Congress has decided to re-nominate Union minister Manish Tewari from Ludhiana seat and his candidature will be announced soon.
An analysis of the assets data from Association of Democratic Reforms shows that the average assets of a winner of the 2014 LS election was more than the average assets of a candidate: more the money you have, more the chances of winning.
During the meeting, which came in the backdrop of Gandhi's fierce attack on the Prime Minister over demonetisation, top Congress leaders presented a memorandum to Modi on demands of farmers including loan waiver, reducing power bills to half and remunerative MSP for farm produce.
Modi said the wave in favour of the BJP was stronger this time than in 2014.
Captain Amarinder Singh, deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and the former chief minister of Punjab believes that it is constitutionally wrong not to have a Leader of Opposition. In an interview with Kavita Chowdhury, he asserts that the Congress party is confident it will bounce back. Edited excerpts:
Pawar and his Manch can deliberate to their hearts' content, but so long as the Congress does not play ball the BJP has little to worry, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The parties also said that the decision has come in late and had the Modi government shed its 'arrogance earlier' and repealed the laws opposed by farmers, a number of precious lives lost during the nearly year-long agitation could have been saved.
Ratcheting up pressure on farmers' issues, Rahul Gandhi's next stop will be Vidarbha in Maharashtra where he will hold a 15-km 'kisan padyatra' (footmarch) on Thursday as he criss-crosses the country to reach out to the farmers in distress in various states.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
Before hitting the campaign trail, Sunny Deol offered prayers at the Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak and also had a glimpse of historic Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan through binoculars installed at the 'darshan sthal'.
Farmer leaders on Monday started their day-long hunger strike against the Centre's new farm laws and said protests will be held at all district headquarters later in the day, even as more people are expected to join the ongoing agitation at Delhi border points.
He also took on the prime minister over unemployment, taunting Modi for a remark that selling 'pakodas' is a job worth doing.
The Congress chief also accused the prime minister again of running away from the debate.
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 AAP said the tie-up can only be done on 33 Lok Sabha seats across four states and one Union Territory.
The party workers were busy overseeing the preparations for the D-Day and said the exit polls had underlined what they were always confident about.
In her condolence message for Patel, who served as her political secretary for years and was the All India Congress Committee treasurer, party chief Sonia Gandhi said, 'In Shri Ahmed Patel, I have lost a colleague, whose entire life was dedicated to the Congress Party.'
The AAP bagged 20 seats in Punjab while losing all seats in Goa
'His past as a cricketer makes it difficult for the BJP to question his nationalism.' 'He gets away by ridiculing Modi while something similar from most Congress leaders does not resonate as much.'
He stressed that the assembly poll results were 'not bad' though the party was 'a little down' in UP.
Deol reminded voters of the patriotic character he played in Gadar and referred to his 'dhai kilo ka haath' from another movie.
'It will take a long time for people's memory to be misled by a prime minister who is so arrogant and who refuses to acknowledge his own faults.'
Counting's underway and the fate of the candidates is awaited. As we wait for the results with bated breath, here's how your heavyweights are faring for now.
The numbers, however, appear to be in favour of the ruling dispensation to get these bills passed from Rajya Sabha, while the lower house has already cleared them despite a key NDA member Shiromani Akali Dal vehemently opposing them.
The bills were passed by voice vote.
The notification will be issued on January 20, while January 27 will be the last date of filing nominations.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar wants the Modi government and BJP to reap the profit of the surgical strikes. But electoral history suggests a political party's ability to exploit military successes for poll gains has a mixed record.
He asserted that the government purchase of farm produce will remain, adding that the mechanism of minimum support price will continue in the same way it always has.
If the process becomes completely online, there will be no intervention from a state government at any level.
With Scindia quitting the party, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh appeared headed for a collapse.
In a show strength, he was joined by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
The Punjab CM said a young leader with a forward-looking approach would "galvanise" the rank and file of the party after the "unfortunate" resignation of Gandhi.
The BJP urged the EC to take 'suo motu cognisance' and take suitable action.
Her name figures among the 40 star campaigners that the Congress has finalised and forwarded to the Election Commission on Tuesday for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh polls.
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
'It is best Sidhu shuns his role as Kapil Sharma's Paaji and instead concentrates on serving the people of Punjab,' says Sudhir Bisht.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram is Congress nominee from Maharashtra for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha while senior leaders Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh have been named from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka respectively.
As per the preliminary estimates, the BJP has significantly improved its national vote share from 31.34 per cent in 2014 to a new record high, while there appeared to be only a marginal change in case of the Congress from its 19.5 per cent score of the last elections.
Kejriwal congratulated Modi for the BJP's victory.
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