While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
The upcoming Opposition meet in Patna scheduled for next week will not discuss a possible prime ministerial candidate and will focus on deciding the common agenda for the parties to work on in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, saying the ruling party's 'washing machine' has resumed its operation to clean tainted leaders and it was an 'ED-facilitated power grab'.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Mumbai on Tuesday, a day after quitting the Congress.
Speaking at an event over the weekend, Koshyari had said Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was an icon of the 'olden days'.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a response from the Centre, Election Commission of India, and 26 political parties on a petition seeking to restrain opposition parties from using the acronym INDIA for their alliance.
The opposition INDIA alliance on Friday finalised a 13-member committee.
'We cannot accept Ajir Pawar if he comes to join us as a member of the NCP.' 'NCP is not welcome to us.'
Indian Oil Corporation and Grasim Industries have jointly bagged the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award for 2003.
After the first meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi and attended by 17 parties, the leaders said that it has been decided that a common candidate who will 'uphold the democratic ethos of the country' will be chosen as the opposition nominee.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said his decision to step down from the post was taken for the future of the party and to create a new leadership.
This is for the second time in the last three months that Sinha has come out with praising words for Rahul Gandhi and his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that the words 'secular' and 'socialist' were missing from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers on the opening day of the new Parliament building.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, was conspicuous by her absence at the event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people as the Congress sought to promote opposition unity.
"Hum saath hain (we are together) is the message we want to give," Uddhav said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said a decision on whether to oppose the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi would be taken before the Parliament session.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Filing of nominations for the post of Congress president is scheduled to begin on Saturday with a contest between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor on the cards.
Kumar, who is now heading an alliance government in Bihar which includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and the Left, has reached out to leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, all of whom are opposed to the BJP but not very comfortable with the grand old party either.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vijay Goel on Thursday likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mahatma Gandhi, a day ahead of the latter's birth anniversary, terming both as "saints of Sabarmati".
The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader also said, "This is not the first meeting of opposition leaders nor is it going to be the last. Leaders of different hues have agreed to meet and they will all raise issues that they feel strongly about. There is no problem with that."
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
Modi to receive Lokmanya Tilak National Award, constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'If unity is not going to be based on values and principles, how will we achieve it?'
If she cannot recast the party, bring together the factions opposed to her, and present herself as her brother's true challenger, there will be little left for her in politics, notes Aditi Phadnis.
This is the first meeting between Gandhi and Kumar since the latter walked out of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar and formed a 'Mahagathbandhan' government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and outside support of the Left.
"The meeting was very fruitful and we all are very happy with the outcome. I could not attend the press conference after the conclave as I had to come back to Patna. My effort is to unite all opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and now things are taking shape," the Janata Dal-United leader said.
What would Parliament be without these nine ladies?
A meeting of Opposition parties, organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be held in Patna on June 23, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
Opposition parties that are against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should come together and discussions are ongoing on what should be its framework, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Friday after meeting Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav.
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
Chairman of central election authority Madhusudan Mistri will be available in Congress headquarters in the national capital to take the nomination papers as returning officer of the election.
As reports of political parties swiftly switching loyalties -- to quench their thirst for power -- swirl over Maharashtra, Rediff.com speaks to different players involved in the game of thrones.
"This river-like journey will persist and in this river you will not find any trace of hate or violence. There will only be love and brotherhood as this is India's history and DNA," Gandhi told the gathering.
'He told senior journalists a few days after the Babri Masjid demolition, 'Jo hua theek hua. Maine isliye hone diya ki BJP ki rajniti hamesha ke liye khatam ho jaye.'
Opposition parties will hold the next meeting of their 26-member INDIA coalition in Mumbai on August 25 and 26, sources said on Thursday.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
