'Never has this happened in the state's political history -- that every class of people is unhappy.'
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the 59 seats spread across seven states and one Union territory going to polls in the last and final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on May 19, 2019.
In Sehore alone, the home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, five suicides have been reported.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge cited national crime data to take on the government, saying every 80 minutes a crime against Dalit was taking place, three Dalits raped and two murdered every day.
Congress says it is not principally against cow protection but is against targeting Dalits and Muslims in the name of gau raksha.
'Kamal Nath and Digvijaya intentionally ignored Jyotiraditya's presence'
The Congress said arrogance of the BJP has touched its zenith as it turned 'blind' to farm distress.
For the entire UPA regime, from 2005-06 to 2013-14, the average annual farm growth according to the GDP back series data is 3.8 per cent, which too is higher than the first four years of the NDA, though these two periods aren't comparable because one spans nine years and the other four.
Dalit votes could play a decisive role in 28-30 constituencies in the 230-member assembly.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who has drawn flak for his "tanch maal" remark on woman MP from the party, on Saturday hit out at the media, blaming its "TRP race" for the controversy.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
Justice V Gopala Gowda's name has been considered positively by the Trinamul Congress as well as the Left.
It won't be a surprise if Raju Shetti, the first to part ways with the National Democratic Alliance, citing agrarian distress, joins hands with the Congress and becomes part of the UPA.
'The RSS guides us, never dictates.'
The ruling party won eight out of 10 civic bodies, votes for which were cast on August 12.
Congressmen are watching carefully how Rahul positions himself and manage the grand old party, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Shops, schools and other commercial establishments were closed in parts of Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab but the shutdown call by anti-reservation bodies had little impact elsewhere in the country.
UP and Bihar contributed 105 seats to the BJP's tally in 2014. It has now lost 8 Lok Sabha by-polls in the last four years, including three successive losses in UP and two seats in Rajasthan.
Lohani's job was to turn around the MP Tourism Development Corporation.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's task is to live down the hype and address the nitty-gritty, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The sharp drop in prices couldn't have come at a more difficult time, particularly for the two big producing states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and also neighbouring Chhattisgarh as the states go to polls in the next few months.
The irony of this scheme to benefit farmers is that it could add to the problems for the government because the mechanism to procure and store crops like pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds barely exists.
Despite his ministers on shaky ground, Chouhan -- at the helm for three consecutive terms -- is holding the fort. He is being aided by a capable team for public relations and the RSS, which has deployed its workers to bolster the BJP's campaign, reports Sandeep Kumar.
Without strong storage facilities, bumper harvest has resulted in price crash
'The farmer is furious because the MP government is trying to crush their agitation violently.' 'Such actions will have nation-wide repercussions.' 'Why this drama (Shivraj Chouhan's fast) after violently crushing the farmers' agitation?' 'He should resign immediately.'
Non-performers were not punished, performers were not rewarded, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
'What is bank recapitalisation? When the rich take loans and do not return and the government returns that money to the banks.' 'What is restructuring 5:25 scheme? The government says don't return now, just tell us you will return after five years.' 'Why don't we apply these schemes to farmers?' 'I want to increase the power of farmers to blackmail the government as everyone in the country has the power to blackmail.'
'Till the time the Modi government is ruling, they will write off loans of corporates and give opportunities to rogue businessmen to run away, so we will have to come again and again on the roads to demand our just rights.'
'The fact that housing units worth a whopping Rs 4.5 lakh crore in top seven cities are stuck under various stages of non-completion indicates that there is a dire need to create stress-asset fund which will help bail out lakhs of distressed homebuyers,' says Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, a real estate services company.
'In this country, if any government acquires one of these images -- anti-farmer, or anti-poor or corrupt -- the government doesn't survive.' 'The Modi government is fast acquiring that anti-farmer image, that is why it is nervous.'
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Rahul Gandhi's experiment of choosing Congress candidates for Lok Sabha polls through the 'primary' system appears to have suffered initial hiccups with two constituencies being dropped from the list of 16.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
Elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will see the BJP and Congress in direct contest.
Even as questions continue to be raised within the Congress party over Rahul Gandhi's primary election experiment, the party has managed to avoid a major embarrassment by forcing controversial former MP Jagdish Tytler to withdraw his nomination
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday retained Garoth assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district albeit with a reduced margin than in the 2013 assembly polls. The Congress, however, termed the BJP's win with a lower margin than earlier as a "moral defeat" for the ruling party.
'The policy is to consolidate farming into the hands of a few and to take away the food security of the country.' 'Once food is in the hands of 15 chosen corporate houses, you will get food, but at a price that they determine.'
The PM also asserted that the traditional practice has now become part of every person's life.
'If the BJP thinks they can suppress the farmers' movement by opening fire, they are wrong.' 'It will create a boomerang effect which will be very difficult to manage.'
'There is no remorse over the Dadri lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq or of Pehlu Khan by cow vigilante groups.' 'But should you not have remorse for those who came to kill them?' 'They were Hindus. Do you accept that?' 'That to kill one Pehlu, 20 Hindus have become murderers.' Rajdeep Sardesai in conversation with Ravish Kumar.
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