BJP-led govt will need regional parties' support in Upper House to get legislation cleared. Archis Mohan reports
The consolidation of the Muslim vote behind Lalu Yadav in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh may have forced Modi to spin Priyanka Gandhi's neech rajniti statement as a insult to his OBC status, says Dharmendra Singh.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is predicted to win both seats -- Varanasi and Vadodara. Kejriwal is places at number 2 in Varanasi, says the ABP News-Nielsen exit poll. Senior BJP leader L K Advani is likely to win the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha for the sixth time.
The proposed reservation will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation enjoyed by the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, taking the total reservation to 60 per cent.
From opposing the NPR and NRC to demanding special status for Bihar to staying out of the Union Cabinet on principle to showing the BJP who was boss in Bihar, Nitish Kumar has wasted no opportunity at cocking a snook at the BJP leadership. But how long can he continue, asks Gopal Krishna.
'The greatness of Indian democracy is that it never lets any political pundit master the pulse of the electorate. Sometimes people vote for change and sometimes they vote for the status quo.'
Its governing allies are not happy on the economy and complain of ignored concerns but find themselves unable to be assertive.
From devising a seat-sharing formula for the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha election to wooing young voters, the former poll strategist has ensured his position as number 2 within the party.
K N Balagopal (Communist Party of India -Marxist) said the Congress and the BJP were acting as A-Team and B-Team and not allowing the House to discuss the bills.
Long queues outside grocery stores, inflated prices, difficulty in getting important items -- these were some of the problems encountered by people in the National Capital Region (NCR).
'Mr Modi's next challenger/s will need to invent a new politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
With Rahul showing a significant lead over Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in opinion polls across southern India but lagging in the north, the Congress believes his contesting from the south will help galvanise cadres.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi, Left parties and CMs of various states congratulated Kovind.
JD-U leaders believe Prashant Kishor's entry would benefit its case for contesting a larger number of seats in Bihar in next year's general election.
Empowered in the Modi government, junior ministers have enough on their plate.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that most key members of the previous Cabinet could be retained.
'If Nitish Kumar is given more seats, then no one can stop the NDA from losing, even the BJP will be wiped out.'
The bill was passed with 165 voting in favour and 7 against it.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia says it's the 'biggest failure of our system'.
Such is the force of his oratory that many Muslims, even those who don't vote for him, have come to believe that Asaduddin Owaisi is the first and only politician who speaks up for Muslims since Independence, observes Jyoti Punwani
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
Lalu and his two minister sons, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, sat in the VIP enclosure with others during the function.
Rahul Gandhi's birthday greeting to the DMDK supremo signifies that the Congress vice president is expanding his ambit of functioning and graduating from handling just organisational affairs, reports Anita Katyal.
'Only the prime minister can take the initiative in reaching out to his opponents. The fact that he has been reluctant to do so, leaving it to the Arun Jaitleys and Venkaiah Naidus to hold out the olive branch, has given the Opposition the chance of pointing to his aloofness,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'NDA allies have realised that if they don't dump the BJP, then people will dump their party in 2019.' 'People's mood is against the BJP'
It is likely the government will divide the country into different zones during the proposed extended period of lockdown and might permit a few services to function in safe zones.
PM said Kovind will make an 'exceptional President'.
Rajnath Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu this afternoon.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh perceives the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections to be a fight for its own existence and all that it stands for. Archis Mohan reports
Why the Bihar defeat can be the best thing for him as PM, but only if he has the humility to read the writing on the wall, says Shekhar Gupta.
'The government is not insisting that customers must eat a certain quantity only.' 'Customers can ask for extra portions.' 'It is dictatorial, but we welcome it because it is one step towards ending food waste.'
We are surrounded by food that is contaminated, adulterated and does not meet Indian safety and packaging standards, says Abheet Singh Sethi/IndiaSpend.com.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's quest to strengthen its base in north India starts from Bihar, says Bharat Bhushan.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
One can understand that all MPs are equal in that sense and are endowed with varied talents but that does not automatically qualify them to run ministries. Some are adept at meeting challenges and some simply are not, and remain ornaments. By seeking pro-rata quotas, the very purpose of a forming a ministry of talent is lost, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
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.
'If Nitish goes alone, he will be washed away.' 'If he hand holds the BJP, it will again crush him because it will be known that he has sided with the BJP because he doesn't have any other option.' 'Lalu knows Nitish coming back will be a political gain for Lalu.'
Modi has the ideas for a new, hopeful India, and an idiom in which to sell optimism to voters. But he doesn't yet have the team for it, and soon enough, questions will begin to be asked by an impatient, non-ideological, I-don't-owe-anybody-anything generation of Indian voters, says Shekar Gupta.
'There's nothing in the 2019 campaign air, the chunavi hawa that tells you it's a wave election, for anyone,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
