With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
Three bills were introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid uproar with members from Left parties trooping into the Well to protest against rising prices of onion while other members raised the Telangana issue.
Kharge launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced but not of Gujarat so that the PM can inaugurate many more bridges like the one that collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi.
The 77-year-old was recently diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital, where he died at 1.28 am, a Congress leader said.
Naga Chaitanya's father and top Telugu actor Nagarjuna strongly condemned the minister's remarks.
I believe this is what really happened at the Congress Working Committee on Wednesday.
The prevailing political ground realities in Andhra Pradesh read with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement in Lok Sabha on Wednesday make it clear that the central government appears to be in no hurry to take a decision on the contentious Telangana statehood issue.
The Congress has tried to inflict capital punishment on true secularism, he claimed, asserting that the Waqf law has no place in the Constitution.
Alleging that ruling Congress is "not serious" about bringing Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the United Progressive Alliance government could have brought the anti-graft legislation long ago as there was consensus over the issue.
The Congress victory in Karnataka, its first big state since 2018, puts the party back in the game for general elections as it re-establishes primacy in the opposition space that is currently vastly fragmented despite efforts to cobble up a united front against the BJP.
Polling for the fourth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will take place on Monday, May 13, 2024, with 96 seats going to the polls across 10 states.
The launch coincides with the birthday of Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
He charged KCR with using 'abusive language' in campaigning and claimed that it showed signs of his nervousness and insecurity.
Temples across Uttar Pradesh were packed with devotees on Sunday for Ram Navami, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading prayers at the Gorakhnath Temple. Heavy crowds were witnessed at temples in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Varanasi, where security was heightened. In Gorakhpur, Adityanath performed the traditional kanya pujan ritual, while in Varanasi, a 51-foot statue of Lord Ram has become a major attraction. The festival was celebrated with enthusiastic fervor across the state.
The share of candidates who were successful among the BJP was 56.5% in 2019. It was 5% for the Congress.
The only occasion when the BJP had 100 seats in the Upper House was in 2022.
K T Rama Rao, Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader and son of party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, and Dr Prithviraj, Telangana Students Joint Action Committee chief, explain to Rediff.com what the immediate changes would be in the event of Telangana being declared as a separate state.
'When the Congress tied up with Chandrababu Naidu, they helped trigger Telangana pride.'
Union Minister of State for Commerce Daggubati Purandeswari on Saturday indicated that Congress ministers and Members of Parliament from Seemandhra would vote against the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013 in Parliament if the Centre did not concede to their demands over protecting the interests of people of their region.
The new chief minister, if from the Congress, will have little or no time for political administration, to ensure that he does not lose the voter's goodwill even before the Lok Sabha polls. He can count only on one thing. That the BJP may not want to upset him too early lest an early failure should become an added problem for the party in all the polls to follow, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Experts foresee possible scenarios: A BRS government with less majority, a BRS government with BJP and AIMIM support, or a Congress government.
On the eve of the Haryana assembly poll results, the issue of chief minister-ship has taken centre stage in the Congress with all eyes on its high command's next move as the party expects to regain power after 10 years in the state.
The YSRC will now have to seek the Election Commission of India's nod to let Jagan be the party chief for life.
The Congress's loss in the three states in the North-East, a region it had dominated for decades, shows there is a lot left to do to reclaim its political turf despite the Bharat Jodo Yatra which it had touted as a successful experiment in mass public outreach.
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.
There have been rumours doing the rounds on social media over the past few days that Sharmila plans to start a political party in Telangana state without her brother's intervention.
The mortal remains of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh were consigned to flames at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday amid the chanting of religious hymns. The funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was surging ahead in two southern states -- Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka -- while the respective blocs led by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and Congress in Kerala were on their way for another excellent show, going by the latest trends emerging from the counting of voted polled in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
Electorally, the yatra seems to have paid dividends in the south, but the march does not seem to be helping the Congress in stopping the BJP's surge in the Hindi-heartland states.
'Women' as a political constituency appears to be an idea that has come of age. It is changing India in ways that we only dimly understand, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
The situation has been brought under control and remains peaceful, the police said on Sunday.
The BJP is leading in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
The complainant claimed that the journalist had made a false allegation and was intentionally defaming the state government and his organisation TGSPDCL.
A total of 73 women got elected to the 18th Lok Sabha against 78 women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
Rao exuded confidence that his party will win 90-plus seats in the 119-member assembly and will not take support from other parties.
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away at the age of 92 on Thursday. He will be given a state funeral with full state honors at Nigambodh Ghat on Saturday. Singh served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014 and was known for his role in India's economic reforms. Leaders from across the political spectrum paid their respects to the departed leader, highlighting his contributions to the nation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana by bucking anti-incumbency, managed to make significant inroads into the Dalit seats and Jat strongholds.
Reddy stated that KCR's statement on proposing a new constitution is an extension of the idea of the BJP.
Union minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar was on Saturday detained by the police for staging a dharna in Hyderabad to express solidarity with aspirants of Telangana Public Service Commission (TSPSC) Group 1 services, who are seeking postponement of the Mains exam.
