'My passion is dancing and music. What is wrong with that?'
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I don't need to go out now. I don't have to buy votes. My workers are campaigning for me, visiting villages. I know people in every village and their issues,' says the 78-year-old leader.
'These guys who are running away -- they are running away from all that the BJP stands for.'
His outburst came a day after UP Governor Ram Naik asked the state government to take action over the reported damage to the bungalow vacated by the former chief minister, calling it a serious matter involving the taxpayer's money.
Ashok Chowdhury, a Dalit politics expert said, "BJP had impressed the Dalits in the 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections, but it's difficiult to retain them now".
The BJP's quest for dominance over the states political scene, evident from a seat-sharing deal as part of which it clinched nearly as many constituencies as the Janata Dal-United its senior partner so far- resonated during the election campaign.
Chief Minister Adityanath has total assets worth over Rs 71 lakh, while Deputy CM Keshav Prasad has total assets of over Rs 9 crore.
Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.
Sixty-six former bureaucrats in a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind said that the 'polling body's independence, fairness, impartiality and efficiency are perceived to be compromised today'.
Mahant Satya Narayan was hiding in the house of his follower in a village under Ughaiti police station from where he was picked up.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
BJP president Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari were among those who addressed public meetings in different parts of the state on Sunday.
In this COVID-19 phase, the BJP leveraged its pre-eminence again to tip the power scales in its favour and relegate its allies in the National Democratic Alliance to a lesser position. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Sources in various parties suggest that two lakh votes of the Patel community, locally known as OBC kurmi, for which mother-daughter led Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are competing and over one lakh of OBC Rajbhars would be crucial in deciding the outcome of the assembly seats in Varanasi.
Seventeen children died in the neo-natal ward, five in the acute encephalitis syndrome ward and eight in the general ward.
Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt speaks to the mother of the Unnao rape survivor who met with a near-fatal road accident on Sunday.
Rahul Gandhi has taken a break from his ongoing 'Navsarjan Yatra' in Gujarat to meet the families of victims of the explosion.
Noting that Lok Sabha elections are around the corner and only one session of Parliament remains, he asked the government to bring an ordinance.
Of the 27 named, at least four are workers and functionaries of right-wing organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, officials said.
'Till now, many political parties indulged in Muslim appeasement.' 'This is one experiment, successfully carried out by the AAP, in indulging in Hindu appeasement.'
'Probably only Sonia-ji knows the extent of what he is doing.'
Earlier, the Allahabad HC rapped the Uttar Pradesh government saying the law and order machinery and officials were directly under the MLA's influence.
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.
Nitin Gadkari has a message as much for his party as much purportedly it is for the Opposition. Listening to him, whatever be his reasons and motives, will help, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Cities, roads, stations rechristened in the time of Modi.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
"I am not talking about any political party or individual. I see that the people who fit my definition of pariwarvad are angry with me. These dynasts are uniting against me across the country. They are angry why the youth in the country are taking Modi seriously," he said.
UP police said that a three-foot portion of the track where the train derailed was missing.
Singh said his priority would be ensuring unbiased policing.
"I'm an emotional person, but it is not my helplessness. Did I shed tears at a government programme? As chief minister I have worked towards implementing programmes strongly," he said.
Officials of the Transport Department, bus drivers and conductors were contacted on Friday night to help the people who were stranded in Noida, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar and Aligarh, among other places, he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
'Those who support the attacks should realise that beating Kashmiri students can't help anyone change the result of the game.'
Would a Muslim or Christian or Dalit mob who lynched someone because their religious feelings were hurt be given State protection? asks Jyoti Punwani.
The BJP's manifesto for UP elections promised many things. But, given the state's precarious financial position, fulfilling these promises is likely to prove tricky, says Ishan Bakshi.
The Congress has been reduced from 440 seats in the Lok Sabha to 44 seats due its 'arrogance' but it is still not ready to introspect or correct itself, he said.
Continuing his attack on the Congress, he said efforts to stop the 'leakage' could have been made earlier as well but there was no intention and will power.
'The handling of the pandemic, under this totally constitutional and legal three-level dictatorship, has begun to show its downside,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
