Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The PMK has now lent its voice to the protests against the mining of atomic minerals in Kanyakumari.
This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
There are few leaders in the Opposition line up who can claim a path to party leadership like Sitaram Yechury and certainly, very few who blended that ascent through student politics with awareness about non-elite real India, urban India and liberal politics, as he did, notes Shyam G Menon.
A turnout of about 59 percent -- the highest in the past seven elections -- was recorded in the first phase of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole said, adding polling passed off peacefully.
Congress in Kerala on Thursday rejected the organisational support announced by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but welcomed individual voters to support the United Democratic Front (UDF).
The Biden administration's failure in stopping two major wars and several minor ones was seen as a major disaster by many Americans and the world at large, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The JD-U leader's outbursts met with disapproval from the RJD as well as ally BJP, leaving the party to fend for itself.
The Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties 'ordering' them to 'withdraw' the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and warned that 'legal action' will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat.
Former US President Obama was featured wearing a number of ensembles some gladiator-inspired and a basketball one among others.
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
Shigeru Ishiba is expected to prioritise strengthening Japan's military capabilities and fostering deeper international partnerships, particularly with India, with whom Japan shares significant strategic interests, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and African heritage, has formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination becoming the first Indian-American to win the nomination from a major political party, and chose Minnesota Gov Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.
State school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi assured that action will be taken against the speaker for his controversial speech at a government school in Chennai.
Kamala Harris used her forceful presidential acceptance speech to present herself as a leader who could unite the country to chart a 'new way forward' and warned Americans of 'extremely serious' consequences of putting her Republican rival Donald Trump back in the White House.
'There is a huge constituency that upholds this ideology.' 'Hindutva will remain relevant in our public life in the near future as an ideology and in politics as well.'
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
He indicated his conviction will remain firm even if that "uprising" ultimately puts the party he faithfully served for 13 years in the dock.
'With all outlets of public expression virtually choked for the last five years, suppressed anger and frustration is looking for an opening via the ballot box.' 'There is no escape from the inevitability of the 'Engineer Rashid' factor surfacing in a big enough way to upset everyone's applecart,' alerts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
A day after 21 houses were set on fire in Bihar's Nawada district, a top state government official on Thursday said 15 people have been arrested in this connection.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to get reservation for women in legislatures promises to shape the political discourse ahead of key state polls and Lok Sabha elections, and a parliamentary approval to the long-contested proposal will be used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to burnish his credentials as a decisive leader.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that she did not threaten junior doctors at state-run hospitals, who have been continuing cease-work for 21 days now to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a woman medic. Addressing a rally organised by the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, Banerjee had on Wednesday urged the agitating junior doctors of Bengal to urgently consider returning to duty and said she doesn't want to lodge first information reports (FIRs) against the striking doctors in consideration of their future careers.
'The Opposition parties will continue to woo Chandrababu Naidu even though he has said he will support the BJP.'
Tral, the former hotbed of terrorism, rocks to the music of democracy.
If Rashid cannot be the king, he could be the kingmaker after October 8 when the results to the J&K assembly are declared.
Their rematch, long anticipated, but hardly clamoured for, is broadly expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges.
Amid speculation over Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United's next move in the wake of vote counting trends, senior party leader K C Tyagi on Tuesday said they are in the National Democratic Alliance and 'we will be in the NDA'.
From Instagram to X, social media platforms, in the run-up to the polls have seen bitter poster wars and even bitter meme battles for political one-upmanship.
Bharatiya Janata Party's National Democratic Alliance partners have got five cabinet ministerial berths in the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as against none in the outgoing government, given the party's dependence on allies for a majority in the Lok Sabha.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party has begun consultations with its allies on the ruling National Democratic Alliance's candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker's post while the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is considering its options and may force a contest to score political points, sources said on Monday, a day before the filing of nomination for the key position.
'If there is a push towards a Marxist oriented government it will be dangerous.' 'We have seen this in Nepal and Myanmar and it will be a concern for India if it is surrounded by countries with such political dispensations.'
That he hasn't done so yet, has continued to be active on the political street, in public debate and on social media, signals an important change. It will give his party hope. Maybe the achievement of reducing Mr Modi well below the majority mark will now motivate him to stay committed, observes Shekhar Gupta
The Kerala police on Thursday launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district. The campaign was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said.
'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'
'Don't be surprised if the Census forms come with a caste box.' 'I will be surprised if it doesn't. It will be a point conceded to Rahul Gandhi and his allies,' asserts Shekhar Gupta. The BJP machine could take all 3 in its stride, but this election has changed that, notes Shekhar Gupta.
This might be the first time in the country's electoral history that the poll body has convened a press conference on the conclusion of polls.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
'The wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
Asserting that Article 370 is a thing of the past, Shah stated that no one can bring it back.
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