State Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath has been fielded from his home-turf Chhindwara, from where he is currently the legislator.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
'They know the people of Karnataka will not accept it.'
The SBSP can impact around 10 Lok Sabha seats and 40 assembly seats in 7-8 districts in Uttar Pradesh, according to poll analysts.
The JD-U also accused the ruling BJP of having "authoritarian" tendencies and destabilising non-BJP governments in several states, including Delhi and Jharkhand besides Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra earlier.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at the latter's residence in New Delhi and extended 'complete support' to him in the Aam Aadmi Party government's ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services.
In the manifesto for the polls released in Bengaluru by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of the state unit chief D K Shivakumar and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and others, the party reiterated its five guarantees: Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuva Nidhi and Shakti.
Polling for assembly polls is underway in Meghalaya and Nagaland, northeastern states the Bharatiya Janata Party rules in alliance with regional powers.
The National Democratic Alliance, led by strong man Narendra Modi secured a whopping 352 of 542 seats, making it evident that his message of muscular nationalism, security and Hindu pride had worked wonders.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance looked set to return to power in Maharashtra while Haryana could be a cliffhanger with no clear majority for the BJP or the Congress, Election Commission trends indicated.
Naidu also termed the dharna by opposition leaders near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises as a big tamasha and an insult to the Father of the Nation.
The top court said the exclusion of a member of the Opposition from the House just because of a perspective which may not be consistent with the viewpoint of the government is a serious issue.
During the day-long debate, the lines between science and religion often got blurred with many invoking religious texts and the contribution of 'rishi munis' to highlight India's tryst with the extra-terrestrial world.
The Congress on Thursday said it firmly believes that India's democratic processes themselves have to deal with the threats posed to its democracy, remarks that came after the Bharatiya Janata Party attacked the opposition party for its leader Digvijaya Singh thanking Germany for "taking note" of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
Neither the BJP, nor the Congress before it, made any manifesto commitments on defence spending, even though allocations have plummeted from 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the late 1980s to less than 2 per cent today, points out Ajai Shukla.
Chaudhary alleged that the BJP "hates Bihar" after having lost power in the state, which is "back in the centre-stage of national politics" since the opposition meeting hosted in Patna by Nitish Kumar.
Replying to the debate in Rajya Sabha on a motion thanking the president for his address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, he said for the first time in decades, people of Jammu and Kashmir got benefits of reservation.
The party, however, did not announce as whether it would merge with any other party or become part of some other alliance.
"What is the hurry," Modi said, while referring to Gandhi's hand gestures when he came across to PM's chair.
'BJP has lot of money. Even a rich person like me is scared of taking on the financial muscle of the BJP.' 'What is the point of throwing money? Result toh aane wala nahi hai.'
'The biggest change that the BJP can initiate in the run-up to 2024 is appointing new faces as chief ministers.' 'In doing so, it will send a message well beyond 2024.'
'The assailants knocked at the gates of Yadav's house around 5.30 am and opened fire as soon as he opened the gates,' the Bihar Police tweeted.
August 15, 2023 became for me, an extraordinary Independence Day. I will remember it as the day the country's largest political party -- one that struts around like a colossus and tutors us in apt behaviour -- suddenly looked bankrupt in terms of ideas and had to take out a personal guarantee from the prime minister to underscore its capacity to deliver our future, observes Shyam G Menon.
'Unless she joins one of the coalitions, she has a bleak future.' 'The NDA option is suicidal, but INDIA could help her.'
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with a 2015 drugs case on Thursday morning, official sources said.
'If the Opposition believes the BJP is out to undermine the principles on which the Constitution rests, they had better start behaving as though they believe in those principles,' says T N Ninan.
Gokhale has said that China used its "close connections" with the Left parties in India to "build domestic opposition" to the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The BJP and the AIADMK are unable to sort out ideological differences, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tharoor argued that the proposed bill represents a "grave chapter in the history of the Indian republic, seeking to ratify an ordinance that in many ways is an assault on our democratic heritage and the spirit of federalism."
The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee is keen to field senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Varanasi and will soon send a proposal in this regard to the top leadership, said newly appointed party's state president Ajay Rai on Sunday.
'It is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab'
Kishor claimed that Nitish may go for a tie-up with the BJP again if situation demands so.
What are the political equations, the challenges, and the threats?
The Bengal outcome can have a marginal impact on national politics. Whereas elections in UP next year might still change the course ahead of the parliamentary poll in 2024, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Can Mamata Banerjee unite the Opposition?
Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.
He said Congress would push Madhya Pradesh back into the BIMARU (laggard) category if given an opportunity again.
The veteran politician accused the BJP of breaking duly elected governments in opposition-ruled states even as it boasted about providing a stable government at the Centre.
Leaders of 23 political parties met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, seeking redressal of the issue of alleged tampering of electronic voting machines before Lok Sabha polls.
'Every Indian who is concerned about the unity, integrity and the map of India should be worried about this growing divide.'
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