Though the Patidar-dominated Morbi Assembly seat in Gujarat is considered a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the poll equations this time may change due to many factors, including the recent bridge tragedy which claimed 135 lives, political observers say.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who created a political flutter with his appeal to incorporate images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh on currency notes, has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushing forward the demand.
While all the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs present in the House voted in favour of the motion as expected, there was no vote against it due to the absence of BJP legislators.
'By the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they moved back to the BJP almost totally and later their backing helped us win the local body elections.'
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
Five-time MLA Parshottam Solanki, who is also known as 'Bhai' among his followers, has been winning Bhavnagar-Rural with a comfortable margin.
'The AAP is likely to take root in some metropolises -- although it won't be easy to replicate the small-scale Delhi model with equal intensity or cadre-strength in a large state,' says Praful Bidwai.
'The Gujarat model was never an economic model; it was essentially a governance model.'
'Mr Modi identified what would help him win votes and got it done, like 24x7 power in three phases, better roads, more water, etc.'
'Good economic governance at state level is quite different from good governance at national level,' points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of using agencies like the CBI and Enforcement Directorate to threaten liquor licensees and excise officials but the BJP alleged that the AAP government's 'rushed' move was an 'admission of violations and corruption' and it was 'scared' of the CBI probe.
'I know of at least one techie who quit his job to join the AAP in Delhi. Many others traveled to India to volunteer during the election. If you ask these volunteers why they were doing it when they can't even vote in India, they say, "We want a corruption-free India".' Ritu Jha looks back on the year that was; it was party time, she says, for news junkies like her.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, rejected the view that he had remained silent on the February 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Gujarat University on Thursday told the high court in Ahmedabad the Right to Information Act cannot be used for satisfying someone's "childish curiosity" as it defended its petition seeking quashing of an order under the transparency law to provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
'It is not just about numbers. Sometimes coalitions and alliances have symbolic value.'
The War of the Tiranga is a metaphor for a new battle of ideas in national politics, observes Shekhar Gupta.
With its on-going nation-wide membership drive, Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday claimed over 10 lakh people joined the outfit in the last five days.
Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal are realising that it is not a cakewalk to run a full state that is plagued with a fiscal deficit and where emotions run high at the drop of a hat, observes 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 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has to deal with 3 powerful enemies: the media, the political establishment, and business houses.
Arvind Kejriwal's party will need around 50 seats to make a pitch for the Left's space in national politics. For that, it will have to contest more than one third of the Lok Sabha seats, points out Saroj Nagi.
"He is lodged in the prison in connection with a rape case and sections of the Pocso Act. Rinku is not a physiotherapist," the sources said.
'If an election could be won only by canvassing then the AAP candidate will easily win. In canvassing they have let all the parties behind. They have met every voter in the villages many times and they have come from so far.' A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com travels to the rural hinterland of Varanasi and finds that only the BJP and AAP are active here.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country but only after following all democratic processes and discussions on it.
After announcing Kumar Vishwas's candidature against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, there is a buzz that the party might pit Shazia Ilmi against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the upcoming general elections.
Ever since Nitish embarked on the slippery path of trying to unite the Opposition against the BJP, he has repeatedly rebutted suggestions that the exercise was aimed at bringing himself centre stage. The problem is: It is not enough if he says so. Others have to say so as well, especially Congress, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Kejriwal, on a four-day visit to Gujarat, is widely seen to be in the poll-bound state to woo the numerously strong Patel community to gain foothold in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf.
If the party is unable to do well in Gujarat and Karnataka polls, it could lose this status in the subsequent binneial elections to the upper House.
'He is a key fulcrum point in the pan-Indian creation of an effective Opposition to the BJP.'
'When corporates have a stake in the government through contributions to political parties, democracy, which is supposed to work for the common man, doesn't.'
'Political narrative in our country today is tilted towards Hindutva orientation and so Kejriwal becomes very dangerous to the BJP.' 'For them, he is a leader to watch.'
The decision of some key regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Aam Aadmi Party to skip a key opposition meet called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the presidential poll has cheered the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as it believes that their absence has only highlighted the faultlines and one-upmanship among its rivals.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded academician M T Rani from Nilgiris seat of Tamil Nadu from where former Union minister A Raja is in the fray.
The Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly while the BJP got 25 seats.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha takes the high road the Jaipur Literature Festival. Sanchari Bhattacharya reports
Kejriwal claimed that AAP workers were first attacked by BJP supporters. Some of the agitated AAP workers had responded by pelting "two or three stones", he told media persons in Bhuj.
Some of the Congress's new-found enthusiasm for hitting the streets will show its result in the Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka elections. That is when we will know if the Congress will go to the regional parties or the parties will come to the Congress.
If you are a BJP backer, you'd ask why Modi and Shah would even bother about Rahul Gandhi and Congress. But they do. Because they are serious politicians who win elections. That's why their priority is to ensure Rahul cannot shed his 'Pappu' image, points Shekhar Gupta.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are also likely to play out during the start of the session.
Namo, Namo as India's prime minister? Not yet, says Pakistan-based journalist Amir Mateen.
