The decision of some key regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Aam Aadmi Party to skip a key opposition meet called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the presidential poll has cheered the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as it believes that their absence has only highlighted the faultlines and one-upmanship among its rivals.
Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999 after walking out of the Congress, said he worked in opposition for 27 years.
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
'Ladakh too is politically paralysed and in limbo, as Rafale jets roar above Leh and Israeli arms dealers prowl the town.'
The three main political parties in Pakistan on Sunday intensified their efforts for the formation of a coalition government after it became clear that the coup-prone country faced a hung Parliament after general elections marred by allegations of rigging.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has honoured Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain refugees by giving them citizenship through Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday and maintained there is no provision of stripping of anyone's citizenship in the new law.
In April, Bhat was detained under the Public Safety Act for allegedly hoisting Pakistani flags and chanting anti-national slogans at a rally in uptown Hyderpora area.
The seized properties include a hospital building at Bhavani Nagar in Nauchandi and two luxury cars that Qureshi had allegedly purchased in the name of his family members and employees, they said.
'If the Pawars are so powerful, then why are they scared of me?'
The Congress on Saturday played down launching of a political outfit by Arvind Kejriwal saying there were 1453 political parties registered in India and one more would strengthen the democratic fabric.
The US is looking very carefully at what Modi did when he was in Moscow, a senior State Department official has told lawmakers concerned over the growing India-Russia ties.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where Rahul Gandhi won for the second time in a row, comprises three assembly constituencies each in the tribal district of Wayanad and the Muslim-dominated Malappuram, as well as one in Kozhikode district where Christians hold a significant vote base.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has set its sights on winning an 'unprecedented majority' in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking key organisational leaders to work towards boosting the party's vote share by 10 per cent, sources said.
Since Independence, Lok Sabha Speakers have been chosen by consensus.
The minister urged the doctors to rejoin work by respecting the Supreme Court's direction to them, but refrained from giving a direct reply on whether the state government would take any punitive action for violating the apex court's order.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Saturday maintained that 'there is no confusion' among the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) partners in Bihar.
There were certainly qualities adhering to the Tata Group, which emanated from the persona of Ratan Tata. Most notable of these would be the low profile he maintained, which sharply contrasted the in-your-face celebrity status, celebration of wealth and pursuit of importance many of liberalised India's rich, love, notes Shyam G Menon.
Underscoring the importance of voter satisfaction and trust in the electoral system, the Supreme Court on Thursday told petitioners who sought its direction to go back to using ballot papers not to suspect the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and appreciate if the Election Commission does good work.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The PDP chief visited New Delhi on Monday and has reportedly called a meeting of party legislators to brief them about her talks with BJP leaders.
As suspense over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir continued, Peoples Democratic Party on Monday said the idea of a grand alliance with the National Conference and Congress was an option for forming a stable government in the state.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
He also asserted that everything has gone smoothly for the party in the assembly polls and the government will be formed soon.
Veteran Communist leader and former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, one of the most popular and crowd-puller leaders in the history of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist in the state, turned 100 on Friday.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
PDP leaders were asked to go out of the House after they attempted to tear the constitution.
"Fresh elections to the assembly should be held to enable people to elect a popular government in the state in accordance with law," the memorandum to the Haryana governor read.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
Allies Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday dismissed speculation about any differences or new conditions between them over formation of new government in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of death of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
'Imran Khan's rule was dismal. Despite this, he has become a cult figure.' 'He sold the dream of a Naya Pakistan to the people of Pakistan, especially the youth, and branded all other politicians as corrupt.' 'Hence, his popularity.'
Scenes from the National Democratic Alliance meeting at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi, July 18, 2023.
A 26-year-old man was arrested in Patna on Friday for allegedly propagating "anti-India" views through a WhatsApp group that he operated, the police said.
A PAGD leader said the meeting was held at the residence of alliance chairperson and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah at the Gupkar locality of Srinagar.
The National Conference, the People's Democratic Party and the Congress on Saturday said they will take a call on attending a meeting with the prime minister in Delhi after deliberations within their respective parties, while the Bharatiya Janata Party expressed hope that all invitees will take part in the all-party deliberations.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
MPs Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey held a press conference in London to tell reporters that they would sit as a separate independent group within Britain's Parliament.
