Speculations were on Thursday rife about the Congress planning to make three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit the party's chief ministerial nominee for next year's assembly election in politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, once its stronghold.
Although the Opposition has been making a hue and cry over demonetisation, the BJP's programmes have been attracting crowds.
The Congress, which wanted to contest as many as 121 seats, has reportedly now settled for 105 seats.
Analysts believe that the strong Modi wave in the state will help the saffron party win 35 to 40 seats much to the detriment of the Congress and Samajwadi Party, who are fighting the anti-incumbency factor at the Centre and state respectively. Bikash Mohapatra reports.
The interesting bit about the Azamgarh poll finding on India TV was the whopping percentage of Muslims backing the SP-BSP alliance, which sort of negates Mayawati's appeal to the community to not split their vote with the Congress, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Ministers who were in the news for all the wrong reasons
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Friday explained to his supporters the circumstances behind him being in jail even as his party launched a mass contact programme over the issue to strengthen its support base with an eye on assembly elections in Delhi.
'Mr Modi may have the aura of an irresistible conquistador now, but he is human. He isn't an 'avatar,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
From Arvind Kejriwal to Priyanka, this has been a media-determined election. Two forces stand poised, the people inventing new politics and the media inventing its own version of that politics, says Shiv Visvanathan.
'There was an overt campaign and there was a covert campaign. The overt campaign may be development, government, and all this nonsense. But the covert campaign, which Mr Amit Shah was doing, was far more important with the help of RSS cadres. This has been an RSS election. From day one I have been saying, this is not Congress versus the BJP, this is Congress versus the RSS,' says Jairam Ramesh, one of the key strategists of the Congress party.
The Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Barkha Singh's counsel said that "there are no proceedings pending in the case" before the body.
From President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit to Rahul and Varun Gandhi, at least 50 parliamentary constituencies will be contested by 'sons and daughters' of politicians of various parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
'She is tough. She can be stern. She can be unpleasant. Rajiv was none of these things.' 'The Congress cannot survive without the Gandhi family. If Sonia were to quit, their Lok Sabha seats would drop from 44 to four.' K Natwar Singh shares his bitterness about the Nehru family with Rashme Sehgal.
All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad said the party would not react immediately and would come out with a detailed reaction in Lucknow on Sunday.
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The Modi government's response to infiltration at the India-Pakistan border, Kumar Vishwas told Google staff, was weak, adding that there had been 19 infiltration attempts and ceasefire violations by Pakistan since the new government took charge.
'The BJP would like to capitalise on Yogi's tough image on criminals, law and order situation, and hands-on CM.' 'Modi will be an additional advantage, but it is primarily a contest between Yogi and Akhilesh.'
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the family of the Kathua rape victim should get justice.
The results are a ringing endorsement of Modi's popularity, his government's achievements in the last five years and his campaign, which centred around national security, nationalism and Hindutva.
Elect the eunuchs and they will prove their honesty in contrast to a practicing politician. Without any kith and kin, they can at least be a catalyst sorely needed for minimising, if not uprooting nepotism and favouritism that breeds corruption, says Ram Ugrah.
'If these two parties come together, there could be amalgamation of OBC, Dalits and Muslim votes.'
Digvijaya Singh is no longer in Rahul's close circle of advisers. His move to the Upper House was to ensure that the senior leader does not meddle in Madhya Pradesh politics in the run up to the crucial Lok Sabha polls. Anita Katyal reports
In the same breath, the RPI-A leader said, "No one can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- neither Congress president Rahul Gandhi, nor SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, nor BSP supremo Mayawati."
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.
Union HRD minister says women in the country are not told what to wear, whom to meet and where to go.
The second part of journalist Rajdeep Sardesai's interview to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
There are also views within a section of the party that a turnaround in Uttar Pradesh is possible only if either of the Gandhis -- Priyanka or Rahul -- takes the lead in the state polls.
In Uttar Pradesh, believe it or not, the BJP will not be helped in the long run if the Congress collapses completely. The more regional parties are strengthened due to the decimation of the Congress, tougher will be the challenge facing both the grand old party and the BJP. Rediff.com's incomparable Sheela Bhatt continues her new election column where she reveals the ground realities in the Battle for India, as only she can. Don't miss it!
Delhi government on Friday slapped a show cause notice on DCW chief Barkha Singh while the Delhi High Court refused to give any interim relief to senior AAP leader Kumar Vishwas.
'Like 2014, 2017 was also Modi's election.' 'Every voter you met, apart from those who are BJP cadres, everybody said they would vote for Modi, not the BJP.' 'The one and only factor is the Modi juggernaut. He is the one who turned the tide.' 'The wave which he created in 2014, and to maintain it for three years, is a huge task in itself.'
'Rather than an outcome of 'pro-incumbency', the exit poll results betray a completely lackadaisical approach of the Opposition parties.' 'While a new kind of politics was on display for the past five years, they were still mired in their old-style methods which will cost them the election,' predicts Utkarsh Mishra.
Priyanka Gandhi gets into rigorous damage control mode in wake of her party's eroding popularity ahead of the polls, reports Renu Mittal
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) led by Nobel laureate R K Pachauri on Wednesday has commissioned a solar micro-grid connection (SMG) in Tanda village of Jagdishpur block (about 80 km from Lucknow) in Rahul Gandhi's Amethi parliamentary constituency.
The prime minister also said if there is a 'kabaristaan' (graveyard), there should be a 'shamshaan' (cremation ground) too.
'Modi remains the most popular politician in India; the BJP's organisational and fundraising prowess is considerable; and the Opposition, while newly collaborative, has no leader or clear economic messaging as of yet.'
As education minister Smriti Irani should be worried about the state of education nationwide rather than fuelling a German-versus-Sanskrit row, says Sunil Sethi
While Bharatiya Janata Party's countrywide vote share shot up by over 12 per cent at the expense of other parties, the chart throws some contrary pictures as parties like Bahujan Samaj Party got no seat in spite of third-highest vote share, but Trinamool Congress and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam clinched over 30 seats each with less than 4 per cent vote share.
Glimpses of the change Narendra Modi promised million of voters were visible at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi has now no excuse, but to perform and change India for the better. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports from the presidential palace. A feature on the swearing-in ceremony like none other.
As Narendra Modi files his nomination in Varanasi, Praful Bidwai believes 'a straight contest against Priyanka would have put Modi on the defensive and forced him to concentrate on Varanasi.'
Indian politics, held captive in one way or the other by Ayodhya, may now well seek its emancipation from this issue, and the pursuit of welfare, asserts Congress leader Salman Khurshid in this excerpt from his latest book, Sunrise over Ayodhya.
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