The Congress said arrogance of the BJP has touched its zenith as it turned 'blind' to farm distress.
States spent much more in the first three months of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period last year.
'We are making a transition from governance to campaign mode.' 'The speed of execution is picking up,' says Union Minister Jayant Sinha.
The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill and The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill passed amid din.
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Modi government of "abandoning" farmers at a time when the country is faced with an agrarian crisis.
'The BJP suddenly seems vulnerable. This is not entirely surprising. In the past too, governments and leaders who won a thumping Lok Sabha majority lost popularity in a matter of months... The by-polls results shows that a degree of disenchantment with the Modi government is setting in,' says Praful Bidwai.
Probodh Panda and Atul Kumar Anjaan are among 39 candidates declared by the Communist Party of India for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the party said that it would fight on 60 seats in 24 states.
'The brutal violence of the UP government's first response to the anti-CAA protests suggests that the BJP will test drive the NPR/NRC in UP, where it has both a massive majority in the assembly and a chief minister whose instinct for Hindutva extremism and whose appetite for punitive policing allows a prime minister as darkly majoritarian as Modi to appear statesman-like,' notes Mukul Kesavan.
On Election 2014: 'So far it looks like a one horse race. The difference between the first and the second challenger is so large that if the first one looks back in the last round, he'll probably not see the second one anywhere.' On the AAP prospects: 'They should be happy if they're able to open their account.' On Rahul Gandhi: 'He has a confused message. His campaign is in the abstract. And his campaign has nothing to offer.' Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley in a free and frank conversation with Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com explains the compulsions that forced Bihar strongman Lalu Yadav to play second fiddle to Nitish Kumar.
'Modi is still immensely popular and, therefore, he can sustain any number of policy failures.' 'Modi himself has worn multiple faces so it would be naive to think that the Modi of 2021 will be the same Modi that will be campaigning for re-election in 2024.'
When it came to power, the BJP was a government with a difference: it had a majority in the Lok Sabha. Frequently the party itself forgets this
The ripples from November 8 may be seen in next year's state budgets.
'If you are in Punjab, Modi is omnipresent as if he is going to be chief minister of Punjab.'
'If he is in Uttarakhand, he presents himself to be the chief minister of Uttarakhand.'
'When he is in UP, he is touted as the chief minister of UP.' 'There is a personality cult which is being built around a person... that he is the panacea of every democratic exercise in India, from panchayat to Parliament.' 'Modi at some point will pay the price for trying to build a very ambitious personality cult.'
This theory of 'Hindus vs the rest' sees the two communities as two separate blocs. Isn't that the two-nation theory? What of the deep bonds that the communities have on the ground? asks Jyoti Punwani.
Gandhi kicked off his 15-km padyatra from Koritical village in Adilabad district to highlight the problems faced by farmers.
Beijing is clearly rattled by the Dalai Lama's visit. Unlike the 2009 visit, which was a four-day religious tour, the current visit is a high-decibel, 10-day affair, without the fig leaf of a "religious event", reports Ajai Shukla.
Congress Member of Parliament and party spokesperson Sushmita Dev tells Kavita Chowdhury that party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's "new kind of politics" has revitalised the party, lifting it from the gloom of the 2014 general elections.
Counting has begun for the election which will be the second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year history.
Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Shinde said Modi used to say that UPA ministers were serving biryani to Pakistani leaders but what is happening now.
Namo, Namo as India's prime minister? Not yet, says Pakistan-based journalist Amir Mateen.
'There is a law that prevents the government from diluting its equity in the PSBs below 50 per cent.' 'That law has to be amended and given the parliamentary arithmetic of the political parties, it is not as simple to do that.'
The moment any party says it will do x, y or z only for a certain section, it is insulting that section and separating them from the rest of the nation, says Jiten Gajaria
'As soon as the BJP feels they are going to lose power, they will publish the caste census data of 2011 and conduct the caste census of 2021.'
'There is a communication gap between the Modi government and the allies. During the last one year, the NDA has met only once and that was two hours before the land bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha.' 'When Vajpayee was prime minister if any NDA chief minister asked for time , he was given it the next day. Modi is not doing it.' 'If there is tension on the streets, if there is insecurity amongst the minorities, then Make in India will remain a pipe dream.'
Sonia Gandhi's iftar was meant to be a powerful show of unity of Opposition parties to take on the Modi Sarkar, but that was not to be...
If he doesn't, two things are guaranteed: Failure for him, and continued slide for his nation despite its talented people, strong nationalism, the gift of geography and a formidable army, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Across the political spectrum, especially from the side of the NDA itself, there is complete disillusionment (with the way the BJP is treating its allies).' 'This leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party's forward march has slowed down. Can Arvind Kejriwal eclipse Narendra Modi in the upcoming general election? Modi, feels Praful Bidwai, may have peaked too soon and Arvind Kajriwal's politics may find new takers.
Nirmala Sitharaman said Nirav Modi may have been able to run away from the country, but the government is taking action against him, and claimed that it will "surely nab him".
Gurbax Singh Dhindsa, father of Kargil war martyr GS Dhindsa, in a letter to the PM and defence minister underlining the fact that military personnel have little recourse to justice in higher courts.
'Scindia's willingness to consort with the BJP, a party he has rightly, and eloquently, excoriated in various speeches and statements in the recent past suggest a shallowness and hollowness of convictions and principles.'
A day after media reports stated that 39 Indians in Iraq had been killed by terrorists belonging to the Islamic State, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Rajya Sabha said that there was no evidence to corroborate the same.
One thing Beijing must understand is that India is not obsessed with being a threat to China but only wants a rightful place for itself in the world, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
'Well done, Mr Jaitley, now go and implement your schemes. No leakages, no lapses and no laziness.'
Sanjeev Nayyar suggests 16 measures by which we can tackle our unrelenting and untrustworthy neighbour.
The Supreme Court needs to step in and order an independent inquiry into the whole IPL scandal, conflicts of interest between office-holders of the BCCI, team-owners of the IPL and even members and captain of the Indian team, says KC Singh
'Pakistan is convinced that the Modi government has -- given its image and political compulsions -- no choice but to act in the case of another terror attack.'
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