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.
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.
'Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bengal can be the game changers of 2024.'
Speaking to reporters after visiting the flood-hit Bhadrachalam town in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, Rao announced allocation of Rs 1,000 crore as a rehabilitation package for the temple town to build colonies in highlands for a permanent solution from flood threat.
He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to the commercialisation of education.
'BJP and Modi are confident they will win the 2024 election.'
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
There was no immediate response from the Aam Aadmi Party over the matter.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the BJP is looking to fill the Opposition slot and not aspire to occupy pole position.
Alleging that the Andhra Pradesh government resorted to repressive measures to put down the Telangana agitation on Friday, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao has called for a bandh in the Telangana region on Saturday.
Asaduddin Owaisi, the member of Parliament from Hyderabad, talks to Sheela Bhatt about his worries over the way Telangana is being created.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former president M Venkiah Naidu on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to move a resolution for the creation of Telangana state in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, saying smaller states could be better administered.He added that the demand for Harit Pradesh in western Uttar Pradesha, raised by Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Chaudhary Ajit Singh, and Gorkhaland in West Bengal raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, will be strengthened.
BJP leaders hit back at the DMK and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he agreed with the insulting remarks of its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner against the north Indians.
'Episodes of targeted attacks on Muslims established that for a section of people and, sadly, even officials of the State, the election results conveyed no lessons.' 'Opposition parties must not be hesitant in speaking out whenever the mob with tacit State support targets Muslims,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The MLAs of the ruling JMM-led alliance exuded confidence of winning the floor test, while the opposition BJP asserted that the coalition would be defeated.
On the proposed Grand Alliance of the Congress and other parties in the state, Shah said the Telugu people had not forgotten how the Congress had treated their leaders like former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh chief minister Anjaiah and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.
'This is what happens when you get consumed by absolute power and the arrogance that accompanies it.'
He said the people are looking for an alternative and the Congress' victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka elections are clear proof of this.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
However, finding the funds to fulfill them will be a herculean task.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Amid opposition unity talks, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Trinamool Congress, alleging that it was fighting elections in Meghalaya to ensure the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in the state, drawing a sharp reaction from the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred MPs' complaints on the issue involving BJP member Ramesh Bidhuri's use of objectionable words against BSP's Danish Ali to the Privileges Committee, sources said on Thursday.
While the markets have factored in a number close to 350 for the BJP and almost 400 for the NDA, 50 seats fewer could trigger a market correction
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at critics, saying they may remain happy with their arrogance, lies, pessimism and ignorance but people should be beware of their divisive agenda as an old habit of 70 years cannot go away so easily.
Rao exuded confidence that his party will win 90-plus seats in the 119-member assembly and will not take support from other parties.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
'We see that a BJP MP abuses a Muslim MP in the Parliament. People are saying that he should not have said all this in the Parliament, they are saying that his tongue was bad. This is the representative of the people for whom you voted'
In a frontal attack, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi played opportunistic politics over the formation of Telangana state, and had joined hands with communal forces in the past.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief J P Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah held a brainstorming session on Tuesday with key party leaders tasked with boosting its prospects in 144 Lok Sabha seats, considered difficult for it, in the 2024 polls.
The Delhi minister also claimed that Kejriwal used to take 50 units of insulin daily before he was sent to jail.
24 hours was all it took for the Congress to overturn its decision to boycott the TV debates on the exit poll results. Sudhir Bisht offers an explanation.
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
'They charge such high fees and offer us this safety. Our lives have become a mockery.'
The first meeting of the reconstituted Congress Working Committee under Mallikarjun Kharge's presidency will be held in Hyderabad on Saturday during which the party's top brass will deliberate on evolving a strategy for upcoming assembly polls in five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The state's economic health is in focus as it has consistently breached the fiscal deficit in eight of the last 10 years since Telangana's formation.
Both the TRS and Congress are desperately looking for alliances to form the first government in Telangana, however, the last resort for both of them will be to join hands. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
If Tamil Nadu voters preferred the DMK combine, it owed to the Modi-Annamalai combo's ideological battle which often crossed the line of political decency and also challenged 'Tamil pride', argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
The grand old party is looking to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while seeking to come to power in the other three states going to polls -- Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram.
