The prime minister may go for new faces with an eye on grooming younger leaders while also factoring in caste and regional balances
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
While the Gandhi siblings have had their way with Amarinder Singh's ouster, the future of the party under the temperamental Navjot Sidhu's leadership is uncertain, reports Sai Manish.
The Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a "collective leadership"
Hitting out at the Badals, the ruling family of Punjab, the Delhi chief minister said that once his party comes to power, it will launch a commission of inquiry against the family to investigate their 'misrule' in last ten years and send them behind bars.
The apex court also said it will consider whether the matter should be put before a five-judge bench
The Congress is planning to call a meeting of Opposition parties in May. It is possible to keep all possibilities open in case Karnataka yields a hung House, leading to a recalibrated Opposition.
Akal Takht head Gurbachan Singh's customary address on the occasion of Diwali drowned in the din on Wednesday amid slogan shouting by Sikh hardliners, even as parallely "appointed" jathedar of Akal Takht also managed to address the gathering but was arrested soon after.
The BJP at 43 is a work in progress, with total ideological continuity and much substantive change in political method and style, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'And when the floats go by in the parade garlanded and decorated with the posters of gun toting assassins and murderers and martyrs, you look the other way.' 'And in return we will bring you 10,000 votes because the people of the gurdwaras will vote as we tell them to vote.'
A report by parliamentary standing committee on commerce noted that Indian industry was getting decimated by China dumping its cheap products in India.
As its own national worth augments the BJP might decide to be more cautious with its local allies.
The Lt Governor conveyed to the Delhi government that the rules will have to be amended for shunning the EVMs and it was not possible to make the changes as little over a month is left for the polls.
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
CM Amarinder Singh said the Centre would have to make the necessary amendments to the CAA if it had to be implemented in Punjab and other states opposing it. He also made it clear that the census in Punjab would be conducted on the old parameters and the new factors added by the Centre for the purpose of the NPR would not be included.
Claiming that the BJP's government's works in the three holy cities are only follow-ups of her government's initiatives, Mayawati went on to promise, in what is being seen as a subtle shift towards soft Hindutva ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, to complete all those work on time.
The Congress vice-president will also meet farmers in Bathinda district during his two-day visit.
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiromani Akali Dal ahead of Punjab assembly polls, their alliance on Tuesday defeated Congress in the Chandigarh municipal corporation election in which demonetisation had emerged as a key issue.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul asked how could he stand with the Akali Dal when he always talks about eliminating corruption.
The land shall forthwith vest with the original owners, their lineal descendants or legal representatives, "free-of- cost", he said.
Regional political parties received a total of Rs 91.37 crore in donations in 2016-17.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who lost out to Bachchan in the race for re-nomination to the upper house and on Monday quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP, had said at a press conference that the SP denied him the RS ticket and gave it to somebody who used to dance and act in films.
Congress' Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said that Navjot Singh Sidhu would have been a tougher contestant from Amritsar than Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley whom he dismissed as a "nominal candidate".
The manifesto, on the lines of the party's promise in Delhi in 2015, also says the AAP government will set up Aam Aadmi canteens at sub-division and district levels where one time meal will be available for Rs 5, and reduce the power tariff to half for usages up to 400 unit.
The exit poll results for the recently concluded assembly elections have projected that that BJP arty could emerge as the single-largest party in four of five states except Punjab.
Manohar Lal Khattar took oath as Haryana chief minister for the second time on Sunday and will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party-Jannayak Janta Party coalition government in the state. JJP leader Dushyant Chautala took oath as the deputy chief minister.
Gurung vowed to support the TMC in the 2021 Bengal assembly elections.
Sidhu said there would be no need for Amarinder to go for power cuts or to regulate the office timings if the state acts "in the right direction".
Days after their passage in the Lok Sabha, Tomar introduced the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 in the Rajya Sabha.
Punjab politics has produced a dog's breakfast on the river waters issue. Except, you'd see even dogs eat better, says Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to expand his cabinet when Parliament breaks for recess during the Budget Session. Archis Mohan reports
Nitish said several other parties had echoed the same.
If the protests have cemented the ties between the peasantry and the traders, the political implications for the BJP might become too serious to be disregarded because its core base was made up of the urban Khatri merchants.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, facing arrest in an NDPS case, involving sale, purchase and manufacturing of drugs among other offences, was on Monday granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Results coming out of Lok Sabha polls show that parties like Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and Tamil Nadu's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam managed to corner a large number of votes but failed to convert them into seats, while parties with lesser vote share have got seats to show in their kitty.
In Punjab, more than 9,000 people were evacuated in Patiala, Rupnagar, Moga, Ludhiana, Mohali, SBS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, officials said on Tuesday.
Cash collections accounted for a whopping 63 per cent of total funds or over Rs 2,100 crore garnered by various political parties during all state assembly polls between 2004 and 2015, a study showed on Monday.
The Congress' top leadership realises the former cricketer's utility and mass appeal. His oratory skills and ability to whip up mass hysteria in election rallies is acknowledged as an asset
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.
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