Having failed its litmus test, the Bengal's ruling party is back to square one, trying to draw up a fresh strategy ahead of the polls in Meghalaya and Tripura.
Radha Mohan Singh appointed in-charge of politically crucial UP. Kailash Vijayvargiya will continue to be the in-charge of West Bengal and he will be assisted by BJP national secretary Arvind Menon and party national IT cell head Amit Malviya.
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.
Singh said he had worked as prime minister for 10 years and had always preferred that his work should speak for itself.
With just over a month to go for assembly elections in Goa, political observers feel the Congress may upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's plans for retaining power in the coastal state, but appear less enthused about the Trinamool Congress, whose entry has added colour to the poll campaign.
Annapurna Devi, Subhas Sarkar and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh will be the new ministers of state for education.
The protest will be held following all COVID protocols across all organisational mandals of the BJP.
The BJP delegation also demanded that the CEO Aarif Aftab disallow Kolkata Police from having direct control to maintain law and order in the constituency on the polling day to ensure free and fair poll.
Non-BJP chief ministers are retaliating. If the Centre can use its agencies to threaten, intimidate and jail its rivals, so can they. The fightback will get more intense, observes Shekhar Gupta.
A Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who the Trinamool Congress said is a brother-in-law of the saffron party's national vice-president Mukul Roy, rejoined the ruling party of West Bengal on Wednesday.
BJP national president, J P Nadda during his recent visit to the state had said that rules for implementation of the Act are being framed. CAA will be implemented in letter and spirit after it.
The BJP is beating the development drum this time more loudly to overcome many other hurdles besides anti-incumbency. While the party is claiming it is looking for a much bigger victory than in 2017, BJP observers are not too sure about it, reports Shishir Prashant.
After maintaining that the National Democratic Alliance leadership would announce the chief ministerial candidate, following poll notification, the Saffron party appeared to have made a climbdown.
If the BJP doesn't do something quickly, Anurag Thakur and P K Dhumal will be the ones having a quiet last laugh.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah (Home Minister) and our national President J P Nadda have a special love and faith towards me. You are aware that no position has been given to those who have crossed 75 years of age, but appreciating my work they have given me an opportunity despite me crossing 78 years," Yediyurappa said.
The BJP MLC, who had switched his loyalty from the Janat Dal-Secular to the BJP two years ago, alleged that the "entire state" including ministers, had been talking about Vijayendra's interference in the administration.
According to official sources, there was stone pelting when the body of the deceased Harsha was being taken from District McGann Hospital in Shivamogga.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
He clarified that if the saffron party does any better than what he has predicted, he would quit his work.
'It doesn't help to transpose the Hindi heartland model on Bengal. Bengalis don't understand its dynamics. They won't comprehend the impact of Modi's dip in the Ganga because Bengal's political culture is different. Even in the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrams, Christ is worshipped on Christmas. It's difficult to polarise Bengal religiously'
Yediyurappa termed these two years as 'trial by fire', pointing out that he had to run the administration without a cabinet in the initial days, followed by devastating floods and the challenge of COVID-19 management, among other issues.
A look at the celebration of the 74th Independence Day.
Replying to a question on reports of the BJP demanding 50 seats from the ruling AIADMK, Murugan said a statement on the continuation of the alliance was made by the party's top leaders O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami two days ago.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday joined senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders for lunch at the home of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, as the ruling party geared up for the assembly polls just months away.
If the bribe-for-PPE-supply controversy in Himachal escalates, the BJP could have a lot to lose.
The 'Parivartan Yatra' on a rath was flagged off by BJP national president J P Nadda from Nabadwip in Nadia district on February 6, as part of the saffron party's outreach programme ahead of the assembly polls.
The parleys, according to a BJP senior, were cordial and the deal is likely to be clinched soon.
Yogi Adityanath's aura is no longer limited to Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 49, his journey to the higher echelons in the BJP has well and truly begun, predicts Sudhir Bisht.
A political slugfest broke out on Wednesday between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cavalcade, in a major security breach, got stranded on a flyover, 30 km away from Hussainiwala in Punjab, as a group of protesting farmers blocked his route.
Joining the BJP at its national headquarters, Annamalai heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he embodies a leader's qualities of fearlessness, courage, knowledge and giving spirit.
West Bengal minister Jakir Hossain was seriously injured after unidentified attackers hurled a crude bomb at him on Nimtita railway station in Murshidabad district on Wednesday night, police said.
The opposition Congress on Thursday stepped up the attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka and demanded the arrest of party MP Tejasvi Surya and a party MLA, alleging they were behind the scam involving blocking of hospital beds meant for COVID patients in Bengaluru.
"The Centre has passed the CAA with the honest intention of granting citizenship to persecuted refugees coming to our country from neighbouring nations," he added.
If Modi's political retreat -- he has tried to avoid a pre-1984 type of situation in Punjab -- helps soothe Sikh sentiments, nobody should complain Modi, asserts Sheela Bhatt.
Nadda's visit assumes significance as it came ahead of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje's planned 'dharmik yatra' next week, seen as an attempt to re-assert her influence in the state unit after maintaining a low profile since the BJP's defeat in 2018 assembly polls.
The Opposition unity to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have run into rough weather as the Trinamool Congress and the Congress are at daggers drawn over the recent instances of 'poaching' by the Mamata Banerjee-led camp, with the grand old party finding itself in a tight spot.
Hitting back at Prashant Kishor, Kailash Vijayvargiya remarked that the country will lose a poll strategist after his part forms the government in the state after the upcoming elections in the state.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Security measures have been heightened in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said.
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