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.
Roads leading to the protest hub were packed with Jat agitators from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab, giving a tough time to motorists and commuters.
Modi said he will serve the country till his last breath.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
'In Gujarat, for 22 years when the BJP was in power, they sold only dreams, but the delivery was zero.'
Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice President of India.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Khushi Dubey, Hari Shankar Tiwari and Mata Prasad Pandey represent the resentment among Brahmins towards the Adityanath government. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
'Some of his ministers have performed abysmally, and Bommai has faced an unwanted campaign of religious polarisation imposed by national BJP leaders.'
Baghel led from the front to take on the BJP, led by Raman Singh, after being entrusted the task to revive the Congress' fortunes in Chhattisgarh following the third consecutive defeat in the 2013 assembly polls.
The govt said that once the apex court clarifies the issue, then it can frame rules for the benefit of transgenders.
'This country is not of one culture. We must live together and we must respect each other.'
The problem of unemployment is spread across the economy.
Dhankar wins vice presidential election by bagging more than 500 votes.
The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader said that reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the Schedule Tribes, Schedule Castes and Other Backward Class.
It was a night of carnage in parts of Gujarat on Tuesday.
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
The Congress Legislature Party, which met at a private hotel in Bengaluru on Sunday evening, passed a unanimous resolution authorising the party chief to pick its leader.
Medical seats for under-graduates and post-graduates remaining vacant in the NEET era, together with the Centre 'freezing' the number of medical colleges and seats in (Dravidian) Tamil Nadu and the launch of the PM's 'Vishwakarma Scheme' for the nation's craftsmen, are all seen as a bid to further reverse the state's progressive socio-economic agenda of and its achievements of the past hundred-plus years, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
The situation in Gujarat, bearing the brunt of the agitation by Patel community seeking reservation under Other Backwards Class category, is gradually returning to normal, officials said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plea to stay Centre's poll-eve notification to include the Jat community in the OBC list for providing the benefits of reservation, saying there is prima facie material for taking the decision.
Zala, a close associate of Thakor, was the MLA from Bayad in Sabarkantha district.
It is not just film stars who are spicing up the poll scene in Andhra Pradesh, but also corporate honchos who are jumping on to the political bandwagon to try their fortunes in Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Jat leaders have blamed Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for not fulfilling their quota demands for which they launched a massive stir last year.
AAP's presence in both states has complicated the contests for the BJP and its Congress rival.
'The Mallahs may remain divided between the two competing coalitions in Bihar,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
From the trifecta of demography, democracy and diversity to the three ills of corruption, nepotism and appeasement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech on Tuesday used several catchy phrases to drive home his government's achievements, his vision for the future and criticism of the opposition.
As of now, political advertisements are barred in electronic media, including TV, radio and social media platforms.
Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi's remarks on ending caste-based reservations and seeking a quota based on economic criteria created a stir on Wednesday, with the Samajwadi Party stoutly opposing the proposal and the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiromani Akali Dam questioning its timing.
The BJP took into consideration caste and regional aspirations while picking ministers in a bid to further consolidate its hold over the politically crucial state which sends the maximum of 80 members to Lok Sabha.
Taking on the grand alliance in Lalu Prasad Yadav's home turf of Gopalganj, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whether he wanted the old days of 'jungle raj'-- when the region had turned into a 'mini Chambal' -- to return.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.
Upendra Kushwaha, president of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, which is part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, admits the Bihar assembly elections will be a close contest and will be fought along the lines of caste.
The four-time MLA and OBC leader joined the saffron party in presence of Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah.
'In IIT, most faculty members have a bias against SC/ST students.' 'SC/ST and OBC students have no idea whom to approach for support.'
'They gave Nitish their votes to bring progress. But he forgot this and got involved with his own political interests. That is not done. So he was rejected.' 'Lalu is a symbol of anarchy. He is the symbol of regressive politics.' BJP General Secretary Dharmendra Pradhan discusses Lalu, Nitish, and his strategy to bring Bihar in the BJP's fold, with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com
The letter to Sonia Gandhi reminded her of the party's 18-point agenda "given to the last chief minister" of Punjab and said that those were "equally relevant today".
"We have given time to the Haryana government to bring and pass the Jat reservation Bill by March 31 (when the ongoing Budget session ends)," Malik told media persons.
'Why do the English-speaking class feel they are the only ones who are efficient in work?' 'My own mother was from a village and she was more efficient than me. She used to handle crises better than me.' 'We will have to come out of our elite perception of governance.'
The monk-turned politician will take the reins of the most populous state for a second time in a row after completing his full five-year term.
