Consensus emerged on the appointment of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), while Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's name was proposed for the convener's post, pending approval of parties absent at the alliance meeting on Saturday, according to sources.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is coordinating the meeting. He has invited the leaders of all the non-BJP parties.
Aam Aadmi Party's internal Lokpal, Admiral (retd) L Ramdas, on Saturday said he will not quit the post even though he was asked not to attend the crucial National Council meeting for which he had travelled all the way from Maharashtra.
They also demanded that if any discrepancy is found during VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of the paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that particular assembly segment should be done and compared with the electronic voting machine (EVM) results.
The Aam Aadmi Party received a jolt on Saturday after senior party leader Yogendra Yadav and Haryana convener Naveen Jaihind tendered their resignation from party's political affairs committee and national executive respectively over alleged bickering between the two.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
'AAP is more acceptable to sections of the middle class because it has pragmatically tried to accommodate Hindu sensibilities.'
The LG's nod came hours after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recommended to him that the mayoral election be held on the said date.
Pankaj Gupta filed his nomination papers for the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat, Atishi for East Delhi, Gugan Singh North West Delhi, Raghav Chadha South Delhi, Dilip Pandey North East Delhi and Brajesh Goel for New Delhi.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
When the whole Delhi was with the Aam Aadmi Party, some 'friends backstabbed' us, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told Saturday's National Council meeting
With Centre, state and municipal governments passing the buck on issues as critical as sanitation, Aditi Phadnis looks at the revolving door politics that is often played with the running of local self government
In an apparent dig at the Aam Aadmi Party over its poll pledge to reduce power bills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wondered how such promises could be made by political parties in states which are dependent on electricity supply from outside.
The suspension of Bijaswan MLA came after Kejriwal returned to Delhi wrapping up his four-day visit to poll-bound Punjab.
Political analysts say the road to the 2024 polls for the Congress is going to get tougher as it is a party that is 'in the ICU' and cannot be revived with quick-fix solutions.
In line with exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Uttar Pradesh, after one hour of counting.
Addressing a joint press conference after a meeting of 26 opposition parties in Bengaluru, Kharge said, "This was a very important meeting to save democracy and the Constitution in the interest of the people of the country."
'The fight is between the Congress and Akali Dal.'
'The 10% increase in women voters was a determined bloc of voters.' 'They were willing to try this third party, specially because it seemed it had done something in Delhi.'
'He won't be able to migrate; he must survive in that environment.' 'He will go back after the election to becoming invisible.'
Democracy is the heart of our body politic and elections are its life blood. Because there is some disease that affects it, we cannot apply leeches to drain it off, killing the body in the process, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
What these elections prove beyond any doubt (if ever there was one) that Modi's hold over public mind and Shah's mastery of election management are unparalleled. It doesn't seem likely that they will be matched any time soon in the Indian political scene, reaffirms Shreekant Sambrani.
Most of the parties supported 'one nation one election', says defence minister Rajnath Singh.
Can un-democracy be the foundation for a democratic party that aspires to be different from all other parties in India.
Now that the second phase of the odd-even scheme in Delhi is over, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wants to project it as a success, with an eye on the Punjab polls next year, says Kavita Chowdhury.
A recent pre-election survey suggests that AAP may win 53 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly and reduce the Congress to just 43.
The rebel leader has been a vocal critic of AAP leadership since he was removed as leader of opposition in Punjab assembly in July last year.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the PAC, has entrusted Vishwas with the responsibility of Rajasthan which goes to polls by the end of 2018.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to a bill to merge the three municipal corporations in Delhi, sources in the government said.
Bedi sought forgiveness from the party for not living up to their expectations
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The dissident group in the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday announced its future course of action, including a National Convenor of the "movement" and taking out a country-wide Swaraj Yatra.
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.
If the Anandiben Patel administration was shaken by the Patidar agitation, the Vijay Rupani government would have to deal with the Jignesh Mevani-led Dalit movement.
The results are being seen as a ringing endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies and a reflection of his unmatched popularity.
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi is well aware that it is a near-impossible task for him to beat Sneh Bansal in the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association's presidential elections on December 30, but he is not ready to go down without a fight against the "shameful activities" of the current regime.
No untoward incident has been reported from the district over the past three days.
Even though the Health Ministry and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have been insisting that there is 'no solid evidence' of community transmission so far, the government has started scaling up health infrastructure to deal with any situation.
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