'Narendra Modi might not have made 145 in Maharashtra, but it is definitely true that the Congress, and other dynastic parties, are well and truly stumped.'
The Nehru-Gandhi scion attacked the Akalis for allegedly plundering Punjab and appealed people to vote for the Congress in the February 4 polls "to transform Punjab".
In a veiled reference to the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday said those who have been in power for the last 60 years have followed the "divide and rule policy in the country and conspired to snatch the rights of Dalit and backward communities".
"I would also like to tell judges that do not be afraid and keep going on the path of justice," Modi said.
He also said that it was up to Sonia Gandhi whether she will continue as party chief for another term.
'The Modi administration has access to so much evidence that it can rip apart the Congress, not just the Nehru-Gandhis, but almost the entire leadership structure of the party,' says T V R Shenoy.
Amidst indications that Samajwadi Party leader and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is warming up to the idea of an alliance with Congress, UP PCC President Raj Babbar on Monday said his party will contest alone in the state and described such talks as "hypothetical".
She, however, did not talk of the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance and sought support for only her party's candidates.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's leadership has come under attack. Although the party tried to dismiss the rebellion brewing in Congress-ruled states of Assam in the east and Maharashtra in the west, no one is convinced.
'Our biggest problem has been keeping this country together.' 'Nation building is never easy. It is a very difficult task.' 'Even 70 years is not too long a time.'
Ram V Sutar, 89, has already created more than 200 distinct statues, many of them massive. Now, he is a leading contender for the commission to produce the world's largest statue: A 597-foot tall rendering of Sardar Patel, an independence leader who played a crucial role in uniting India's fractious states.
Though there is a full-throated clamour in the Congress that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi be formally named as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Nehru-Gandhi scion is personally not convinced that his projection will yield electoral dividends.
'The Congress's allies won't be left behind in looking out for their own interests. Some will demand a bigger share of the ministerial or electoral pie, others will simply jump ship,' says T V R Shenoy.
In Tamil Nadu, the alternative to one Dravidian party has been another, and for one actor-politician CM, there is another. Their initial popularity may owe to their filmi charisma, but their continued acceptance owed to their government's policies and programmes targeting the poor and the needy in the state, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In embarking on building the world's tallest statue, Modi is hoping his stature will also rise - if not across India then at least in Gujarat, says Bharat Bhushan.
'It is from her that present-day political stalwarts continue to draw lessons on testing the limits of Constitutional democracy, and whose slogans even her party's staunchest opponents imitate even after over 30 years of her death,' says Veenu Sandhu.
How has Raj Thackeray, who is as much a businessman as politician, been able to pull it off, when most Opposition politicians live in fear of IT and ED and CBI, asks Krishna Prasad after attending a Raj rally in Nashik.
The party is finding increasing acceptability in the 18-35 years age group with Rahul Gandhi adding a million followers in the past 2 months and Facebook and Twitter also seeing similar spikes.
Rahul Gandhi's absence has shocked political circles who say it is unthinkable for a political party to not have its vice-president present in Parliament to stand up and raise his voice against the government's more than a dozen controversial policies in its less than nine-month rule.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday raked up another controversy over Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, with L K Advani quoting a book to allege that then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru called his home minister a "total communalist" when the latter suggested that army be sent to take over a defiant Hyderabad State after Independence.
'Swamy's crash-landing carries a message to all loose cannons.' 'Get your rants vetted by someone higher up in the party so that you are not left high and dry,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'The Red Sari' is not a historical account of Sonia Gandhi and puts her in good light but it could not be published in India around four years ago because of 'poor PR people' of the Congress, says its author Javier Moro.
Glaring contrasts in various spheres in this Nehru-Gandhi family pocketborough are being raised by the rivals to target Congress President Sonia Gandhi for lop-sided development in the constituency from where she is seeking a fourth term.
The Congress president said that if he was allowed to speak for 15 minutes on a host of issues, including the Nirav Modi scam, PM Modi would "run away".
The Congress president inaugurated a photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life at the historic Swaraj Bhavan where the former prime minister was born.
This phase of voting was crucial for the state's ruling Samajwadi Party and main opposition Bahujan Samaj Party.
Seeking to reassert Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said secularism is a compelling necessity for a country as diverse as India.
Stepping up his attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family, Narendra Modi on Friday said Rahul Gandhi was talking of changing the system when it was his father and grandmother who made it and distorted and misused it for their personal gains.
'I would personally like to see Rahul Gandhi continue as party president.' 'I genuinely believe he has far more to offer to the party still, particularly in leading us in these challenging times that we find ourselves in.'
From banking reform to financial reconstruction, the bullet train, Navi Mumbai airport, choosing a new medium fighter aircraft to be made in India... time is running out for Modi. How could a leader as energetic and astute as Modi have left it for so late, asks Shekhar Gupta.
Congress on Monday went into damage control mode over party general secretary Digvijay Singh's purported comment that Rahul Gandhi does not have the temperament of a ruler even as BJP attacked the Congress Vice President saying he was "not Prime Minister material".
Gandhi said there's a lot of space for cooperation between the United States and India in the creation of jobs and in the education sector.
You'd wonder what madness seized Rahul that he has decided to play to the BJP's strengths, says Shekhar Gupta.
Disappointed and angry Congress members are likely to train their guns on Rahul Gandhi's team of advisors for inept handling of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal
'People do not want a 'maha milavat' (highly adulterated) government of those who assembled in Kolkata.'
'Actually, the RSS is deeply ambivalent and uncomfortable with Gandhi as well as also Ambedkar, but it is not politically wise to oppose these two.' 'So Nehru is the main and only target.'
'This is fake. Tyagi was made to sign on a blank paper of the register for media entry and later the names of Rahul Gandhi and others were added in the register,' Congress said.
An article published by the party's Mumbai unit has caused a stir as it blames Jawaharlal Nehru for the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet.
'In his 2014 election campaign, Mr Modi had boasted that he would apply the Gujarat model to the rest of India. We just have to ensure he doesn't start with Parliament,' says Shashi Tharoor in this fascinating excerpt from his new book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi And His India.
Varun Gandhi contesting from the Bharatiya Janata Party and describing the seat as his late father Sanjay Gandhi's karambhoomi is seen as a comedy of errors by his opponent, Congress' Amita Singh, who asserts that while bringing in these emotions, he forgets that his father was a Congressman.
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