The party was trounced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now left with only Himachal Pradesh in the north. It is ruling in only three states on its own and is in power in Bihar and Jharkhand as a junior partner in alliance with regional parties.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for playing the 'dalit card' to defend Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti over her controversial remarks and claimed she did not belong to the community.
'Most leaders, from Lalu Yadav and Mamata to M K Stalin, respect and trust Sonia. She should continue unless she expressly declines.'
A meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon will see the leaders of around 20 opposition parties come together on a common platform through video-conferencing.
The minister also appealed to the people of Kashmir to hoist the national flag in their homes on August 15.
The meeting at Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence was seen as very crucial in forging an Opposition unity with efforts on to reconcile differences between the Congress and some regional parties that have been at loggerheads traditionally.
Top leaders of Opposition parties will brainstorm at a meeting in Patna on Friday to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with sources saying that they would look to avoid the prickly leadership question and emphasise on common ground.
'This silence is an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage'
Security has been beefed up at Karunanidhi's Gopalapuram residence as DMK cadre kept pouring in there.
A parliamentary panel has recommended replacing the word 'seamen" with 'sea-persons' in the Merchant Shipping Amendment Bill, which aims at governing the welfare of seafarers, to make the legislation gender neutral.
The 'Group of 23' leaders who participated included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, besides Sibal who hosted the post-birthday dinner for them.
After following Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the party's official Twitter handle, he began following senior leaders P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Ahmed Patel, Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and CP Joshi from this month.
JNU students staged a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar demanding expedited efforts to trace the student. A delegation of JNU students union went to submit a memorandum to the office of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in this regard.
A B Bardhan, who steered the CPI during the turbulent period of coalition politics in the 1990s, died in New Delhi on Saturday night.
Jeetega Bharat has selected 125 Lok Sabha seats across the country where it will assist the Opposition alliance.
Yechury has dropped enough hints that a fight is in the offing at the Hyderabad conclave in April, where any member may move an amendment to the draft on the party's electoral line. Archis Mohan reports.
The Modi government and political parties on Monday roundly criticised Pakistan for the beheading of two Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Centre assures to restore demolished Ambedkar Bhavan at Dadar in Mumbai.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi dubbed the Union Budget as a 'zero-sum budget', saying it has nothing for the salaried, middle class and the poor.
The ABVP on Friday demanded a fresh inquiry and sought an FIR against ASA and SFI leaders claiming that certain lines of Rohith's suicide note implicating them were struck off.
Chandravat, the Sah Prachar Pramukh of RSS in Ujjain, had announced the reward to avenge the killing of its workers in Kerala
The surprise action comes weeks after the broadcaster aired a two-part documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and India.
Setting aside their bitterness, both within and outside Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi shook hands at a function to felicitate NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who turned 75 on Thursday.
Opposition leaders urged Modi to use the opportunity for the country's benefit.
The NCP skipped the meeting to express its displeasure over allegations by some Congress leaders that its two MLAs did not vote for Ahmed Patel in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections.
Embarrassment apart, it is a reminder to the Narendra Modi government that it is in acute minority in the Upper House
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that a section of farmers has fallen in the grip of a few people with "vested interests" and asserted that the government was working to address their misgivings about the reforms, which have drawn strong protests from a section of cultivators.
The outrageous remarks by Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Pal reflect the reality of "politics of terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Thursday, as it moved Parliament to seek action against him.
In a joint statement, leaders of eight opposition parties extended their support to the farmers who are protesting the three farm laws.
'Wait for 2019, there will be no space for the BJP in UP.'
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday hailed the Union Budget as an "all-inclusive" document while the Opposition dismissed it as "anti-people" and mere rhetoric lacking the vision for creating jobs and taming inflation.
"Vivan Sundaram passed away this morning at 9.20 am. Further details of the cremation as decided will be communicated to you shortly," read a note issued by Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), of which Sundaram was a founding trustee.
A defeat in UP will, therefore, dent the Modi government's efforts to win more seats in the Rajya Sabha.
'Want PM Modi to leave election management and start corona management'
Sources said former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for early passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha during the upcoming session as the same has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday came under opposition attack in Rajya Sabha for demanding that the Bhagwad Gita be declared national scripture, with members saying this was a "sinister" design to alter secular character of the Constitution.
Members were at their cordial best in Rajya Sabha on Friday as it met on the last day of a tumultuous session in which Telangana Bill was passed amid bedlam and vociferous protests a day before.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren was on Sunday sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand at Morhabadi Ground in Ranchi. Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Soren, in the presence of senior political leaders and chief ministers from across states.
