Both Mr Modi and Amit Shah like Nabin because they know he will never answer back, points out Aditi Phadnis.
For the chief minister and Assam alike, the road ahead is full of challenges, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said he replaced India with Bharat in his Twitter bio to reflect his 'journey' from the Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party, in a dig at the opposition coalition.
'Mr Modi has the power and pre-eminence in the BJP-RSS to choose how long he wants to serve, and he is definitely going to want to contest in 2029.' 'He will only be 79, as old as Donald Trump now, and fitter,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
'Militants are taking over the administration. Fundamentalists have been released from jail.'
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi of raising questions on sensitive defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to a British citizen. Sarma alleged that Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Colburn, has links with the Pakistani establishment, including working for an organisation allegedly a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Gogoi has rejected the allegations as "baseless" and said the BJP is trying to divert attention from its own failures.
'He's (Modi) asked CMs of different states to work together as 'Team India'. He even made an appeal to Vote India!'
The party is less forthcoming about who the chief minister will be if it stays in power.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
Sindhu pulls out of Uber Cup
No government in the past initiated the process of policy making for its next tenure even before going in for elections. Once the Model Code of Conduct is enforced by the Election Commission, should the government of the day refrain from taking an active interest in policy making for the next five years and let that be the function of the new government?, asks A K Bhattacharya.
'There are people who left and abused the party, so they should not be taken back'
Displaying a washing machine on its press conference dais, the Congress on Saturday taunted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing a closure report in a 2017 corruption case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel and said the ruling party's 'fully automatic washing machine' works on the principle -- 'join BJP, case closed'.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he does not get 'intimidated' and fights for truth even if the world stands against it, remarks that come amid repeated confrontations between his party and the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
The two main factions in Karnataka's Congress party -- one led by Siddaramaiah and the other by D K Shivakumar -- are both contenders for the chief ministership. Both groups have fought hard to get their choice of MLAs the party ticket, notes Aditi Phadnis.
With the BJP continuing to be the constant combatant, centrifugal pressures will rise. Fractured relations between the Centre and the states as between BJP and non-BJP ruled states is a sizeable risk owing ahead, warns Shekhar Gupta.
'Chief Minister Rio is holding the Naga Peace Accord hostage with his tacit support to the NSCN-IM, egging them to refuse to accept a solution within the Constitution.'
'There are more young people in Assam who are unemployed than possibly anywhere else.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Thursday and Thursday.
All these male politicians are unlikely to risk their sinecures to speak up in support of a bunch of women wrestlers who have chosen to challenge a politician who appears to have the ruling regime in a stranglehold, points out Kanika Datta.
With the general election campaign less than six months away, the BJP has more to think about than it had on the eve of 2019. It's the states that will be robbing BJP strategists of their sleep at this point, not the Lok Sabha, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
A G20 dinner invitation from President Droupadi Murmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat' triggered massive debate on Tuesday, with the opposition alleging that the government is planning to drop India and stay with just Bharat as the country's name.
There are three things you never do in a small North East state: Undermine local leaders, divide and rule, push homogenisation, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'The dialogues and language used in this movie are indecent. In Tulasidas' Ramayana, Lord Ram was portrayed as 'Maryada Purushottam' and decent language was used. In Adipurush, dialogues of characters are of very low level'
The BJP at 43 is a work in progress, with total ideological continuity and much substantive change in political method and style, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Ishaan and Sai Pratheek took just 30 minutes to get the better of English duo
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the chief ministers of Assam and Mizoram, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Zoramthanga respectively, and urged them to ensure peace along the disputed border and find an amicable settlement.
BAI cancels preparatory camp.
'Modi swept the 2014 elections for two main reasons: First, the disgust with the Congress government with a non-functional prime minister, and second, more importantly, his promise of performance and hope.' 'He cannot expect to win 2019 on these planks again. His own success in finishing the Congress will take away one plank, and with five years of reign on his CV, he will need to flaunt performance more than promise.'
Omkeshwar Singh, head, Rank MF, a mutual fund investment platform, answers your queries.
Former top bureaucrats have come out in support of ex-coal secretary P C Parakh, who has been named by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the coal blocks allocation scam, warning that harassment of honest officers will erode the government's credibility and stop senior officers from taking decisions.
'It is an important and significant election -- but there is nothing make-or-break about it. A victory is always great, but if the BJP wins, it can't make Mr Modi any stronger in his party and government than he already is,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to Covid-19 in his statement in Parliament, the Indian Medical Association has published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".
'Till the time the MSM and Modi don't trust one another, expect more Nirmala Sitharamans springing out from nowhere,' says Sudhir Bisht.
A Texas company will submit a report by June on whether a company controlled by RIL 'stole' natural gas from the wells where ONGC is contracted to operate in the KG basin, as alleged by ONGC.
'It is a great misfortune that the Nehruvian Stalinists of India have colluded with the grand project of demeaning and destroying Sanskrit. Today, the number of Sanskritists in India is low, and falling,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
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