With Rahul showing a significant lead over Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in opinion polls across southern India but lagging in the north, the Congress believes his contesting from the south will help galvanise cadres.
Gadgil and the report prepared by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him are back in news after over two dozen people lost their lives in landslides and flash floods in the past few days in the hilly regions of Western Ghats in central Kerala districts of Kottayam and Idukki.
'Probably only Sonia-ji knows the extent of what he is doing.'
Party sources said that she left for abroad on Wednesday night for a "routine medical check-up" and will return only after Holi on Monday.
5 states that contribute just under a fifth of the Lok Sabha's seats will go to the polls early this year.
Kejriwal said the AAP would not have 'dreamt' of forming an alliance with the Congress but agreed to save the country.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
Much depends on the BJP's electoral performance in next year's assembly elections. If the party fares well in UP and some states like Goa and Gujarat, it will be able to fob off the attempt at a reappraisal of its Hindutva doctrine, observes Amulya Ganguli.
'Now, it feels like the darkness has descended again.'
'The BJP capitalised on the Left Front's failure and inaction and the Congress' deliberate retreat in Tripura.'
"I do not mind if attacks are made on me but what pains me is that Modiji snatched the food park from Amethi...it was meant to transform Amethi and Raebareli," he said.
As per the preliminary estimates, the BJP has significantly improved its national vote share from 31.34 per cent in 2014 to a new record high, while there appeared to be only a marginal change in case of the Congress from its 19.5 per cent score of the last elections.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of tax cuts on petroleum products, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said people were aware of the fact behind the issue and pointed out at his government effecting a Rs 3 a litre cut on petrol earlier.
"Modiji reminded that nation bows before Constitution and not him!"
In the video clip that has gone viral on the social media, Rane and Kankavli Municipal Council president Samir Nalawade are purportedly seen tying Deputy Engineer Prakash Khedekar of the National Highways Authority of India to the railing of a bridge and pouring buckets of mud on him.
Sadhvi also said "there is no such thing as saffron terrorism," adding that "saffron means dedicated life for the nation and dharma."
'His revelation about what went on behind the scenes make it abundantly clear that the BJP must have indulged in similar tactics in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya where it formed a government even though it did not have a majority,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Close friend Tarun Vijay pays tribute to the four-time Goa chief minister and former defence minister who passed into the ages on Sunday.
The presidential election is due in July and the poll to the post of the vice president is scheduled for August.
Narendra Modi, riding a sweeping victory in the Gujarat bye-elections, on Wednesday met Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh amid indications that he may be made the head of the party's campaign committee for next Lok Sabha elections at the National Executive meet in Goa this weekend.
Singh claimed that the state police set up the website to trap Muslims youths and it is "radicalising and encouraging them to become ISIS modules".
With the counting for the high-stakes assembly elections is on in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, here's a look at some of the big names and where they stand.
The election is likely to witness a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Saturday attacked Congress over the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, saying it should be "ashamed" of Rahul Gandhi's visit to the campus and questioned whether "anti-national slogans" can be called freedom of speech.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf spends a week in Goa in pursuit of his favourite dish, and discovers a few other things about the state as well.
Water is going to be a central part of the government's 2024 election campaign. And Gajendra Singh Shekhawat's work will be crucial for it.
Shah said the government was committed to ensure development in the country.
The nation celebrated the 71st Republic Day on Sunday with a grand military parade and exhibition of its history, cultural diversity and strategic weaponry at the Rajpath.
From Jammu and Kashmir to Andhra Pradesh, consumers are facing power cuts ranging from 2 hours to 8 hours.
The move comes amid speculation over possibility of an alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Political Pundit R Rajagopalan lists his big takeaways from the election results.
'A month after assuming charge, Parrikar promised a policy within six months to "end or at least reduce" terrorist infiltration across the Line of Control.' 'However, infiltration continued apace, leading to high-profile terrorist attacks in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, and Uri.' 'During this phase, he made the controversial suggestion that India should fight terror with terror, hinting at supporting terror groups to strike in Pakistan,' observes Ajai Shukla.
Various opposition parties like the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Communist Party of India, and the Communist Party of India-Marxist raised vociferous protests in the upper house while opposing the resolution and the bill.
K C Venugopal (Congress) charged the Modi government with providing little funds for the MGNREGA.
AAP says the nation doesn't need PM's tears but solution to the ongoing crisis.
'In India a strong leader with a majority has never yet been defeated by a challenger.' 'He (or she, as with Indira Gandhi in 1977) must defeat himself,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Voters did not turn up in large numbers in Bangalore.' 'If more voters of Bangalore had come to vote, we would definitely have reached the magic figure.'
ILO acts upon a plea by 10 central trade unions objecting to the ordinances proposed to temporarily scrap labour laws in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, along with executive orders issued by at least 10 states to increase the daily working limit to 12 hours from eight hours, along with other labour law changes.
The debate on the Rafale jet fighter deal saw a head-on collision between the government and the Congress in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Neither Modi nor Shah had held legislative or executive power in Delhi before 2014. They have no training in appealing to the diversity of India as represented in Parliament. Their prism is the provincial politics of Gujarat. An exclusive excerpt from Vinay Sitapati's fascinating new book, Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi.
