What was the "locus standi" of Sonia Gandhi when she along with the then prime minister Manhoman Singh inaugurated legislative buildings in Manipur and Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party asked on Wednesday while countering the Congress's criticism over the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
'Mr Ballot Box' occupied the front row seat in the aircraft escorted under the watchful gaze of the Assistant Returning Officers of their respective states.
A day after the arrest of party Member of Legislative Assembly Pradeep Brahma by Assam police on charges of inciting mob violence in Kokrajhar district in the recent riot, the Bodoland People's Front on Friday clarified that it would continue with its alliance with the ruling Congress notwithstanding the arrest of the party MLA.
Scripting history, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday stormed to power in Assam bagging a government in the north east for the first time dethroning the Congress which also lost Kerala while Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee retained power in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal with spectacular victories.
The counting of votes in all these states and the UT will take place on May 2.
Thousands of tribals from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha reached the hills earlier in the day, carrying traditional weapons and beating drums.
Worsening the crisis in Assam, State Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma quit on Monday demanding the immediate ouster of Tarun Gogoi as chief minister.
The influential All Bodo Students' Union has given an August 13 ultimatum to communicate a date for holding tripartite dialogue on the union's demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam.
The repoll will be held from 7 am to 4 pm, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.
Others were more sympathetic to the prime minister.
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.
Even as the Centre stayed the Jharkhand government's move to promote tourism at the Parasnath hills after protests by Jains, tribals jumped into the fray staking a claim to the land and asking for it to be freed.
The top guns of all the major political parties were on a campaign blitz across the state in the past few days, even as the ruling BJP has been striving to break the 38-year-old pattern of alternating governments and retain its southern citadel.
A bomb was recovered on Monday from an unclaimed bag in a train just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Assam
Amid political turmoil in Maharashtra following a revolt by Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde, six members of legislative assembly (MLAs) and a member of legislative council (MLC) from the neighbouring state arrived in Gujarat's Surat city on Thursday and were later flown to Guwahati in Assam, where party rebels are camping, in two chartered flights, sources said.
State BJP chief Temjen Imna Along, widely popular on social media across the country for his sense of humour, and Salhoutuonuo Kruse, one of the two women elected to Nagaland assembly for the first time, were among those who were sworn-in as members of the council of ministers.
Indicating a shift in stand, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said his party is open to consider quitting Maharashtra's ruling alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if the rebel MLAs camping in Assam return and discuss their grievances with CM Uddhav Thackeray, while coalition allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress vowed support to the beleaguered governing bloc and asserted its majority can only be determined in the assembly and not outside.
The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet on Thursday to finalise its first list of candidates for five assembly polls, with top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to attend the meeting.
On the Islamic State-style video sent by the ULFA-I to TV news channels, the DGP said it was the first time that such a video has been received.
'The BJP has 106 MLAs and Eknath Shinde claims the support of 40 MLAs. So why are they both not forming the government right now in Mumbai? Why the delay?' Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports.
'It is difficult to replace him because if he is replaced, it will lead to a sense of defeat among the Meiteis, rightly or wrongly, and more chaos.'
Banerjee pointed out that the pain and trauma of Partition was such, that people in the state have never commemorated any day as foundation day since India's Independence.
The Election Commission on Friday barred Sarma from campaigning for ongoing Assam elections for 48 hours for his remark against Bodoland People's Front Chairperson Hagrama Mohilary.
In a record turnout, more than 90 per cent voters exercised their franchise in 14 constituencies in Assam in the second and final phase of just concluded assembly polls.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will consider whether the pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding of parties can be referred to a Constitution bench for an "authoritative pronouncement".
Also, the thin winning margins of his last two successful campaigns are proving to be thorns for the sitting MLA.
'People understand Hitlershahi, tanashahi and now Modishahi.'
Tribals will observe a day's fast on January 30 at Ulihatu in Khunti district, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, in solidarity with their movement to 'save' the Parasnath hills, a member of a joint forum of Adiva bodies said.
'Saha had taken charge in a difficult time and led the party to a crucial victory in the election. He deserves to be the next Chief Minister'
The youngest in the CWC is 31-year-old Neeraj Kundan, who is an ex-officio member of the body as the president of the National Students Union of India, the students' wing of the party.
A revamp of the All Indian Congress Committee is also on the cards.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's comprehensive defeat to the Congress in Karnataka where the two parties ran a campaign of contrasts has left the ruling party much to ponder as the two rivals are facing a direct contest in three more state polls this year in the run-up to the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Himanta Biswa Sarma -- who is also the North East Democratic Alliance convenor -- took the oath of office and secrecy in Assamese.
The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Tuesday morning to clear the Bill that is likely to come up in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday
In a video of the incident circulated on social media, the two men can be heard begging for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were innocent but to no avail.
Congress MP from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh Sanjoy Singh is one of the Congress candidates who have filed nominations for the February 7 election to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
Dr Mukul Hazarika, who is a general practitioner at County Durham, is sought by the Indian authorities to stand trial for conspiracy related to a banned terrorist organisation in India.
