'Vote banks will change affiliations and the BJP will come out with good success in Kerala.'
'When those who took oath in the name of the Indian Constitution are not acceptable, where do the other Kashmiris stand?'
Although Roy has remained tightlipped about the agenda of his visit, the political circles in West Bengal were abuzz with speculations over his next political move.
In his poll rallies, Modi framed Pitroda's comments in his wider onslaught against the Congress, asserting that they have exposed its hidden agenda and that the party has become so removed from the country's social and family values that it wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children.
'It's dull because this time the election is spread over such a long period.'
Amid the raging controversy over a conversion bid by some Sangh Parivar outfits, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that such incidents would not derail the party-led National Democratic Alliance government from its development agenda.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday poised for a landslide victory in Gujarat to retain power for a record seventh straight term but was behind the Congress in Himachal Pradesh which could go with the trend of alternative governments in the hill state.
He said the then prime minister Manmohan Singh had given a speech in which he had said Muslims have the first right to the country's resources.
'Even though we are very religious and God fearing, we do not subscribe to the kind of Hindutva they practise, a very hierarchical, Brahmanical, Hindutva.'
'Can you believe Ashok Chavan was with me in the senior leaders' meeting one day, and next day morning, he switched sides!'
'The Bihar verdict has shown that the people of Bihar don't desire to go back to the mandir-masjid rhetoric.' 'Jobs, wages and development are the aspiration of the people of Bihar and we hope the next government will keep that in mind.'
Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary late Saturday night, a BJP leader was hacked to death less than 12 hours later on Sunday morning and later, prohibitory order under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district, additional police force was deployed there and senior officers camped there to monitor the law and order situation.
The poll of polls brought out by the NDA gave the BJP and the Congress 66 and 14 seats respectively in Haryana, and 211 and 64 for the saffron alliance and the Congress-NCP in Maharashtra.
Peoples Democratic Party veteran Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was sworn-in as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir heading a coalition with BJP which, in a clear departure from its earlier stand, agreed to maintain status quo on Article 370 in the common agenda for governance.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi over his claims of being under surveillance by intelligence agencies and accused him of maligning India on foreign soil.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY '25 that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government's priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat. Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other top officials. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
'These people are not religious. They do not have respect for other religions... This lady is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country... Has a loose tongue'
When he was chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was able to blunt inter-regional and inter-communal tensions which Farooq and Omar Abdullah could not do. Whether he can repeat it with the BJP by his side would have to be seen, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday called for a "main front" of all non-BJP parties to take on the ruling alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and asserted that the decision on its leadership can be taken later.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
...the BJP's template of operation was different or if the Centre and the state were ruled by dissimilar parties? asks Shyam G Menon.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
A team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday held on-spot inquiries in Sandeshkhali to ascertain facts about alleged sexual abuse by some Trinamool Congress leaders even as fresh agitation rocked the trouble-torn village, where locals torched the property of accused Trinamool leaders and held demonstrations against the delay in arresting the main accused, Shahjahan Sheikh.
'Tamil Nadu is a paradox. We have more places of Hindu worship per square kilometres than any other place in the world. 'We break more coconuts for religious reasons everyday than any other place in the world.' 'At the same time, we also have a very strong Periyar-infused movement of rationalism.'
A basic outline and roadmap for Opposition unity are likely to be deliberated upon with the contentious issue of seat sharing and leadership questions to be avoided for now.
Addressing a poll rally at bypoll-bound Munugode Rao segment, Rao referred to the TRS MLAs case and said 'brokers' from Delhi came and attempted to bribe the MLAs by offering Rs 100 crore each.
'If you post on social media on an issue like power cuts in Tral, the police will come to your home and tell you to remove your social media post.' 'If you don't, then the local police threaten you that they will book you under PSA.' 'This is happening all the time in Kashmir.'
The colourful rally galvanised the BRS workers who shouted slogans hailing the party-led regime's welfare schemes in Telangana and peppy political songs praised Rao's 'national' emergence.
The decision of its two oldest allies to walk out means that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United, is now the oldest BJP ally besides being the most powerful.
'This is the victory of the people of Gujarat who want real development, not the hype of development.'
The feisty TMC boss also accused the CPI-M of ruining her party's relationship with the Congress, its ally in the Opposition bloc INDIA at the national level.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'
The complainant, who claims to be a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, had alleged that Gandhi's "commander-in-thief" remark in the context of the Rafale fighter jet deal amounted to defamation.
BJP state president V Muraleedharan said that the CPM leadership had run out of ideas and was trying to suppress its political opponents by physically intimidating them. Arun Lakshman reports
Reacting to the statement, the Congress in Goa accused the TMC of entering the poll fray in the state in order to 'divide secular votes and give mileage to the ruling BJP', and also alleged that Kishor's remarks exposed Mamata Banerjee-led party's agenda.
Modi referred to the Lok Sabha polls as a "Kurukshetra (battle)" in which "there is development on one hand and 'vote jihad' on the other".
The BJP can only form a government if the PDP splits.
Stalin said one cannot and should not decide the mood of the entire country based on the results of one state elections.
'Chandrababu is wiser and a very good administrator.' 'Jagan is the opposite. He is not very wise, not a good administrator.'
...close to the 2024 general election. The BJP calling the Congress 'seasonal Hindu' is as laughable as the saffron party sparing itself the title of 'seasonal extreme Hindu.'
How else should one describe its election campaigns of the past years?
It was typically obsessive religion and personality cult with economic development for fig leaf, asserts Shyam G Menon.
