While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
It is likely that small parties would be given very few seats to contest, but these parties believe that they would be able to swing the result in favour of bigger alliance partners by transferring their vote bank.
Opposition MLAs flung paper balls at Governor Ram Naik and marshals frantically deflected the projectiles with files as the opening day of the maiden session of the new Uttar Pradesh assembly presented a spectacle of complete mayhem.
Even as Uttar Pradesh chief minister designate Akhilesh Yadav was awaiting his coronation on Thursday, his father and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav was busy giving final touches to the formation of the son's first government.
'Kejriwal could have easily deputed someone to step in as chief minister, but being the authoritative and self-centered personality that he is, he chose not to do it.' 'If the AAP loses Delhi, where it has a huge majority, the only one to blame would be Kejriwal,' asserts Ramesh Menon.
As many as 1,250 plots were allotted to a number of people, including politicians, mediapersons, bureaucrats and relatives of retired judges, by the Noida authorities, allegedly in violation of rules.
In Soraon, despite the tie-ups, Congress, SP, BJP and Apna Dal candidates are contesting against their allies.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
Since the trouble in Uttar Pradesh's ruling party became public, Akhilesh has been insisting on sidelining or expulsion of Singh.
Over 56 per cent turnout was recorded on Monday in 54 assembly seats, including in Varanasi, in the seventh and last phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, marking the end of the voting process spread over two months in the crucial state.
What would Parliament be without these nine ladies?
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
'Sharma was sent to Lucknow for a purpose, but he has merely been adjusted in the party hierarchy because the chief minister refused to induct him into his government. He was secretary in the Central government and was holding a much higher office than the state ruling party's vice-president' Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
The order soon got mired in political controversy with the opposition Samajwadi Party crying hoarse that the move smacked of politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
A coordinated multi-agency search operation is underway to locate the two, even as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered setting up a three-member committee to probe the incident and submit a report in a week.
Top party leaders, including those from states, are likely to arrive at the BJP headquarters to file nominations in support of Nadda, who has long been seen as the choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah for the job.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav are and 10 political leaders who were on Thursday elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Mayawati charged that the communal atmosphere in the state had been spoilt because of an understanding between the SP and the BJP.
Ram Vilas Paswan was no fool. He knew very well about the ownership tussle going on beneath this veneer of congeniality. At all costs, he wanted to keep the lid on the family drama. He did not want it to come in the way of his son's coronation.
Outside CM's residence, high drama was witnessed with youth supporters of Akhilesh assembling in large numbers to vent their fury.
Kamal Nath said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was perturbed as its "corruption over its 15-year rule is going to be exposed"
The situation is worse in the Gandhi family pocket borough -- Amethi and Raebareli.
Days after his public criticism of the government over ordinance on convicted lawmakers, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sought to mollify Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying he is "my guru" and "a man with good intent".
District election officer Mahendra Bahadur Singh said Aman Giri won by a margin of 34,298 votes. He received 1,24,810 votes while Tiwari got 90,512 votes.
The EC has asked both factions to show strength of MLAs, MPs and MLCs supporting them through signed affidavits.
The turnout for these seats was 57.92 per cent in the last assembly polls in 2012.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
The girl tried to immolate herself near the chief minister's residence in Lucknow on Sunday.
A R Rahman performed on the second day of the three-day bash to celebrate the 76th birthday of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Less than half the ministers in Team Yogi are not long-term BJP members. Many old-timers have been dropped.
'If the Opposition does make a dent, it could encourage the efforts of regional parties to come together for the larger battle in 2024 and mark the beginning of a new anti-BJP politics.'
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
Sharmishtha, who has quit politics, also clarified that she has not tried to tweak her father's views about anyone.
Miffed over his removal as minister in-charge of Meerut, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan has shot off a letter to Akhilesh Yadav, stating that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister could remove him from the state cabinet if he was found unfit to be a minister. Terming his removal as minister in-charge of Meerut as "improper", Khan on Thursday admitted writing a letter to the UP chief minister, but denied that he has offered to quit.
A number of royals have thrown their hat in the ring in the high-voltage Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
An all-party meeting on Monday failed to hammer out a consensus over the controversial Insurance Bill, which was scheduled to be taken up in Rajya Sabha.
The 90-minute meeting is being seen as an attempt at reconciliation between Shivpal, a Cabinet minister, and Akhilesh after intervention of the latter's father Mulayam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and chief ministers of National Democratic Alliance-ruled States are at the ceremony.
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court has put brakes on Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's bid to appease all and sundry by offering a minister's status to them in one form or the other.
Mulayam laid bare his anger for the first time after the SP's defeat in the UP assembly election fought under the leadership of Akhilesh.
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