These are the 25 seats to watch out for as Gujarat goes to the polls over two phases on December 1 and 5.
Owaisi's five seats in Bihar's Muslim-majority Seemanchal region ought to ring alarm bells, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Owaisi alleged the bill was worse than the discriminatory laws brought by Hitler in Germany.
Tejashwi took the four MLAs to the assembly in a car he himself drove, in a gesture that was rich in optics as well as symbolism.
Hyderabad member of Lok Sabha and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi has demanded a high level inquiry into the communal riots in Hyderabad over the last five days, and charged the police with behaving in a partial and biased manner.
Jailed gangster and former member of Parliament Atiq Ahmad and his wife on Tuesday joined the All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen in the presence of its chief Asaduddin Owaisi, drawing a sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party which said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will not allow "Jinnah's jihadi mentality" to flourish in Uttar Pradesh.
The murder of Atiq and his brother and the police encounter with his son have raised many questions about the propriety of how crime is tackled by the Yogi government. But Yogi knows he has the support of the people who are fed up with crime holding the state to ransom for decades, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The AIMIM leader also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government even as he panned the triple talaq law saying, "The triple talaq law is against all the Muslim women. BJP is a long-lasting government which means that this darkness is going to last long."
In renaming TRS and repositioning it as a 'national' party, KCR is also eyeing a pole position in opposition politics ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Surya accused Owaisi of speaking the language of "rabid Islamism, separatism, and extremism" saying that this was also used by Jinnah.
AIMIM's West Bengal unit leader Anwar Pasha along with some of his colleagues joined the Trinamool Congress, claiming that the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party was only acting as a polariser of votes to help the BJP.
'The people who demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992, the same people were asked to form a trust and start temple construction'
Amidst the Owaisi row, thousands of Muslims will hoist the Indian flag, sing the national anthem and chant the slogan at the famous Mahim Dargah.
In a freewheeling interview to rediff.com's Mohammed Siddique, Owaisi explains what went wrong between the Congress and the MIM and lays out his future plans.
AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi's first rally in Kolkata, scheduled to be held on Thursday, has been cancelled as the city police denied permission for it, party sources claimed.
'It was Dr B R Ambedkar's foresight which saved us from some marauding state political leaders who could have indirectly disfranchised large sections of our population as we see some attempts even now,' says V Balachandran.
The Congress and BJP are apprehensive that AAP might eat into their votes among the Patel community, Kshatriyas, a section of minorities, and Dalits, thus delivering a fatal blow in the closely-contested seats. But the local BJP is elated over the entry of AIMIM as there will be a contender for minority votes apart from the Congress in seats like Bhuj and Mandvi, which have considerable Muslim electorate.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will make efforts to not field 'bahubali' (strongmen) or mafia candidates in next year's Uttar Pradesh polls, party supremo Mayawati said Friday, announcing that jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari will not be given a party ticket from Mau again.
Bhim denotes Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar, while Mim denotes the letter 'M' in the Urdu alphabet; the party used the slogan effectively in the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections
The Opposition on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the killing of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district, alleging that 'jungle raj' and 'mafia raj' were prevalent under its rule.
Suggesting an alliance with ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress in Maharashtra, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Imtiaz Jaleel has said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) can become a 'comfortable car' from the three-wheeled autorickshaw which can prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power.
A day after the by-election results in Bihar, though leaders of the Rahtriya Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed victory after the RJD and BJP retained the Mokama and Gopalganj assembly seats respectively, the fact that both seats were won with a reduced margin indicates that there is nothing to celebrate for either party.
With the situation showing improvement, curfew was relaxed for five hours on Wednesday in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar while Baghpat witnessed a communal clash leaving a constable injured.
The Congress hit out at the BJP, demanding the immediate arrest of those who have defamed India at the international level instead of enacting a "drama of action".
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief said that even if the bill is passed by Parliament, he will "knock on all doors" in the country and keep his point of view in front of the people.
'The Shiv Sena and the Ambedkarites are two powerful social forces in Maharashtra with a presence in the toiling classes. However, they were made to fight each other by the powers that be. Now, they are joining hands while overcoming this contentious past.'
The Centre has imposed a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for their alleged terror activities.
The statement came after Owaisi courted controversy by saying that five out of the seven martyrs in the Sunjuwan terror attack were Muslims.
The pirzada said that the newly launched outfit might contest state elections from all 294 assembly seats.
The BJP objected to the name claiming that Tipu Sultan had persecuted Hindus and hence his name was unacceptable for a public facility.
The hijab-row triggered protests in Karnataka spread across the state on Tuesday, with campuses witnessing 'conflict-like' situations marked by stone-pelting incidents, use of force by police and the Muslim girls standing their ground for wearing the headscarves, prompting calls for peace and calm both by the government and the high court, which is now looking into the students' plea for their right to their hijab.
"By attending, the Prime Minister has not only laid the foundation of a Mandir, but also the foundation of a Hindu Rashtra," Owaisi told reporters in Hyderabad.
'The DMK may get a little more than 50% of the minority vote.' 'The AIADMK always gets over 10% of the minority vote.'
Aditi Phadnis picks five key seats in the three states where assembly elections are being held today.
People pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur and protests broke out after Friday prayers in at least four other cities in Uttar Pradesh over a non-suspended BJP leader's recent remarks on Prophet Muhammad.
Opposition members hit out at the government for the introduction of the bill in a 'hurry' and 'without any consultation with stakeholders'.
The party's decision to pullout from the Centre and the Andhra government will spell big trouble for the Congress. Mohammed Siddique reports
"We got a lot of confidence from our success in Bihar, and we will continue that momentum," Owaisi told reporters after their meeting in Lucknow.
Mishra's assertion came amid a growing perception that the BSP could again join hands with the saffron party if the 2022 assembly elections throw a hung House.
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