The Bharatiya Janata Party National Council on Saturday authorised newly-elected party president Rajnath Singh to constitute his parliamentary board, which may see Narendra Modi being formally brought to the party's central polity.
Senior BJP leaders, including Amit Shah and J P Nadda, met with party leaders and allies to discuss the upcoming Bihar polls. Seat-sharing arrangements with NDA partners are expected to be announced soon.
The generational shift in the Bharatiya Janata Party was complete on Tuesday with its founders Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi being dropped from the Parliamentary Board, the highest decision-making body, which has the stamp of Prime Minister Narendra Modi all over now.
'We are seeing an era where only what Modi wishes is going to happen.' 'A clear message has now been sent to others that if this fate could befall on Nitin Gadkari, then just think what could happen to lesser mortals.'
With his induction into the Bharatiya Janata Party's parliamentary board, the party's highest decision-making body, Narendra Modi's prime focus will be on the next Lok Sabha polls, a state BJP leader close to the Gujarat chief minister has said
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha are among prominent leaders who have failed to find a place in party president Rajnath Singh's core team.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will make his first appearance as member of BJP's Central Election Committee which meets in New Delhi on Friday to decide on the party candidates for the May 5 Karnataka elections.
The Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced that Chief Minister Narendra Modi will contest elections from one seat in the state, without ruling out the possibility that he may fight on a second seat from Uttar Pradesh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party appears set to announce the name of Harshavardhan as its chief ministerial candidate for Delhi by the end of this month despite internal squabbles and a virtual threat from state unit head Vijay Goel to quit if a decision to the effect was taken.
Advani retained his predecessor Venkaiah Naidu in the panel and in the parliamentary board.
Democracy in India is too important to be left to a leader with a limited appeal. If Rahul Gandhi cares for India, he should step aside for a new crop of leaders, suggests Harishchandra.
Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday decided to recommend the name of veteran leader L K Advani to contest the Lok Sabha election from his Gandhinagar constituency.
The choice of 59-year-old Nadda has come as a bit of surprise as the party had indicated last week that it could take a call on the issue after the membership drive after about six months.
After his revolt against elevation of Narendra Modi last month, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Thursday attended the first Parliamentary Board meeting along with the Gujarat chief minister to discuss the strategy for the next polls.
The bill to amend the law governing Waqf boards proposes far-reaching changes in the Wakf Act, 1995, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Sports Bill is a key reform aimed at building a "transparent, accountable and world-class sports ecosystem" in India.
After a meeting of its working committee in New Delhi, the board adopted a resolution which stated that the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the maintenance of Muslim divorcee women is "against the Islamic law (Shariah)".
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju feels that the National Sports Governance Bill, which is set to be tabled in the monsoon session beginning on Monday, will usher in a 'new era' for sports in India.
A senior party leader on the condition of anonymity said the CWC meeting will be called next week although the agenda is to be worked out and finalised.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution on Thursday condemning the Centre's proposed Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, calling for its recall. Chief Minister M K Stalin argued that the amendment interferes with religious affairs and would negatively impact the Muslim minority. The resolution was unanimously passed by the Assembly, with support from all parties, including the opposition AIADMK and PMK. The BJP, however, walked out in protest, accusing the ruling DMK of engaging in divisive politics. The bill aims to streamline the Waqf Board's work and ensure efficient management of Waqf properties but has been criticized for potentially encroaching on religious freedom and autonomy. The Tamil Nadu government claims that the amendment would lead to government control over the Waqf Board and its properties, impacting its autonomy and potentially allowing for government acquisition of Muslim-owned lands.
However, he claimed that this was a fight to save the party and its ideology and to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister once again.
Through gestures and decisions, the BJP high command has signalled that Raje may not be the lead actor but rather play a supporting role in a high-stakes election in its stamping ground.
The BJP will not announce the chief ministerial candidate before the Assam polls and a decision in this regard will be taken by its Parliamentary Board at the time of forming the next government, the saffron party state unit president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said on Monday.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah has dissolved all its national cells pending their reconstitution and appointed Vijay Chauthaiwale as the new incharge of its foreign and Overseas Friends of BJP cell with immediate effect.
The party also rejigged its Central Election Committee and included former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Om Mathur and its women wing chief Vanathi Srinivasan.
A decision on the seats from where Narendra Modi and L K Advani will contest in Gujarat will be taken on Wednesday when the Bharatiya Janata Party's Central Election Committee considers the party's another list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls.
Rumblings within the Bharatiya Janata Party came to the fore on Wednesday night as the party decided to field L K Advani from Gandhinagar for Lok Sabha polls, angering the patriarch who wanted to shift to Bhopal in a reflection of his tensions with Narendra Modi.
Breaking his silence over the reported row in the Bharatiya Janata Party over a move to field Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday said he would accept any decision the party takes like a "disciplined soldier" and hoped it would neither dent the PM candidate's prestige nor hurt party's electoral chances.
The Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday announced sweeping organisational reforms, saying it will now follow the one family, one ticket principle at elections and ensure that half of its contestants are below 50.
Not relenting on seat sharing in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it would fight in all the 288 assembly seats if it is "compelled" to part ways with the Shiv Sena, its ally of 25 years.
The Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary board on Thursday discussed the allocation of election campaign responsibilities among its general secretaries and top office-bearers in the run-up to the assembly polls in five states and Lok Sabha polls next year.
'But the coldness between the two is definitely melting.'
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
He has served BJP in several capacities, will also be a saviour for the NDA in the Rajya Sabha, where they are still in minority.
Upset over not being projected as Bharatiya Janata Party's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi assembly polls, Vijay Goel on Sunday staked his claim for the position before the party's top leadership and indicated his opposition against any move to declare Harsh Vardhan's name for it.
From Chief Minister EK Palaniswami to Seeman to TTV Dhinakaran to elder brother M K Azhagiri, everyone's favourite target these days seems to the DMK chief Stalin, which is good news in an election year, but that doesn't mean he is going to sweep the polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
With neither the Bharatiya Janata Party nor the Shiv Sena willing to yield ground on the number of Assembly seats they want to contest, the alliance between them seems to be on the brink.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and the Union Territory of neighbouring Puducherry are likely to go to polls in April or May.
Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi's decision to use the same team he used in the Lok Sabha polls for the upcoming assembly elections has not gone down well with many in the party. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
