With one year left for assembly elections in Karnataka, the last big bastion of the Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has found an emotive issue to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party as the latter prepares the ground for a fight to grab power. Raghu Krishnan and Nikita Puri report.
Why has Mumbai's cyber police taken no action against these WhatsApp groups who everyday, commit offences under the Indian Penal Code? The police cannot be unaware of their existence, observes Shruthi Marathe.
After resorting to quirky measures like debarring party spokespersons from news channel debates, the opposition parties are now overhauling their organisational set-ups and purging respective executives, committees and wings to weed out non-performers and deadwood. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
The party leaders said that not only would they quit the cabinet, but also withdraw support from the Grand Alliance.
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive time, heading a 42-member ministry.
PM to launch outreach campaign with a rally in UP on May 26, ministers to visit 200 cities in 2 weeks.
'He was always opposed to a form of nationalism that was narrow, selfish and arrogant.' 'He will always remain a beacon of inspiration for freedom-loving people across the world and for movements of resistance against oppressive State power.'
'They take each and every election with seriousness.' 'No other political party has that kind of cadre who is strongly aligned with the reason, motto and ideology of their party.'
Opposition parties have slammed the decision to change the long-standing practice, alleging it was being done with an eye on the assembly polls in five states.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
The BJP on Thursday alleged that the CBI action against its leader Gulab Chand Kataria is nothing but a "conspiracy of CM Ashok Gehlot", who is "panicked" seeing the massive support the party is getting in poll-bound Rajasthan.
While Modi will be performing yoga along with thousands of people at the Capitol Complex in Chandigarh, his cabinet colleagues Singh and Jaitley have been assigned the task of leading the 2nd IYD programmes in Lucknow and Mumbai respectively.
According to him, the temple issue did 'more harm than good' to the BJP as the matter was being used by the opposition 'to terrorise minorities and polarise votes'.
Prashant Kishor was the brain behind many of Narendra Modi's popular programs such as 'chai pe charcha' during the Lok Sabha polls
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The BJP, which has two MLAs in the MDA government, backed the Cabinet decision.
Sources said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is 'satisfied' with the deputy CM's explanation.
Glowing tributes were paid to the departed leader in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, before the Houses were adjourned for the day.
Another MLA Rekha Arya, who was also supposed to join the BJP on Wednesday, is visiting the Simhasth Kumbh in Ujjain, but has sent her acceptance to the party.
Drones are being used for carrying out a host of tasks like surveillance to ensure that people are maintaining social distancing, spreading awareness about COVID-19 in densely populated areas, spraying disinfectants and checking people's temperature
A total of 851 candidates are in the fray for 93 seats spread across 14 districts in north and central Gujarat, in the final phase of the polls, where 2.22 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise.
"There is no matbhed (difference) or manbhed (ill feelings) among our leaders," Yadav said.
The opposition parties termed the order of the inquiry a gimmick to fool the masses and cover up the important evidences in the sting operation.
'The more the news media weakens, especially at this juncture of economic ruin with lay-offs and wage cuts, the more the owners and journalists weigh their value in terms who they are close to, the more they depend on the State to bail them out of trouble, slow-fry their rival, the faster it pushes us towards institutional destruction,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
Former Bahujan Samaj Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya has described Congress Uttar Pradesh chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit as discard from Delhi, drawing sharp reaction from her party leaders on Thursday.
Even as Sidhu parries queries on whether he would join the AAP, dissent is brewing in Arvind Kejriwal's party.
'...and then react.' 'There are two options before him if the alliance breaks.' 'He either teams up with the BJP or goes for a fresh election.' 'My impression is that he will avoid a fresh election.'
Akhilesh told his ministers and legislators that they should not worry about tickets.
Truth be acknowledged, Rajinikanth is not known for wanting to leave his comfort zone to take the politico-electoral plunge, even if it meant his becoming the chief minister of a state that has conferred Tamil cinema's superstardom on him over the past 25 years. Today, his fans belong to the younger generation all right, but their numbers are far fewer than their counterparts in the '90s. They are not devoid of personal ambitions and agendas, unlike what Rajinikanh wants them to be, if he and they were to enter politics, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
But not for too long, as TTV Dinakaran can still play spoilsport, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Addressing the party workers and people of Bihar through a virtual rally, he attacked the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal saying the growth rate of the state was just 3.9 per cent when the party was in power, but it rose to 11.3 per cent under the NDA.
Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have announced a lockdown of educational institutions, malls and other places that attract people in large numbers, even as some of them have been reporting increase in positive cases.
OnePlus became one of the top five in the high-end smartphone market, with 6.1 per cent market share in 2015
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha member termed as "bogus" the list of 346 families who are alleged to have "fled" Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, adding that it suited the interests of both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party to create a "drama" over the issue.
Opposition parties demanded that all elections in the future be held through ballot papers.
The apex court, which has been mulling over the issue in its meetings held at the residence of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde on Thursday and Friday, took note of the government's March 5 advisory cautioning against mass gatherings in view of the fact that the World Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 a 'global pandemic'.
