Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
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.
The BJP stormed back to power in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, trouncing its main rival SP, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserting that people have buried the politics of caste and religion.
'I don't think there will be any problem for Hindus to accept Adityanath as the leader, since they have already chosen Modi.'
There's enough time for Mamata Banerjee to change her mind, Alva said.
'I am quite optimistic that sooner or later, my wishful thinking would turn into a reality.' The only hitch is that the INC president's own career ambitions may be hurt if the Congress merges with the BJP,' says Sudhir Bisht.
'Even if the government does not implement an all-India NRC before 2024, it will be part of the party's long-term project.'
The Padma Bhushan was conferred on 17 personalities including N Chandrasekharan, chairman of Tata Sons, Krishna and Suchita Ella of Bharat Biotech, Cyrus Poonawalla, Satya Nadella, chairman of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai, chairman of Google.
Re-elected MLAs from the ruling party added more wealth in the last five years than re-elected candidates from other political parties, shows an analysis of ADR electoral data.
"Modi ji! Is this our Indian culture? Is this what has been taught in Vedas, Mahabharat, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita? I am asking BJP national president Nadda ji. Is it our culture?" he asked, referring to Sarma's comments.
From invoking the 'Saptarishi' (Ursa Major) constellation, seven basic notes of Indian classical music to 'saat phere' (seven circumambulations) -- parties give different reasons and logic to claim that they will emerge victorious in the polls.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the flood-hit Bhadrachalam town in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, Rao announced allocation of Rs 1,000 crore as a rehabilitation package for the temple town to build colonies in highlands for a permanent solution from flood threat.
All 'important' issues will be up for deliberations, a BJP leader said of the meeting, adding the party is also likely to laud the central government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the vaccination drive, and hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his development initiatives and successful foreign visits.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and former state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya had also dropped a hint in a recent tweet, saying Yaduvanshi (Yadavs), Ravidasiyo (Jatavs) and Pasmanda Muslims will be brought closer to the BJP so that the lotus 'blossoms' in every booth in UP.
The BJP's vote share in Punjab has been declining -- 8.21 per cent in 2007 to 7.13 per cent in 2012, and finally to 5.4 per cent in 2017, when it won just three of 23 seats the party contested. So doing an election deal with Amarinder and a political formation he might float in the future is not inconceivable.
Farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states on Tuesday offered 'antim ardas' -- the final prayers in the Sikh tradition -- for the protesters killed in the recent violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, with their leaders vowing to intensify the agitation against the Centre's new agri laws.
Nadda asked party workers to go to people and 'expose' the Congress's 'slander campaign' against the government.
There is speculation that the Congress may bring Priyanka Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Randeep Surjewala and RPN Singh, among others, to the upper house.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
'At a time when people don't like to even sacrifice their panchayat seat, Biplab Kumar Deb sacrificed the chair of chief minister with a smiling face.'
Sibal also said the present dispensation wants an 'Opposition-mukt Bharat' not just a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'.
"Didi has already said in Delhi that if Akhilesh Yadav needs our help, we are ready to extend help. The gesture of senior SP leader Jaya Bachchan seeking votes for the TMC during the West Bengal Assembly elections will be reciprocated in Uttar Pradesh," said Laliteshpati Tripathi, who recently joined the TMC.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has accused BJP of practicing "politics of blood" by pitting one religion against another and one caste against another to come to power at any cost, escalating the Congress attack against the opposition party.
Top on the government's agenda would be getting Parliament's approval to the budgetary proposals and presentation of the budget for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajeev Srinivasan on whom the Congress might put forth as its leader in 2014.
Following the postmortem at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, police on Thursday registered a case of murder and transferred it to the Crime Branch for investigation, a senior officer said.
Champion's three-month suspension has now been extended for an indefinite period, Uttarakhand BJP media incharge Devendra Bhasin said in a tweet.
The sordid details of the FIR filed against these companies for issuing fake certificates only reconfirm why the second Covid-19 wave in India came like a storm in the midst of the Kumbh Mela.
The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that if the Army cannot move its missile launchers, heavy machinery up to the northern Indo-China border, then how will it defend it and fight a war, if it breaks out.
Sushil Chandra will conduct the UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand elections before he retires in May 2022.
Results of the assembly polls held in five states -- UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, Punjab.
The Congress vice president also took a dig at Modi over his surgery remarks on economy, saying 'a quack endangers life'.
The curtain came down on rumbustious electioneering over the last two months when assembly polls were also held in four other states - Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur.
The Congress on Friday questioned the silence of the government on the veracity of a video which purportedly shows injured Indian soldiers in captivity of the Chinese and said if it is genuine, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi must ensure that China is held globally accountable for indulging in war crimes.
For the first time since a casteist row erupted at a secondary school in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand, all 66 students of classes 6-8 of the school took mid-day meal prepared by a cook on Monday.
'The Hindu electorate is more or less in the BJP defined space now.'
The Parliament is set to rock again over the issue of government formation in Goa and Manipur.
No arrest has been made yet in connection with alleged hate speeches delivered at a "Dharma Sansad" held in Uttarakhand's Haridwar recently to incite violence against the minorities, police said on Friday.
Polling across 55 assembly constituencies assembly in nine districts got off to sluggish start at 7 am due to the cold and fog at several places.
Catch all the debates from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
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