'The moment they fall foul of the party in power, they become unsafe. Then nobody can guarantee their safety.'
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that in his personal opinion, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should be banned as most law and order problems in the country are arising because of the Bharatiya Janata Party-RSS.
Mehbooba Mufti was on Monday re-elected as the president of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for a further period of three years.
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 Assam assembly on Thursday passed a bill to ban polygamy, making it an offence which may lead to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, barring some exceptions.
'After the 2020 Bihar assembly polls when our party got only 43 seats and our ally the BJP got 73 seats, Nitish Kumar refused to become chief minister and assured the BJP that he will support the government led by anyone.' 'But the BJP's top leaders told Nitish Kumar that as the NDA contested the polls under his leadership, the next government will be headed by him.'
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Women workers of the NDA in Bihar enforced a bandh to protest alleged abuse directed at PM Modi's mother during a Congress event. Protests were held across the state, with BJP leaders participating in sit-ins.
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual meeting on Friday evening with leaders of 19 Opposition parties, including the chief ministers of some Opposition-ruled states, amid efforts to boost Opposition unity and evolve a common strategy against the National Democratic Alliance government.
'The fiscal situation is extremely vulnerable. It has never been so bad in Kerala's history.'
'I want to ask the entire nation and the opposition. Can a Chief Minister, Prime Minister, or any leader run the country from jail?'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet an all-party delegation from Jammu and Kashmir led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tomorrow to discuss the current situation in the Valley and steps to restore complete normalcy.
'Earlier, we used to talk about a deficit economy. There is a deficit in democracy' 'If you read superficially Gandhi and Ambedkar and Nehru, some misconceptions and misunderstanding come to mind, as if they were at loggerheads and they differed radically in their views' 'India is one nation. There is only one citizenship. No citizenship for South India and no citizenship for North India and another for the Northeast'
Internal discord within the INDIA bloc has led to alliance partners contesting against each other in at least eight assembly seats in Bihar. The Congress, RJD, and Left parties are facing challenges in seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming elections.
Opposition-ruled states warn of steep annual losses; Centre assures higher consumption will offset revenue hit.
In the wake of notices issued to the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and several others by the State Accountability Commission, Opposition parties on Friday staged a protest and later walked out from the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly demanding a debate over the issue.
A Muslim cleric has been booked for allegedly making objectionable and inflammatory remarks against Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav during a televised debate.
A big question mark is on whether Shashi Tharoor, who had led the delegation to the US among other countries, will be picked as speaker by the Congress, as the seasoned Lok Sabha member's enthusiastic endorsement of the government's action following the terror attack has soured his ties with his party.
In a scathing attack, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti accused the Jammu and Kashmir government of using 'draconian methods which have proved counter productive leading to increased alienation of the people.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting individuals involved in voter deletion and election rigging, citing data from Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of rigging the Maharashtra assembly elections and expressed concerns about similar tactics being used in the upcoming Bihar polls. He alleged that the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is an attempt to manipulate the election process.
Mufti said the Bharat Jodo Yatra was like a breath of fresh air in Kashmir as it allowed people to come out of their homes in numbers for the first time since 2019.
The decision of some key regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Aam Aadmi Party to skip a key opposition meet called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the presidential poll has cheered the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as it believes that their absence has only highlighted the faultlines and one-upmanship among its rivals.
The Shiromani Akali Dal skipped the meeting, besides the Aam Aadmi Party, the TRS and the BJD.
The parties also said that the decision has come in late and had the Modi government shed its 'arrogance earlier' and repealed the laws opposed by farmers, a number of precious lives lost during the nearly year-long agitation could have been saved.
We the people are left in the wind, waiting on the whims of an unengaged president and an oligarch with a nearly bottomless wallet, observes Sree Sreenivasan.
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday expressed disappointment over the hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru and appealed to the people of Kashmir to exercise restraint.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement, an alliance of 11 opposition parties formed on September 20, has launched a three-phased anti-government movement under an "action plan" to remove the Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf government.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "to arrest the downslide in the border situation which has generated fear and panic among the people".
Sangma, the outgoing chief minister, said he has support of the BJP, the HSPDP and two Independent MLAs, while asserting the total tally may go up in the coming days as he is in touch with other parties as well.
The Election Commission (EC) has published the draft electoral rolls for Bihar, marking a key step ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The publication follows a month-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described Dr Farooq Abdullah's defence of the beleaguered BCCI president N. Srinivasan 'as part of his cover up to escape punishment for alleged embezzlement in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association'.
In the rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump, who is the Republican presidential nominee for the November 5 elections, was joined by his running mate JD Vance.
As soon as the House met on Tuesday morning, opposition Peoples Democratic Party members and the independent MLA Engineer Abdul Rashid raised the issue of the return of the mortal remains of Guru to his family. However, the BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party members were on their toes countering the PDP members.
According to official records, Kishor is enrolled as a voter in West Bengal at 121, Kalighat Road, the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata's Bhabanipur assembly constituency, which is Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's seat, he said.
'Stalin's intention is plain and simple.' 'The DMK wants to convert what is an 'incumbency-centred' election for the party-led alliance into one more 'Modi/BJP election' after Stalin's successive success in 2019 and 2021, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has set its sights on winning an 'unprecedented majority' in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking key organisational leaders to work towards boosting the party's vote share by 10 per cent, sources said.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party has decided to vote in favour of the resolution seeking clemency for Afzal Guru to be tabled in the state assembly during its forthcoming short session beginning in Srinagar on Monday.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, with strong roots in the RSS and BJP, has been elected as the 15th Vice President of India. His rich political and administrative experience will be valuable as the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
Counting of votes for four legislative council seats representing panchayat quota in the state is scheduled to be taken up on Thursday and the results are expected by noon.
