However, the tilting factor still remains: Can the rivalling 'Modi brand' of 'soft Hindutva' and 'hard-sell nationalism' garner more votes for the NDA in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Election after election, the Bharatiya Janata Party has romped home to victory with Narendra Modi as its star campaigner. In 2017, the BJP is in government in 15 states and according to a recent report, more than 60 per cent of the country's population now lives in states either ruled by the BJP alone or in partnership. Move the slider on the map below to see the change in how the states have been voting since May 2014.
He, however said he will serve people in whatever ways he can without entering electoral politics.
Higher education policy may be at the core of the Tamil Nadu assembly polls next May, with a potential to break the ties between the ruling AIADMK in the state and the BJP counterpart at the national level, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It will be a grand alliance where they could get the Muslims, Dalits and Yadavs in one camp and pose a serious challenge to whatever the BJP might conjure up in the run-up to the 2019 election.'
In a grand ceremony with overtones of a United States presidential inauguration, heads of state and government, India Inc honchos, opposition leaders, Bharatiya Janata Party members and showbiz stars rubbed shoulders as they watched President Ram Nath Kovind administer the oath of office to India's 58 new ministers.
In what could be a history of sorts, a survery conducted by Star Ananda-Star News-AC Nielsen predicts a two-third majority for the Mamta Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
The seat had fallen vacant following the death of Chirag Paswan's father and Lok Janshakti Party founder Ram Vilas Paswan. The BJP has nominated former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for the seat.
The Defence Minister said the government is committed to protect the sanctity of Parliament.
We can expect to see more Chinese wolf warrior diplomats on the prowl, in India's neighbourhood, though its mailed fist is not so visible while dealing with India, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
The Uddhav Thackeray-led regime is performing a veritable balancing act. The lack of coordinated strategies, the weakening authority of the leadership, growing disgruntlement among its constituents, the inability to set a narrative, and poor damage control mechanisms have seen it lurch from one crisis to another, reports Dhaval Kulkarni
'We are a country of amazing ability and the way we have responded to the pandemic is evidence.'
She wrote this in reply to an article about the proceedings of Bombay high court during the hearing of the stay order plea by the actor's lawyer against the demolition drive of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation at her property.
Was Kerkar duped by his employees, as he claims, or did a cocktail of greed, poor cost control and bad management bring the travel firm down, wonder Pavan Lall and Aneesh Phadnis.
A day earlier, the House of Representatives voted 326-78 to pass a waiver exempting Austin from the seven-year 'cooling off period' for retired generals taking over as defence secretary. The senate approved the waiver by 69-27 votes.
The ruling Awami League-led grand alliance has won 288 seats in the 300-member Parliament, Election Commission secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said.
Setting aside a popular political dictum that Bastar holds the key to power in the state, the 24 assembly constituencies in Bilaspur division would now decide who will form the next government in Chhattisgarh. So far the BJP's Amit Shah has held two public meetings and Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed one in the division in the last one month, reports R Krishna Das.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a democratically elected leader who received a massive mandate of 71% of votes, and he owes nothing to Delhi or Washington for staging his political comeback, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Kejriwal congratulated Modi for the BJP's victory.
While critics and protestors have multifarious arguments to offer, the defence of CAA has been uni-dimensional and uni-focussed as has been the case with most policies of the Modi government and the political positions of his party. But to be drawn into an issue that has assumed more than local and national dimensions, Rajini has knowingly or otherwise, taken the plunge and in favour of the BJP -- or, so it has come to be seen, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress also fielded Madhusudan Tiwari from Gorakhpur against BJP's actor-turned politician Ravi Kishan.
Yadav, who is seeking a second successive term in office after stitching an alliance with Congress, in wilderness in the state for a long time, led a roadshow with Rahul through the city, but not before he had paid a visit to the 'Kashi Vishwanath' temple of Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of Varanasi.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E S L Narasimhan at a simple ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan.
Did Nitish Kumar want to return to the Mahagathbandhan 6 months after aligning with the BJP?
A fun excerpt from Diptakirti Chaudhuri's Bollygeek: The Crazy Trivia Guide to Bollywood.
The company is not holding plans for clarity on policy.
Why was everyone wooing Vijayakanth and why was he playing hard to get?
Ravi Shankar Prasad in Patna Sahib, Ram Kripal Yadav in Pataliputra, R K Singh in Arrah and Ashwani Choubey in Buxar are all having a tough time.
'In the next five years both online and TV viewership will grow and complement each other.'
United, American snap code share deals, in compliance with US regulator's ruling
e Union minister of state for home is somewhat brash and rowdy, and has enormous confidence.' Some of this derives from the fact that he has independent sources of income (he reported assets amounting to Rs 18 crore in his 2019 Lok Sabha nomination papers)
The BJP has named sitting MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy as its nominee on the politically important seat.
These trips can be as short as a month to 45 days.
Tackling black money gets worst rating; Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly.
'With the deaths of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, the BJP and Congress thought that they had a chance.' 'They have conceded that power is with the Dravidian parties.'
Will appeasement, rising unemployment and her dictatorial style become major obstacles in her path? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.
As their parties are locked in a fierce battle for Bengal, Tathagata and Saugata Roy, siblings who belong to the BJP and the TMC respectively, answer the same questions put to them about the assembly election.
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