Trinamool Congress's slogan of 'Satatar Pratik' (symbol of honesty) has been challenged by BJP's slogan, 'Gali, gali mein shor hai, Mamata Banerjee chor hai'.
Noisy protests disrupted the both houses of the Parliament on the first day of the second part of the budget session
Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's call for a Federal Front as a "ploy" to increase her bargaining power with Congress and BJP before the 2014 polls, the Left parties feel it cannot be successful without a common minimum programme.
The 71-year-old filed his nomination in front of NDA ministers and CMs.
After placating sitting MP Suresh Kalmadi who was sulking over denial of ticket, the Congress managers are confronted with a tough task of retaining the Pune Lok Sabha seat by overcoming the main challenge from a resurgent BJP in a quadrangular contest which is on cards.
Vidarbha region has gained notoriety for a high number of farmers' suicides and the multi-crore irrigation scam. Sanjay Jog reports
'The category of crime and criminals called Maoist or Naxal or #UrbanNaxals is an illegitimate creation of right-wing propaganda media frenzy.' 'It is a fiction repugnant to the Constitution and the law of the land,' argue Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said that the Third Front was like a "parking lot" where parties come and go and ruled out any chance of it forming a government at the Centre.
The 'bumbling liberal' and the 'neo-fascist' are two sides of the same coin. Neither has place in a moderate India, says Nikhil Inamdar
'Gauri was a woman of great integrity and few people know how modestly she lived, generously sharing the little she had.' 'Her only asset was the home her mother built.' 'But she had even bigger riches -- her capacious heart,' remembers former husband and close friend, Chidanand Rajghatta.
'You can never say never in politics.' 'We may still see the return of AAP, but hopefully not of the same abusive politics again,' says Shekhar Gupta.
It seems the Congress just does not have the energy and vitality to break through even in the states where it has a ground presence and the wind of anti-incumbency on its back, says Aakar Patel.
During a media interaction, Mamata Banerjee voiced her discontent over the Centre's 'stepfatherly' attitude towards Bengal. Banerjee's detractors feel that the agenda that she conveyed to the media is nothing but an eyewash. According to them, 'Mamata and Modi are heading towards an alliance of convenience'. Indrani Roy reports from Kolkata on the agenda and politics of prime minister two-day visit to the state.
While the PM is trying to hardsell his developmental agenda, his rivals are targeting him in the run-up to the assembly election
Shazia Ilmi, one of the Aam Aadmi Party's founder members who left that party after the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014, was recently nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit to join the Swachh Bharat campaign. After she came out in favour of the campaign and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been speculation about Ilmi planning to join the saffron party. She speaks about her views on BJP, love jihad and her fallout with AAP.
More than 25 years after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, another generation proclaims its commitment to building a Ram temple.
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
The rakshasutra programme organised by the RSS at BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu's residence shows how the Sangh and BJP leaders are no longer afraid to proclaim their identity with each other, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal
The BJP wants to win a state where it has been out of power for 15 years. The Congress wants to make its mark in a state where it has been a bit player for nearly 30 years. And the BSP wants to recapture power it lost 5 years ago.
Aam Aadmi Party member Sanju Verma on what constitutes modern-day anarchy and why AAP is the only political party that can make a real difference.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday cautioned voters that neither an Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance nor a united SP can check Bharatiya Janata Party and that only her party would render a crushing blow to Modi government by defeating the saffron party in Uttar Pradesh so that it does not take "immature" steps like the note ban.
Raghuram Rajan joked he wasn't expecting to win any votes or Facebook 'likes' in the position.
'Look at Mr Modi. He is a part of this new middle class.' 'India has never before seen this kind of social mobility, certainly not since medieval times.' 'As a result, India's entrenched elite, which is a class of people with a strong sense of entitlement, is being tamed,' Sanjeev Sanyal tells Shyamal Majumdar and Arup Roychoudhury.
Counting of votes in the high-stakes close-to-call Bihar assembly elections, billed as a hot battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will take place on Sunday.
On the occasion of the Narendra Modi government completing one year in office, Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com speaks to BJP president Amit Shah who is yin to Modi's yang. Don't miss it!
Narendra Modi is squandering a mandate for change on feeble, unimaginative incrementalism.
Trashing allegations of illegal snooping against Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday ruled out the Congress's demand for a rethink on its prime ministerial candidate and claimed that the ruling party's "dirty tricks wing" was behind the controversy.
Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
Journalist-turned-activist Teesta Setalvad in her new book 'Foot Soldier of the Constitution: A Memoir' has spoken of the rise of communalism and the aftermath of the '02 Godhra riots. In this interview with Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf, she discusses her book, the cases against her and the state of secularism in the country.
'In the name of pluralism-secularism, the kind of politics that was pursued revealed to many that it was basically a favour to Muslim conservatism and communalism -- a politics of minority-ism, rather than of secularism.' 'This is how significant sections of Hindus have been made to loathe the very idea of Indian secularism by now,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
The Uttar Pradesh by-election will be the real test for the Modi government. By-election results are not a referendum on Modi but the time has come to analyse whether the Modi government is succeeding in assuring people that the promises it made would be fulfilled, says Dharmendra Kumar Singh.
'Today if you look at the way India is growing many people are saying the sleeping elephant has finally woken up, is dancing!' 'I have travelled extensively, in about 60 countries. In all these the moment you say India, the first thing they mention is either an actor's name. Or they start humming a song.' 'I wanted to be in Bollywood. It is the most powerful medium we have in this country. That's soft power.' Listening in on Shobhaa De, Kabir Khan, Vikas Swarop and Saffron Art CEO Hugo Weihe speak on India's Soft Power, Hard Influence.
With the bill to prevent disqualification of convicted politicians to decide the RJD chief's political fate, there's a lot at stake, especially with the upcoming elections in mind. Anita Katyal reports
'How can the BJP give Muslim candidates tickets if they don't have any good Muslim candidates?'
'This has absolutely nothing to do with Kalburgi or anybody else, it only has to do with two words: Bihar elections. It's electioneering by other means, let's save the fig leaf of morality,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
The new PDP chief will have to work hard to keep everyone in the state happy.
The AAP deliberately flouted procedures when it attempted to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi assembly on Friday, knowing that it would fall by the wayside. But Kejriwal was not perturbed as he was looking for an opportunity to opt out and the anti-graft bill was the perfect reason for doing so as it would enable him to go out in a blaze of glory and accuse the Congress and the BJP of not being serious about fighting corruption, analyses Anita Katyal.
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!
It is not in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a clear majority, but the Rajya Sabha that the Opposition has ganged up to checkmate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plans.
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