They may not see eye to eye on a number of issues, but some sworn political rivals have converged in the same constituency in Uttar Pradesh on Valentine's Day. While Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined her daughter Priyanka to campaign in Rae Bareli, her parliamentary constituency, son Rahul will be criss-crossing neighbouring Hardoi before moving on to Agra to address more rallies there.
Rahul feels collective decisions taken with his mother and sister helped the party in the December assembly elections. Hence, he wants to follow the same strategy for the Lok Sabha election, too.
The exams were scheduled to be held from May 4.
Heavy police force was deployed at the Congress office in view of the march and roads leading to it were barricaded. However, many Congress workers reached the spot and started a public meeting.
Vikram Joshi was returning home in Vijay Nagar area with his two daughters on a motorcycle when he was waylaid by over half a dozen armed men at around 10.30 pm on Monday.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed confidence that the BJP will win over 74 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The first encounter took place when a police team was approaching to arrest Vikas Dubey, a history-sheeter facing 60 criminal cases, in Dikru village under the Chaubeypur police station on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, police said.
Praising Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, party president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the country needs a single dose of a drug, called "Modicine", to treat all its ills.
Making his electoral debut from Jaunpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh as a Congress candidate, Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan says he hopes to convert his fans into voters.
Mallikarjun Kharge was on Wednesday elected the Congress president after defeating Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, the sixth in the party's 137-year-old history.
One way forward could be for the CWC to name an interim working president for the party and then ideally dissolve itself, following which the main leadership positions within the party, including the CWC itself, should be opened up to fresh elections
Taking strong exception to a serious crime like murder on the court premises, four police personnel, including an inspector, have been placed under suspension, Assistant Superintendent of Police (City) Sanjay Kumar said.
Angry protesters allegedly forced the two vehicles to stop and set them on fire.
Vadra was directed by a Delhi court to cooperate with the investigation being carried out by the central probe agency after he knocked on its door seeking anticipatory bail in this case.
She, however, did not talk of the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance and sought support for only her party's candidates.
'The administration was not ready for (my) release, but I have been released because of the prayers of people.'
The Lakhimpur violence, in which the son of senior BJP leader and Union minister of state Ajay Mishra Teni are accused of trampling four protesting farmers to death, has opened another front for the CM to deal with, after the mysterious death of Akhara Parishad president Mahant Narendra Giri last month and the death of a Kanpur-based trader in Gorakhpur recently.
'You are one of the drops that make that ocean, but when you leave it makes no difference to the ocean.'
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
They added that Vadra was expected to join the probe again on Friday.
'Whoever thought that building toilets and providing free rations to the poorest of poor Indians would give Modi a halo other political leaders would envy?' asks Sheela Bhatt.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed strict action in the case as Opposition leaders targeted his Bharatiya Janata Party government over the crime. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the case should not be politicised.
'Given that the RGF is a family-controlled trust, why would the Congress defend it every time someone accuses it of wrong-doing?' asks Virendra Kapoor.
The new party president, the sixth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to lead the political outfit, takes charge from his mother Sonia Gandhi at a time when the party is facing one of its worst crises, with the Bharatiya Janata Party occupying the centre stage of national and state politics.
'Why choose people from outside the state?'
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday joined his sister Priyanka Gandhi in attacking Narendra Modi over snoopgate controversy, saying the Gujarat government has no regard for women as it gets their phones tapped.
Rahul Gandhi and young leaders close to him are planning to connect with party workers on the ground and are preparing to embark on a nationwide yatra, reports Archis Mohan.
'We are under pressure from officials and confined to our home while the media has also been disallowed from meeting us'
PM Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have all expressed grief over the incident.
Mother and son refuse to go away despite indications blowing in the wind that their leadership is ringing the death knell of the party, observes Ramesh Menon.
Responding to Shagh, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the country was suffering from too much "ODOMOS- overdose of only Modi only Shah".
Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma has said the issue of the state's next CM is already 'settled' with the BJP top brass making it clear that the coming assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath.
"Our party is stronger than the Congress in the state. While the Congress won 40 seats in panchayat polls, we scored a victory in 83 panchayats. AAP got over 40 lakh votes in these polls, where 1600 party candidates contested," Singh, AAP's UP in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.
'Amethi people will not leave the Gandhi parivar even if they do not meet them.'
Protests were held outside the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan, Rajghat, India Gate, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Assam Bhawan and Delhi University where people voiced their opposition to the controversial changes introduced in the law.
One of Modi's foremost critics will contest if he is the common candidate of a united Opposition, but fielded by the Congress.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
We used to hear of the Modi-Shah pair as the hyphenated top of the BJP leadership. Lately, the hyphen has disappeared and it is only Modi at the top. Yogi Adityanath gets honourable mentions, but he is still a good distance away from being anointed a worthy successor, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
All the parties fielded women candidates after the Lucknow mayoral seat was reserved for women.
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