The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
Commenting that running a country is not a play for those born with a golden spoon, Modi said, "They have gone from Amethi and will go even from Rae Bareli."
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
These leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the party's state headquarters on Saturday morning.
The Lokpal was functioning without its regular chief since Pinaki Chandra Ghose completed his term on May 27, 2022.
Yadav was dismissed in 2017 after he posted a video online complaining about the food served to the troops.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
Jwala (Namibian name Siyaya) had also given birth to four cubs last March. However, only one of them survived.
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Deaflympics gold medallist Virender Singh Yadav, better known as Goonga Pehlwan, has now decided to return his Padma Shri to the government, showing solidarity with the country's top wrestlers.
'Nitish may take such a decision because he was the first person who was with the INDIA front.' 'He went back only because he did not get proper encouragement from the Congress.' 'Nitish will take a decision provided there is a strong alternative.' 'If he feels ours is a weak coalition, he will not come.' 'Then, this government will continue for five years.'
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
As many as 28 legislators, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were on Monday inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
A Namibian cheetah has given birth to three cubs at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, a Union minister said on Wednesday.
'If the Congress loses this time, Rahul Gandhi will not look back at Amethi ever again.'
In the first information report (FIR), the cyber crime branch of the Ahmedabad police said that people from across the country have received Pannun's threat via a pre-recorded voice message sent from a foreign number.
'The Congress is trying to reinvent itself -- the caste census demand, OBC emphasis, the anti-corporate thrust, especially on Adani etc -- all this is not standard Congress strategy.'
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav had thrown barbs at the prime minister over his having no family.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of 24 candidates for Lok Sabha from Madhya Pradesh featured former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur was replaced by another candidate.
'Episodes of targeted attacks on Muslims established that for a section of people and, sadly, even officials of the State, the election results conveyed no lessons.' 'Opposition parties must not be hesitant in speaking out whenever the mob with tacit State support targets Muslims,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
'When he was sidelined in the INDIA bloc, it was was the turning point because it badly hurt Nitish's ambition.' 'After that, he decided to damage INDIA by changing sides.'
'There is a huge constituency that upholds this ideology.' 'Hindutva will remain relevant in our public life in the near future as an ideology and in politics as well.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
The Delhi Capitals bowlers have come under the scanner for their poor death over bowling, but on Wednesday, they silenced critics with a sizzling display to bowl Gujarat Titans out for a paltry 89.
Quickfire cameos did the job in the low-scoring match between Delhi Capitals and the Gujarat Titans.
Eighteen people were killed and 19 injured when a double-decker sleeper bus headed for Delhi hit a milk tanker on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Unnao on Wednesday, officials said.
Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls.
The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible, points out Jyoti Punwani.
As far as the party is concerned, it has already taken its decision. The decision was not mine alone and it was taken with the consent of the party. If he keeps a different opinion, then he is free to do so," Nitish told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
'Modi 3.0 will have more balanced policies like one saw in Modi's first term.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress again of planning to redistribute people's property if it is voted to power, but stopped short of saying that the wealth would go to Muslims.
Glimpses from the At Home reception hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Republic Day.
While at some places people who had turned up at polling booths early in the morning left without casting their vote after waiting in line for a long time, Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray alleged that the process was slowed down deliberately.
Several BJP leaders recalled Kejriwal's claim of probity and past allegations of corruption against politicians, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar among others, while seeking their arrest, as they claimed that he has been exposed now.
