The fear that Mamata might snatch the mantle of Opposition leadership which the Gandhis firmly believe to be theirs by birthright seems to have persuaded Sonia and Rahul to give up their hoity-toity ways, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The two-member commission will be headed by former Calcutta high court Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya. Former Supreme Court judge Madan Bhimrao Lokur is its other member.
The brewing discontentment in the party may adversely impact the TMC's prospects in the next assembly polls due in April-May next year.
Gujarat Titans are currently at the top of the IPL table with 18 points from 12 games and a win on Sunday will more or less secure them a top-2 finish. That would mean an extra chance of making it to the final.
'That would be very bad for them and suicidal for both the Gandhis and the Congress party.'
On the eve of the final phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reviews the political landscape in the epicentre and beyond.
The rival promoter group and the entire block of public institutions voted against Basant Jhawar.
But his opponents are making a mistake. They shouldn't be smug, argues Vir Sanghvi.
Nearly 1,500 akansha petis (boxes of aspirations) have been placed in colleges for students to reveal what they expect from a BJP government. While demonetisation figured high in villages, BJP strategist Siddharth Sikka says city youth were "more concerned" about law and order and sanitation.
'Your achievements are many, Nitish babu, but it needs a sustained campaign to remind us, the good people of Bihar, what we may have forgotten,' points out Asmita Bihari.
'Chirag Paswan's game plan would be to push out Nitish Kumar from this alliance, but that is only possible if the BJP wins about 90 seats and the LJP wins between 25-30 seats.'
'Whether the Hindu voter will vote for us or not, we can't say, can we?'
'AAP's next target will be Punjab.'
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
For the first time in seven years the prime minister finds himself at his most vulnerable, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The BJP wants to win a state where it has been out of power for 15 years. The Congress wants to make its mark in a state where it has been a bit player for nearly 30 years. And the BSP wants to recapture power it lost 5 years ago.
Attacking the central government, he said it has made everybody stand in queue and wondered if this was the 'achche din' for which people had voted for Narendra Modi. "It has harmed the economy," he said.
'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'
'For the Congress, the family is the final court of appeal.' 'If there is no family, all leaders are equal.' 'If all leaders are equal, anyone can lead the Congress.' 'So every time the family has stayed in the background, the Congress has split,' points out Aditi Phadnis.
Rishi Dhawan led from the front with an all-round show as Himachal Pradesh beat Services by 77 runs in the semi-final, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday, to set up the title clash against Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic One-Day championship.
The seat-share progression should worry the BJP. From the previous assembly polls of 2017, through the assembly segments in its favour in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and now in 2022, the BJP's seat-share has come down from a high 312 to 275 to 255. N Sathiya Moorthy reads the political tea leaves after the UP and Punjab election verdicts.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
It will be a test of wits between two new captains in Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya when defending champions Chennai Super Kings clash with debutants Gujarat Titans in the IPL match in Pune on Sunday.
All the BJP's present leaders from UP put together cannot win the state for the party. So how about an out-of-the-box leader like Subramanian Swamy, asks Nazarwala, the man who called right the 2007 and 2012 UP elections.
A section within the RSS feels Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani should be projected as the BJP's CM candidate in UP, says Rajeev Sharma.
SunRisers Hyderabad has the biggest purse while Kolkata Knight Riders has the slimmest purse.
Why Aaditya Thackeray's decision to plunge into electoral politics is significant.
'I could have joined the BJP in 2014, the doors were open.' 'I stayed on with the TMC, a party I was involved with since its very inception.' 'But today enough is enough.'
'When corporates have a stake in the government through contributions to political parties, democracy, which is supposed to work for the common man, doesn't.'
Faceless Ambedkarite groups from across the country are running BSP's election war rooms, writes Archis Mohan.
How he hopes to retain his fort is anyone's guess, says Nazarwala, the man who called right the 2007 and 2012 UP elections.
Nagaland's scorecard resembled a telephone number, 0, 7, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 7, 10, 0 and 0 not out as they crashed for 25 against Uttarakhand.
Priyanka Gandhi was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.
A summary of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.
This was Shorey's highest first-class score in 45 matches, with his previous best being 145. The double-century will do more good to his already healthy batting average of 48.49.
Flurry of economic reform suggests Modi realises his muscular nationalism script is getting jaded. Chances are he'll try for economic recovery but stick to what's worked so far, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Some of the exiting entries for Lord Ganesha's visit straight from our readers' homes.
In other big movements, Punjab Kings have released their last edition's captain Mayank Agarwal, while West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran was released by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Opinion polls by a section of the media channels have stated that Harish Rawat is the most liked politician for the post of chief minister, way ahead of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
