A day before the start of the Budget session of Parliament, as many as 18 opposition parties, led by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress, decided on Thursday to boycott the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The passage of the Union Budget and other key legislations such as triple talaq will be on top of the agenda for the government.
Responding to Shagh, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the country was suffering from too much "ODOMOS- overdose of only Modi only Shah".
After a dream debut seven years ago when he was sworn in as deputy chief minister after being elected MLA for the first time was followed by a slump in his political fortunes, Tejashwi Yadav has finally come back to center-stage as the kingmaker and deputy to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar, once seen as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance coalition on Tuesday to stake claim as head of the rival 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to be the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time.
Most exit polls on Sunday forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance will get more than 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha MP replaced S Sudhakar Reddy.
'Don't worry, will sort it out son'
"(Former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee said 'raj dharma' was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, 'raj dharma' is not being followed in case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours," he claimed.
The opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side, and consultations in this regard have already begun.
Most political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, ruling National Conference, People's Democratic Party and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party are all set to go it alone in the five phased electoral battle for 87 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
Coaches being hand-in-gloves with athletes in usage of banned substances to win medals and later financial rewards from the government is well known in Indian sports but few have aired their views in public.
"Terms like 'unity in diversity' are used for our country. The country belongs to all. No remarks should me made that harm the country," Singh, a confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, told reporters when asked for his reaction to the BJP leader's comments.
Neither the ruling DMK nor the fractured AIADMK Opposition anticipated that an assembly by-election would put them both to test, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The son of a farmer killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident allegedly involving Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son says he has declined the offer of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress to contest in the assembly polls and instead has asked them to field him in the 2024 Parliamentary election against the minister himself.
'Anybody who speaks up, anybody who reports something that the government feels uncomfortable with, or comments on anything could be charged with criminal cases, could be summoned to police stations, slapped around or grilled for several hours. This has become a new norm.'
Shiv Sena's Suresh Prabhu makes predictions ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls
The BJP calling the Congress a "torn old party" moving towards a stage where its relevance and necessity will be completely lost.
According to sources at AIIMS, the BJP leader was admitted following complaints of chest congestion and breathing issues.
It added that there had been several reminders from the club to the government for freeing the communication of newspaper offices, journalists and the club itself.
The Minister assured the House that security requirement of the Election Commission will be met for free and fair assembly election in the state.
While TMC leaders ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for lifting an image purportedly from West Bengal, the BJP in the Mamata Banerjee-ruled state took potshots at crashing flyovers in the eastern state over the use of an image in a newspaper ad
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who have extended support to the Congress to form the government in the state, were not present.
As cracks began to appear in their ongoing agitation against the agri laws, farmer unions on Wednesday cancelled their planned march to Parliament on February 1 when the Budget would be presented.
The party also sought to justify its protest in the Lok Sabha.
Measure each word you utter in public, advises Virendra Kapoor.
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.
Amid questions over his future, many political observers believe he has enhanced his political stature.
The Congress on Friday questioned the silence of the government on the veracity of a video which purportedly shows injured Indian soldiers in captivity of the Chinese and said if it is genuine, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi must ensure that China is held globally accountable for indulging in war crimes.
The appointees are expected to reflect Rahul Gandhi's vision of a new Congress with MP and Rahul's "bench mate" in the LS, KC Venugopal, expected to play an important role.
The National Conference leader remained unfazed and continued with his prayers, saying the jeering and booing were by his 'own people' who were misguided.
'The Maharashtra government is not being very clear; they are keeping quiet.'
Congress leaders were in for a rude shock on Monday when the media sidelined their much-touted Jawaharlal Nehru birth anniversary event, and instead turned its full attention to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was addressing thousands of supporters in Sydney's Allphones Arena
'It is true that Nitish Kumar had shown reluctance to continue as chief minister after the assembly polls and said the BJP should stake claim for the top post'
The former Union minister said the population debate is 'utterly misplaced' and half a century out-of-date as a large majority of Indian states have achieved replacement levels of fertility.
Top officials of the environment ministry, Delhi Development Authority and municipal commissioners also stayed away from the deliberations.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will on Wednesday file her nomination papers from the Anantnag assembly segment which fell vacant on the demise of her father and chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
The opposition party also alleged that Twitter acted in haste due to "pressure" from the Indian government and was "selective" in removing Rahul Gandhi's tweet and "suspending" his account for putting up pictures of the victim's family as no action was taken against some other handles which carried the same pictures.
More than 20 national leaders will attend the meeting, TMC sources said. Most of them have already arrived in Kolkata.
