The BJP launched an all-out and aggressive personalised campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, but voters went by local rather than national issues.
Petrol doped with 20 per cent ethanol was rolled out on Monday at select petrol pumps in 11 states and union territories as part of a programme to increase use of biofuels to cut emissions as well as dependence on foreign exchange-draining imports. At present, 10 per cent ethanol is blended in petrol (10 per cent ethanol, 90 per cent petrol) and the government is looking to double this quantity by 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the higher 20 per cent ethanol blended petrol two months ahead of the planned rollout in April, at the India Energy Week (IEW) 2023 in Bengaluru.
'Each of them is a setu (bridge) that links the government with the party, but their territories are different.'
Sheela Bhatt visits a large urban basti a mere 20-minute drive from the prime minister's home to discover a story of grim struggle in the time of lockdown.
Kaur, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
Stepping up their attack on Rahul Gandhi for his 'democracy under brutal attack' remark in the United Kingdom, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union ministers, on Thursday demanded an apology from the Congress leader insisting that he was 'not above Parliament'.
'The Modi government thinks that once the CAA protests are over, they will bring in the NPR that will help to get the NRC.'
'Modi's long arm reached out to Madam Singh. It is not at all a pretty sight when a Colossus comes down so heavily in an patently unequal tussle -- and I am not speaking about gender equality alone. A prime minister should not stoop so low to conquer. It is simply below the dignity of his high office.'
The BJP and Congress have already launched spirited campaigns for the elections.
Modi cannot afford to fail the Indian people and in return the Indian people cannot fail Modi. There is too much riding on this equation for failure to be an option. There is too much invested in this relationship for it to splinter, says Vivek Gumaste.
'... that they should listen to people of the soil of the North East and find a permanent solution to tribal problems.'
Mody, 92, held important positions in Tata group and led Tata Steel till he retired in the early 1990s.
Lending his support to the ongoing farmers protests, he said in Lok Sabha that it was not an agitation of the farmers only but a movement of the country and the government will have to repeal the laws.
Sonia wanted to know what happened to the institution of Lok Pal, the anti-graft watchdog that was proposed to be set up.
'The Modi-Shah duo won't leave the war zone without putting up a tough fight.' 'Modi's slogan for 2019 could well be, "I have done much. Give me one more chance to do even more".' '2019 will be tough for the BJP.' 'But it will be even tougher for the Opposition -- united or otherwise,' says R Rajagopalan.
"I congratulate the people of Kochi on the proud moment," the PM said.
It is a question that his supporters must ask of the prime minister. It may be enjoyable for them to pass through this phase of going after other Indians. But once this has been achieved to satisfaction, then what?, questions Aakar Patel.
'Parrikar should never have bracketed himself with Modi.' 'That was an act of blasphemy that could invite divine retribution,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In the confrontation in Doklam, where Indian and Chinese soldiers were lined up eyeball-to-eyeball, senior Indian commanders recount they could sense the uncertainty in the Chinese. While Indian soldiers had to be restrained from pushing the Chinese troops back, our chief interpreter heard the Chinese officers threatening to open fire on PLA soldiers who wavered or withdrew, reveals Ajai Shukla.
India on Thursday (local time) wrapped up its December Presidency of the United Nations Security Council with a special focus on terrorism, Global South and maritime security.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Thursday said Narendra Modi could change the secular credentials of the Constitution on the pretext of reviewing it and give it "Hindutva colour", if he came to power.
Could the Centre and the prime minister have achieved more than what they did on curbing the endemic spread through more of the Modi outreach, given his credibility and unchallenged ability to communicate with the masses, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Only then will we withdraw the agitation.'
She called upon them to forcefully fight against the challenges posed by the present dispensation
Amid rumblings in the Bharatiya Janata Party over Bihar poll rout and attack on its leadership by party veterans, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday strongly defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah, saying they cannot be held responsible for the defeat.
If Vijaykanth and his party stole the media thunder, which lingered in the viewers' mind even while watching Prime Minister Modi's thunderous campaign speech, the latter suffered also owing to visible 'disconnects', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Saturday announced as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance's vice presidential candidate.
The EPS camp believes that the BJP was already arm-twisting the AIADMK into conceding more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections 'than they deserve' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On the proposed Grand Alliance of the Congress and other parties in the state, Shah said the Telugu people had not forgotten how the Congress had treated their leaders like former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh chief minister Anjaiah and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's phone call to Trump will help restore a degree of sanity to Indian statecraft and diplomacy, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'It's not that the Opposition has to search for common ground.' 'The government is handing the common ground to the Opposition.'
Cassandras and Congressis may sneer at the findings, but the Times Now poll indicated that the Modi government was very much on its way to a second term.
Under fire from the opposition over escalating ceasefire violations by Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India has responded to the aggression with courage and lamented public debate on the issue for political gains.
She said neither the Congress nor the BJP works in the interests of the upper castes' poor and the remaining majority.
'Modi took to the dais and said he would like to step down as chief minister over the riots.' 'Immediately, people from several sides got up and said there was no need to do so.' 'Whether it was orchestrated or not, Shourie wasn't sure.' 'But, according to him, Vajpayee felt that it was a coup.'
The AIADMK is convinced that the BJP will remain an electoral burden for a long time to come, beginning the Lok Sabha polls next year, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
The government will have to move a bill in Parliament to repeal the three agri laws, which were at the centre of protests by farmers for the past year, Constitution and legal experts said on Friday.
At the end of the day, Stalin expressing solidarity with an arrested colleague is one thing, especially if he too felt that the minister had been wronged, but for him to retain the person in office sets a bad precedent, which would not go unnoticed by voters, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'He never believes in loose talk.' 'If he is done with you, then you go your way, he goes his way.'
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