A lot is riding on the Rajya sabha polls that are scheduled for Saturday. Major parties are whisking away candidates of other parties, while protecting their own, MLAs are being sent to 'camps' in the final countdown to the polls for 57 seats. Here is a state-by-state look:
On Friday, Congress MLAs had squatted on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan for several hours, demanding that Governor Kalraj Mishra should summon a session of the Vidhan Sabha so that they can prove their majority.
'If Mr Rahul Gandhi is coming to Rajasthan he should also know how his own chief minister is throttling the voices of the people belonging to the most backward classes.'
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
What provoked Ashok Gehlot's belligerence was Sachin Pilot's participation in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh. Gehlot was also aware that Rajasthan assembly Speaker C P Joshi had met Rahul in Maharashtra.
'The BJP believes it has little to lose from a loss of alliance with the Shiv Sena. Fighting alone gives the BJP the chance to test its troops today, and then rework its tactics if necessary, before the big test in 2019,' says T V R Shenoy.
Congress candidate Manvendra Singh, who recently crossed over from the BJP, will be facing off the Rajasthan chief minister in her political fortress of Jhalrapatan.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Miffed over the Congress central leadership nominating poet-politician Imran Pratapgarhi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, as its candidate from Maharashtra for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, party functionary Ashish Deshmukh on Tuesday resigned from the post of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary.
He hoped that some of the dissident MLAs, who are led by sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, will also attend the session when it is called "very soon".
The winds of change are blowing fast in Indian politics. Not only is the power shifting to newer players, but so is the style of governance.
Aggressive campaigning and the existing 'Modi wave' and a lack of will on part of the Congress has put the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan far ahead of others. The party is comfortably placed in 21 out of the 25 seats, and they have been able to do this because of maintaining the same tempo that enabled them to defeat the Congress badly in December's assembly elections. P B Chandra reports
Modi's remarks at an election rally in Mirzapur in the backward eastern region of Uttar Pradesh came amid war of words on supply of electricity in the state.
'Since the rise of the Modi-Shah paradigm, the BJP has followed a simple formula.' 'Sweep the Hindi heartland and the two big Western states, and you can rule India with a majority by just adding some little bits on the platter from here and there,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
If the Congress manages to upset its dominant rival, the BJP, in these assembly polls, then it will be a big boost to the opposition for the Lok Sabha polls, while a good show by the BJP will energise its cadres and give a fillip to its hopes of retaining the power at the Centre in 2019.
It is wrong to say the Congress doesn't matter. Certainly one set of people who do not believe that for a minute is the BJP. That's why even in his speech in Parliament on Constitution Day, Mr Modi called dynastic politics a threat to democracy, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The suggestion figures in a note sent by Mishra while returning -- for a second time -- Ashok Gehlot Cabinet's recommendation to call a session.
42 MLAs, including leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi, went to the assembly and submitted their resignations.
Shiv Sena on Sunday made it clear that it won't make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month's polls, and said this was "the final attempt" to break the logjam over seat-sharing.
Several newly elected MLAs including Navjot Singh Sidhu, Manpreet Singh Badal, Brahm Mohindra, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Razia Sultana, O P Soni are in the race for becoming ministers, party sources said.
Rahul is looking to bring new leadership in the state units that can bring in the young generation back into the party fold and revive its sagging image and morale. Renu Mittal reports
Bharatiya Janata party state president for Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje is a blue-blooded category of politician who inherited political acumen from her mother late Vijayaraje Scindia, the queen-mother of the erstwhile Gwalior state in Madhya Pradesh.
Democracy is the heart of our body politic and elections are its life blood. Because there is some disease that affects it, we cannot apply leeches to drain it off, killing the body in the process, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The Congress president addressing women students at the Stella Maris College said that the law must apply to everybody and not be applied selectively.
'The myth that the BJP has created that they are an election winning machine has been comprehensively demolished.'
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
'Should the Congress take Jyotiraditya's departure as good riddance?', asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Our campaign was overshadowed by the falsehood and rumours that the BJP spread, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot tells PB Chandra in an interview.
Taking a swipe at the prime minister, he said there was no dearth of skills in the country and those from the backward classes are endowed with skills but not given an opportunity to move forward.
May Prabhu Ram give strength to his family in the hour of sadness to bear the loss. May Prabhu Ram give consolation to people in the country who believe in his values, ideals, culture and traditions," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said wile praying tribute to Kalyan Singh.
'Police officers have to meet Dalits and other communities, find out about issues that could lead to law and order problems.'
As nominations for Rajya Sabha biennial polls closed on Tuesday, a contest is on the cards in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana even as Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram are among those set to be elected to the Upper House.
'The feeling is that Rajinikanth is pro-Modi than anti-Modi.'
'Antony and I have been friends for over half a century, and I know the man does not tell lies. The problem is that what he believes to be the truth might not actually be true. He may believe that India needs the Congress, and that the Congress in turn needs the Nehru-Gandhi family, but that does not mean that India shares those articles of faith,' says T V R Shenoy.
Under fierce attack for his DNA jibe against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, which has been turned into a major electoral weapon against him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought to make amends, calling Biharis the "most intelligent" people.
In the matter pertaining to acquisition of AgustaWestland helicopters, the undisputed central issue that stands out is corruption, especially bribery, the statement said.
'The SP-BSP have almost come to an understanding that the BSP will take the larger share of parliamentary seats and take care of national politics.' 'The SP in future assembly elections will take larger seats and take care of state politics.'
'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.'
