Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver on Tuesday his 10th consecutive Independence Day address which will also be his last before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as a mood of anticipation builds around the annual showpiece event that he has used to present his government's report card, unveil flagship schemes and lay down his vision for the country.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'And the old war horse has left nothing to chance. He campaigned vigorously in the by-election defying his age,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir.
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Setting the tone for his 2024 re-election bid, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for waging a war against the 'three evils' of corruption, appeasement and dynastic politics, stepped up the OBC outreach with a mega scheme and exuded confidence he would return to address the nation from the Red Fort next year.
AFC Cup tie moved to neutral venue after Australia denies Myanmar club visas
With Beijing remaining intransigent on the withdrawal of additional troops deployed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) since the deadly border clash in 2020 in eastern Ladakh, India's bilateral ties with China remained frozen in 2023 with no forward movement on the horizon despite several rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
'The assessment of most people is that there is a stable economic and political environment in India and that is attractive to investors.'
Polling is being held for 224 seats in what is being seen mainly as a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal-Secular.
I do have a dream biopic. It has as its subject Renu Saluja, the cosmically gifted editor, with a special focus on the Vidhu Vinod Chopra-Saluja-Sudhir Mishra love story, says Sreehari Nair.
Authorities in New Delhi are all geared up for the counting of votes polled in the Delhi municipal elections, with officials saying 42 centres have been set up for the Wednesday exercise which will begin at 8 am amid tight security.
'I'm pitching India for the strengths we offer, including the English language, engineers, doctors, nurses, professionals, innovative talent of startups.'
Shah said that it is "a 3-D government in Rajasthan and three Ds stands for 'dange' (riots), 'durvyavhar' (ill-treatment) with women and 'Dalit' atrocities.
The contrast between the two meetings couldn't have been more stark, yet, both were organically linked, the latter a show of support for the former.
A group of Maratha reservation activists torched the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building and vandalised it in Maharashtra's Beed district, soon after setting on fire the residence of local NCP MLA Prakash Solanke on Monday, the police said.
Will Annamalai's attacks on the DMK revert the anti-BJP feeling in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Although the BRS is projecting supreme confidence, who will be able to tap anti-incumbency -- the BJP or Sharmila plus the Congress -- remains to be seen.
With reports surfacing of differences between Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, Fadnavis was out seeking new allies. A disgruntled Ajit Pawar was easy to persuade.
The BJP and Congress have already launched spirited campaigns for the elections.
The 24-year-old took the wicket of all the top seven England batters, finishing with figures of 7/114.
'For Modi, it's not just winning, but winning with style.'
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has warned the people against the "communal designs" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party and urged them not to lose their cool in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
According to insiders, "talks are on" between the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena at "an exploratory level".
Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party state president K Annamalai on Friday released 'DMK Files' alleging top ministers from the party and Chief Minister MK Stalin's family members had accumulated unaccounted assets.
Addressing an election rally in the family bastion of Saifai, Akhilesh Yadav also asserted that his party will register a historic win in the bypoll.
In an election where every seat will matter, micro-strategising is going to be the order of the day. And in such a situation, party infighting - in all parties --could lead to unpredictable results.
'Jockeying for that position has possibly started at this time.'
'The Fed rate will peak in the range of 5.1-5.3 per cent during the second quarter of CY23 and will most likely stay there for a while before rate cuts start in CY24.'
The government had on Friday directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary titled India: The Modi Question.
The manner in which Members of Legislative Assembly spent their funds during the recent four-state assembly elections is something that needs to be looked into.
If only you had thought ahead, you would have stocked snacks and biscuits, bread and cake, and vegetables suited for Amma or pondatti to make your favourite bajji and pakoda, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as ministers along with them.
'Whatever the Supreme Court expected, it wasn't achieved in these five years.' 'So, we have made an amendment now to achieve that objective.'
At the end of the day, Stalin expressing solidarity with an arrested colleague is one thing, especially if he too felt that the minister had been wronged, but for him to retain the person in office sets a bad precedent, which would not go unnoticed by voters, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
In winning a seventh term, the BJP also matched the Left Front's feat in West Bengal.
"Trust is something that has been missing from both sides (Delhi and Srinagar). Successive prime ministers -- Jawaharlal Nehru, Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- made promises but the trust deficit has persisted," he added.
Maamannan could have been so much better with an alternate lead actor and a tighter, more gripping storytelling, sighs a disappointed Divya Nair.
Seventy-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manik Saha on Wednesday took oath as chief minister of the sensitive border state of Tripura.
'The great wheel of democracy has turned full circle, and it feels just like being back in 2014, but with less hope that someone out there is going to save us from ourselves,' points out Mitali Saran.
Typically, about four to six weeks ahead of the polls, activity in the property market picks up as politicians begin to pull out their money parked in real estate. But this time, it's all quiet till now in real estate so far.
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