He said the people are looking for an alternative and the Congress' victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka elections are clear proof of this.
The INDIA bloc is also likely to announce a secretariat for smooth coordination between the constituents and it is likely to be set up in the national capital. Besides, the members will also discuss the issue of having a coordinator or a chairperson to head the alliance.
The Congress's loss in the three states in the North-East, a region it had dominated for decades, shows there is a lot left to do to reclaim its political turf despite the Bharat Jodo Yatra which it had touted as a successful experiment in mass public outreach.
Senior Janata Dal-United leader Dhananjay Singh pitched for Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and said party workers in Uttar Pradesh want Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to contest the elections from the state's Phulpur constituency.
The vice president met Leader of the party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram and Deputy Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, among others and discussed various points regarding the key tax reform legislation.
'How and why did we lose so many seats in places where we were expected to win?'
Belying all expectations, the Trinamool Congress registreted a landslide victory in West Bengal assembly elections, overcoming the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party after a bitter campaign that had turned into a virtual duel between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram said the Congress has a 'unique position' in the ranks of the opposition parties but there was 'no need to talk about it now'.
In the months to come, the skies above promise to be a captivating theatre of action, where helicopters play starring roles, ferrying leaders, and echoing the pulse of democracy.
An officer on Friday said that the police registered suo motu first information reports also against state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, national secretary Arvind Mennon and MPs Arjun Singh and Locket Chatterjee. They were charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, destruction of public property, criminal obstruction and assault on government servant and breaching the disaster management act, he said.
Ironically, the BJP, which seeks to unseat the TMC from power, has taken a leaf out of Mamata Banerjee's strategy of soliciting tinsel town's support towards causes and fielding actors in elections.
Most politicians and even non-politicians have been honoured because of what they were purported to be electorally worth for the ruling party of their time, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Shelar also claimed that the MVA govt was obstructing the Centre's strong actions to tackle the drug menace in the country.
With the assembly polls only two years away, in 2026, any demoralising defeat in 2024, would challenge not only the party's continued relevance but also EPS's leadership, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Rather than lose direction with the Karnal protest, farmers decided to focus more on UP to defeat the BJP in the forthcoming assembly elections there, reports Nitin Kumar.
What are the political equations, the challenges, and the threats?
Presence of Fadnavis will be keenly watched in view of recent tug of war between his home state Maharashtra and Bihar over death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a Patna born Bollywood actor.
The 33-year-old, who steered his party to an impressive show in the Bihar assembly polls last year thereby emerging out of the shadow of his father Lalu Prasad, underscored that the opposition needed to bring in "dhaar" (edge) and "nayaapan" (novelty) in its electoral issues.
'When the Congress is put against someone like Narendra Modi, they do not have anything new to offer to the people of India.'
Labelling All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal as the 'enemy of Assam', state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that he is an extremist in protecting Indian and the Assamese culture.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
Hectic political activities continued for the second consecutive day in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Thursday, as party's national general secretary in-charge of the State Arun Singh started meeting leaders and legislators individually, in the backdrop of speculations over replacing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
Gandhi, who was here to attend the BJP's national executive, was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting of Lok Sabha MPs, which was attended by PM Modi among others.
The alliance adopted a resolution to this effect and said its theme for the elections will be "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India, (India will unite, India will win)".
'I don't know why they should feel scared. They have a big majority, they shouldn't feel scared.' 'They should let us speak and then they can always vote however they want to. I have no idea (what's scaring the government).' 'It actually baffles me why they should indulge in these kinds of tactics.'
The opposition strategy to corner the government on Manipur will continue in the Rajya Sabha as well, the sources said.
He said a volcano is waiting to erupt in Cong-JD(S) alliance.
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
According to the sources, the meeting will be held at 10 am on Thursday in the chamber of Rajya Sabha LoP.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday expressed happiness that the Congress party has taken cognisance of the issues raised by him about welfare of youth and corruption under the previous Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan, and asserted the party will contest the assembly polls unitedly to secure a massive victory.
With opinion polls predicting a hung assembly in Karnataka and the possibility that the JD-S could be the 'king maker' after the polls, H D Deve Gowda stays mum about his party's post-election strategy.
Ahead of the crucial INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai, AAP leader Priyanka Kakkar Wednesday pitched for Arvind Kejriwal as the opposition bloc's prime ministerial candidate but party colleagues Atishi and Sanjay Singh hastened to deny that the Delhi chief minister had such aspirations.
'Mamata is campaigning hard and not giving the BJP a walkover.'
'Siddaramaiah was openly taking on the BJP's communal agenda, which very few non-BJP politicians do.'
"No, she will not make me the PM," was Dr Pranab Mukherjee's cryptic response in a reference to Sonia Gandhi when he was asked by his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee about his chances of becoming the prime minister in 2004.
The transmogrification of Prime Minister Modi to Saint Modi began with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. By identifying himself with Lord Ram, Modi raised himself in popular imagination to a saintly person.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said a decision on whether to oppose the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi would be taken before the Parliament session.
The announcement was made after AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar held a meeting with CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Friday evening.
The meeting was held at the newly built convention centre at Pragati Maidan, which will host the G20 summit in September.
