The grand old party faces the onerous task of rebuilding its moribund organisation, which is struggling to overcome a leadership crisis and regain credibility with the voters.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi stoked a fresh controversy on Thursday, remarking that the anti-Sterlite protests in the state in 2018 had been fuelled by foreign funds and was aimed at hindering progress. His comment instantaneously drew an outcry from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies.
Roy said he would wait to see the municipal poll results in Bengal. According to sources close to him, the term 'farewell' doesn't mean that he is leaving the party.
It will also be new Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra's first GST Council meeting. He will take charge after the incumbent Tarun Bajaj retires on November 30.
Former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's subsequent elevation set a new benchmark for the actions of those who occupy Raj Bhavans, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Security was beefed up at all BJP offices throughout the state following the violence which erupted after the candidate list was announced, official sources said.
The 34-year-old actor had been maintaining a distance from the saffron party after it failed to unseat Mamata Banerjee's government from power in the eastern state despite a high-pitched campaign.
National People's Party, a partner in the existing government which won seven seats in the just concluded state poll, will not be a part of the new dispensation, Singh told reporters at his residence.
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Malik believes he can solve the problems of farmers and is sending signals to the government to give him a chance.
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said on Thursday that his party has not accepted the Trinamool Congress's proposal of a merger as it does not want to compromise on its Assamese identity.
In Goa, where Assembly elections are a few months away, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders led by Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and including former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and the party's vice president Luizinho Faleiro met Governor P S Sridharan Pillai and requested him to immediately seek resignation from the chief minister and announce investigation by an independent agency.
The Congress used Raj Bhavans to topple legally elected governments. The BJP is letting governors get away with all manner of impropriety, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Mamata's 'there is no United Progressive Alliance (UPA)' remark after a meeting in Mumbai with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of Congress in Maharashtra, evoked a strong response from the party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Having failed its litmus test, the Bengal's ruling party is back to square one, trying to draw up a fresh strategy ahead of the polls in Meghalaya and Tripura.
Four BJP leaders and former Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the Constitution bench that upheld the archaeological report on Ayodhya, were among six new faces appointed as Governors on Sunday.
'... that they should listen to people of the soil of the North East and find a permanent solution to tribal problems.'
'The control of the Church over Christian people regarding politics has become weak...' 'People have started to think independently and it is not for sure that they will obey whatever the Church asks them to do.'
The former Union minister said it is 'quite heartening' to see that Gandhi has taken up the initiative to involve Kishor to come out with a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and the party's revival plan.
Buoyed by the formation of governments in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP is making a bid to expand its footprints in the region.
It seems the grand old party is trying to stage a comeback in the state which it ruled at one time, but also to its progeny the Trinamool Congress which has vowed to come to power in Tripura in the 2023 state assembly elections.
A Kolkata lawyer has filed separate complaints with the city police and the state Women's Commission seeking investigation into senior BJP leader Tathagata Roy's claim of use of "women and money" by some leaders of his own party in the West Bengal assembly elections.
The fulcrum of victory or defeat of parties attempting to form a government is held by smaller players and those willing to defect.
The legendary Bhaichung Bhutia on Friday filed his nomination for the president's post in the upcoming AIFF elections but getting through won't be easy for the former footballer as several candidates with political affiliations have also thrown their hats in the ring.
The Congress, which is not very keen on having an alliance with the TMC, called it 'an untrustworthy ally', which is trying to grow at its expense.
The coming year will be one that will test sabka vishwas to the utmost, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
Shah said that the people of the country will decide about the principal opposition party to BJP in the 2024 polls and they have not given this label to any party.
'The continuous and mysterious praise of the BJP and the chief minister by AIUDF leadership and senior members have affected the public perception of the Congress party'
'The Congress don't have the zeal to fight the BJP. The party is so bogged down by infighting that it hardly has time or energy to build an opposition. The UPA does not exist'
After Rahul's Bharat Jodo Yatra began criss-crossing the Hindi heartland, BJP leaders have revived their attacks on 'dynasty politics' and 'family rule' in the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
Unless controlled and contained, given the untested belief that the north Indian labour support and follow the Hindutva kind of political ideology, there is a potential in terms of ideological clashes with their Dravidian brethren in the local neighbourhoods, and it all escalating into violence, especially during election time, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
Both the BJP and the Congress have issued whips to their 18 and 24 MLAs respectively asking them to be present in the Assembly and vote as per their party's line.
Meghalaya is a land of political contradictions. One of the most peaceful states in the North-East, only one chief minister has had a full term in office in Meghalaya's 41-year history. Meghalaya is a woman-dominated traditional society, but the outgoing assembly had only one lady MLA!Rediff.com's Archana Masih reports from Shillong on the election in arguably India's most politically unstable state.
The appointments of five governors, including for Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, and Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands by President Ram Nath Kovind were announced on Saturday.
A close finish is predicted in Meghalaya.
Now, the chief minister is under pressure to make good his promise after the December 4 incident in Nagaland's Mon, where 14 people were killedAFSPA has eclipsed all other achievements of the Biren Singh government.
Women, if addressed properly, have the potential to become a decisive factor in elections.
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