A court in New Delhi on Tuesday sent Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha to judicial custody till April 9 on a plea made by the Enforcement Directorate that the 'highly influential' arrestee, if released, was likely to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence.
'When the Congress tied up with Chandrababu Naidu, they helped trigger Telangana pride.'
The party's gamble to go in for early elections paid rich dividends.
Five years after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of a much younger Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday was on course to lead his party towards a landslide victory in the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls, with allies Bharatiya Janata Party and Janasena Party (JNP) in tow.
BJP's best bet lies in the TDP and the TRS striking a deal with the Congress and framing the battle as a UPA versus NDA clash, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The results mark a defining turn in the fortunes of several regional satraps, especially in the BJP, around whom politics in their states have revolved for decades.
The Bharatiya Janata Party swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Sunday inflicting a resounding defeat on the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland, setting the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
The work we have done in the south and the northeast over the last 10 years under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, we have started getting results of the same, he said.
'If we get 399 seats and you say we have not crossed 400, then it is your wisdom. But the '400 paar' slogan is based on calculation and considered opinion'
Stepping up the agitation for introduction of a bill for formation of Telangana state in the budget session of Parliament, activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Bharatiya Janata Party, and several other organisations staged road blockades across the region on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha after an hours-long raid at her premises in Hyderabad and brought her to Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, agency sources said.
The BJP often forgets that in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, the voter does not mix religion, which is personal, and politics that is in the public sphere, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Chhattisgarh scores the highest among all four states with 21 per cent of its newly elected lawmakers women.
It is early to make out which way the wind is blowing, but there is no denying that challenges for the BJP, far outweigh the advantages in this region, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday won four seats in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal retained the Mokama assembly seat in the bypolls to seven assembly constituencies in six states.
Mussavir Hussain Shazib and Adbul Matheen Ahmed Taahaa were traced to their hideout near Kolkata and apprehended by an NIA team, they said.
All talks regarding an alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party came to an abrupt end on Saturday with the Telangana unit of the BJP putting its foot down against a tie-up.
While some parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party were keen on having early seat-sharing talks, the Congress delayed the deliberations pending the outcome of assembly polls.
The BJP leadership knows it can't boast of governance in the state as the Bommai government has little to show. So, the game plan is to project Modi, who will reiterate how important it is for a state to have the same party ruling in power at the Centre, observes Ramesh Menon.
The list includes constituencies where the BJP came second or third in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and also some which the party has never won.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday linked opposition parties coming together against the Bharatiya Janata Party to his government's campaign against corruption, and asserted that the clampdown on graft will continue without being hindered by "false allegations".
Will Annamalai's attacks on the DMK revert the anti-BJP feeling in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
This will be the first physical meeting of BJP's key decision-making body outside he national capital after a gap of five years.
'...for success like the BJP.' 'The BJP's work for the next election begins the day one election ends.'
He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to the commercialisation of education.
In focus are the assembly polls in 2026. From a BJP perspective, their attack on the ruling DMK, using the 'Hindutva' card, and Annamalai's targeting of both Dravidian majors on corruption has not worked, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
It is in power on its own only in three states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana -- with a big question mark on whether it can even stake claim to be head of the INDIA bloc.
Party sources said the BJP national executive will also deliberate over the strategy for the upcoming state assembly polls and review the ongoing organisational exercise.
Narendra D Modi and his party campaigned in these elections uncharacteristically without any big ideas. Of course, winning each election at all costs could be a big idea as well, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Key individual parties have cornered a larger share, with some favouring regional and others national players.
Yadav also pressed for the caste census which, he said, would be a major issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
It may be recalled that a large number of TDP leaders have switched over to the TRS in the last few years which has weakened the party substantially in Telangana.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has raised the number of "difficult" Lok Sabha seats it is eying to win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to 160 from 144, with a big chunk of additions coming from Bihar where it is set to contest most of the constituencies on its own following its split with the Janata Dal-United.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
It was decided to cut 75 per cent of salaries of the chief minister, ministers, MLAs, MLCs, chairmen of various corporations and local public representatives, an official release said. There will be a pay cut of 60 per cent in AIS officers such as IAS, IPS and IFS while it will be 50 per cent in state government employees.
Vijayashanti would be the second popular star in South to join the BJP after Khushbu in Tamil Nadu.
Opposition leaders on Saturday lauded the Congress for its victory in Karnataka and thanked the people of the state, saying that this win has showed that 'Modi is not invincible'.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
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