, has blamed Patole for the rebellion by party's youth leader Satyajit Tambe, who has filed his nomination as an independent from the Nashik division graduates' constituency for the January 30 biennial elections to the Legislature Council.
The NTA denied any irregularities and said the changes made in the NCERT textbooks and grace marks for losing time at the examination centres were some of the reasons behind the students scoring higher marks.
The IMD has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days.
A 17-year-old boy, who allegedly crashed his high-end car into a motorbike killing two persons in Pune, was granted bail on a surety of Rs 7,500 and an assurance from his grandfather to keep him away from bad company, as per the order.
Pawar, who described himself as the national president of the NCP, said employment, economic empowerment of all sections of the society, education, health, implementation of all welfare measures are the priority of the government.
'The BJP, already falling short of a strong OBC leader from Maharashtra, will be more than happy to welcome Chhagan Bhujbal in its fold.'
Any move of the present government to appease the Marathas may boomerang. Eknath Shinde is a worried man with the agitation not having an easy solution, notes Ramesh Menon.
Uproarious scenes were witnessed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday after members raised the issue of violence in Maharashtra.
There is no use of the BJP targeting the likes of Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, directly by the party's political bosses, both in Delhi and the respective state capitals, or even using the Raj Bhavans to fire those salvos from. Successive elections have proved that it's counter-productive, if anything. But the BJP is yet to understand it, acknowledge it, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Anger cannot be an end in itself to Rahul Gandhi's politics -- it must instead catalyse a new political strategy, argues Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Gandhi claimed that Dalits, tribals, and Other Backward Classes were made bonded labourers and their participation was lacking in big companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and courts.
Pawar made the announcement at the 25th anniversary of the party, founded by him and P A Sangma in 1999.
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