The journey for 24-year-old Akash Anand would be much tougher, because dynastic succession goes against the grain of Dalit politics that B R Ambedkar founded.
An estimated 9 lakh devotees witnessed the world famous 'Ratha Yatra' of Lord Jagannath on Wednesday with religious fervour, enthusiasm and a spirit of camaraderie amid tight security.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
'The government is doing away with crucial laws such as the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act which had helped safeguard our forests.' 'The President has to show that she will stand in favour of tribal rights.'
The PM appealed to politicians, members of the film fraternity, sportspersons, businessmen, spiritual leaders and members of the media to encourage increased voter participation and urged them to inspire more people to come out and vote during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Cyclone 'Phailin', which was to make landfall two days from now, possibly near Gopalpur in Odisha and in north Andhra Pradesh, on Thursday intensified into a severe cyclonic storm travelling slightly northwest and lying about 800 km from Paradip in Odisha.
'The IB and authorities knew I had given away all my property and had nothing in my name.' 'Even among police officers, they all respected me for this sacrifice which is rare these days.' 'They respected me from this point of view -- in this day and age few individuals live by ideals for the poor.'
Decorated lights decked up buildings and earthen lamps dotted houses as people across the country celebrated Diwali.
Ahead of the second phase of polls in the state, Banerjee's letter, which was released by the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday, seeks to drum up support from opposition leaders by stating how non-BJP states have suffered due to the saffron party led Centre's actions.
The 1986 batch Odisha cadre IPS officer has been described as a competent officer and is known for his acumen in handling disasters.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said his party should get more seats to contest in the assembly elections in Maharashtra as the position of its ally the Congress has weakened in the state, as evident from the Lok Sabha results.
Even as the BJP is expected to win the vice-presidential poll, ppposition hopes to make it yet another display of its unity, reports Archis Mohan.
With the BJP continuing to be the constant combatant, centrifugal pressures will rise. Fractured relations between the Centre and the states as between BJP and non-BJP ruled states is a sizeable risk owing ahead, warns Shekhar Gupta.
'For the Congress, it has become necessary to make alliances, but this is not easy to deliver at the local level,' says Aakar Patel.
Is anyone in the BJP listening -- to what Nitin Gadkari had to say, but possibly left unsaid? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Look at what happened to the BJP in that India Shining episode in 2004.'
Archis Mohan decodes Bharatiya Janata Party's pre-presidential poll manoeuvres.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam hugged Modi emotionally on a couple of occasions.
'A single seven-year term will free them from party pressures entirely,' says T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
In a stunning blow to the BJP on Wednesday, the party lost bypolls to all the three Lok Sabha seats it contested, including its bastion Gorakhpur, and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, besides Araria in Bihar.
The deceased, identified as Janakibla Hui, had been shifted to AIIMS soon after the devastating fire ravaged the private medical facility on Monday evening, a spokesman of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar said.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
In a blistering attack on Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi on Monday dubbed the Gujarat model propagated by Modi as a 'toffee model', saying it has only benefited one industrialist in the state, ignoring the interests of farmers and the poor.
'Each of them is a setu (bridge) that links the government with the party, but their territories are different.'
'You can fight to win leadership of a party, yet join party rivals to win a general election in the US. The fact that dissent is not rebellion is not really appreciated in India, where we are used to the 'High Command' culture,' says T V R Shenoy.
The accent on 'making the south feel wanted' was the reason why P Muralidhar Rao, who was dropped as general secretary, was partially reinstated in the central apparatus as prabhari in charge of Madhya Pradesh. 'Pressure from the RSS was brought to bear on Rao's return,' a source said. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's call for a Federal Front as a "ploy" to increase her bargaining power with Congress and BJP before the 2014 polls, the Left parties feel it cannot be successful without a common minimum programme.
The coming together of SP and BSP leaders on one platform is being seen as the emergence of a new phase of politics in the state after a dismal show of all anti-BJP parties in the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly polls.
The Congress' fortune in Odisha has been on the slide ever since it lost power to the Biju Janata Dal in the 2000 elections. Party loyalist Giridhar Gamang's resignation has only added to its problems, says Dillip Satapathy
With the Omicron variant of coronavirus slowly spreading its tentacles in the country, a number of states enhanced surveillance to trace, track and quarantine contacts of COVID-19 positive persons while Delhi began genome sequencing of samples of all infected people and has prohibited Christmas and New Year gatherings.
During his interaction with the chief ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that more economic activities would resume; he also said that zone identification may be left to the states.
He was suffering from lung cancer for last several months, West Bengal CPI secretary Swapan Banerjee said.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The issue, which has been a matter of intense public discourse for past few months, has evoked contrasting views with many backing the holding of the tests fearing that it may lead to a zero academic year for students, and the Opposition and activists demanding their postponement in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
'While people complain of the difficulties they are experiencing because of the lack of currency, they remain supportive so far of Mr Modi's initiative.' 'What the country should be concerned about is the prospect of a prime minister who is willing to sacrifice economic gain and risk large-scale job losses in exchange for personal popularity,'
A change in recommendation in favour of Birla did certainly happen but the question is whether it was a bona fide decision. Jyoti Mukul reports
It is not uncommon to see patients in Odisha being carried to hospitals on cots for miles. Recently, this picture was reversed when a doctor carried a pregnant woman to hospital on a cot for 12 km.
The storm is India's strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in 20 years.
