The incident led to a political confrontation between the government and Opposition in the state.
The Congresssaid BJP veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Kishan Advani never did this, but PM Modi by doing so is "demeaning" the high office he holds.
The BJP workers of Fort Kochi staged a protest at a ground where 'Papanji' structure was being built after the photo of 'Papanji' was shared on social media platforms saying it resembled that of Modi's face.
His statement evoked sharp reaction from opposition parties.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'
From Instagram to X, social media platforms, in the run-up to the polls have seen bitter poster wars and even bitter meme battles for political one-upmanship.
Also, the thin winning margins of his last two successful campaigns are proving to be thorns for the sitting MLA.
Party insiders say middle class votes can be captured if Kiran Bedi is declared BJP chief ministerial candidate. Archis Mohan reports
'Whether she is in power or not, she always makes it a point to visit us. This is her best quality as a leader.'
Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for the Gujarat assembly elections which were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 across 33 districts of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state.
The Kerala police has decided to re-investigate the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing leader who was hacked to death by Communist Party of India-Marxist workers in Kannur district 13 years ago.
He was allegedly attacked for his 'anti-Hindu' stance.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday urged Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to take strict action over the murder of a minor girl in Shahbad Dairy in Delhi and said it was his responsibility to maintain law and order in the city.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP criticised the move, claiming the BJP was promoting curbs on the free will of citizens.
Rathore also reacted to the protest in the constituency in support of former MLA Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, saying the BJP is the only party that gives everybody opportunity to move forward.
Commenting on the seat sharing in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said in Ballia that a decision will be made as soon as Surya Uttarayan occurs.
'Congress leaders who are making strategy for the Congress to win elections have not even won a class monitor elections.' 'When you have not contested school monitor elections, what will you know about the ground reality?'
With Jammu and Kashmir assembly slated to discuss a resolution seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, a Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing delegation on Sunday met President Pratibha Patil and said the death sentence awarded to the terrorist should be carried out or it would set a bad precedent.
"If the biggest party of the country, which is in power at the Centre, resorts to such hooliganism, it will spread a bad message among people. People will think that this is the right way (to deal with anything)," he said at an event.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiormani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
The climate for 'doing business' remains forbidding, taxtortion is still rife, corruption at state and district levels has increased, oil prices remain extortive with high taxation, and the continued red tape has kept the enterprise system as stifled as before, points out Debashis Basu.
Several workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) barged into the Congress's Pune city headquarters on Friday and attempted to blacken the photographs of party leader Rahul Gandhi to protest against his remarks on late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, police said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
While the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party hit out at the MLA and the Congress government, Shivakumar seeking to clarify, said no guarantee scheme will be stopped and it will be continued for five years.
Wednesday's Vikravandi by-election has become a referendum on the Stalin government, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the BJP-led central government over the Agnipath scheme, alleging that the saffron camp was trying to create its own "armed" cadre base through the new defence recruitment programme.
'Neither did I approach the BJP nor did they ask me to join them. It was a natural choice for both of us to make.' 'It was never for me to ask or for them to give.'
'The Congress government is on its way out in Himachal Pradesh.'
A petition was filed before a court in Bihar on Monday against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his son Udayanidhi Stalin over the latter's controversial remarks against Sanatan Dharma.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The BJP, already falling short of a strong OBC leader from Maharashtra, will be more than happy to welcome Chhagan Bhujbal in its fold.'
'There was a statement by a minister that 30,000 Kashmiri Pandits have come back to the Kashmir Valley after the abrogation of Article 370, it is all b.......t and a white lie.' 'Nobody has come back.'
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
The former footballer who later became editor of a vernacular daily Naharolgi Thoudang, has managed to strike a chord with the youth, promoting entrepreneurship through programmes such as 'Start-Up Manipur' as an alternative for young people who were being attracted to insurgency.
Gandhi said avenues of employment for the average young person in rural India are largely restricted to seeking government jobs but the government is employing less than before in every sector be it defence, police, railways or education.
Pilot, who was the deputy chief minister in Rajasthan and was removed from the post after a fallout with Gehlot, said he and the former chief minister have discussed the issues that were there, and they did not affect the election.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government has made a "solemn promise" for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and will stand by it, adding the Centre was working very hard to create the right conditions.
What these elections prove beyond any doubt (if ever there was one) that Modi's hold over public mind and Shah's mastery of election management are unparalleled. It doesn't seem likely that they will be matched any time soon in the Indian political scene, reaffirms Shreekant Sambrani.
Later, Pratibha Singh said she and her son Vikramaditya Singh have received a joint invitation and she is yet to take a call on attending the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya on January 22.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
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