Vijay, despite the loud message from his delayed arrival at the road-show/stampede venue, and more so his continued inaccessibility for fans-turned-cadres after graduating from a super-star to a political party leader with electoral ambitions, refuses to change. Or, so it seems, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Talking about boycotting polls is simply a move to galvanise party leaders, workers, and supporters for the big political fight.'
Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday took a jibe at Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray -- for his remarks that Sushma Swaraj is the "only deserving" prime ministerial candidate in the Bharatiya Janata Party -- saying it is premature to say anything at this stage.
The results in Karnataka were declared on May 13 but the party has not finalised its chief ministerial face yet and the process of consultations is on.
Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party President Vijay Goel, who had projected himself as a chief ministerial contender, on Tuesday said he was "happy" with party's decision to nominate Harsh Vardhan for the post and will continue to work hard to ensure BJP's victory in the assembly polls.
Gandhi is seeking responses from Congress leaders and workers through the party's Shakti app, sources said. The opinion of common people on the issue will also be sought in a day or two.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday snubbed the Rashtriya Janata Dal, headed by his arch-rival Lalu Prasad Yadav, stating that he had forged alliances 'by mistake' with the opposition party which 'did nothing' while in power.
'It was really difficult for Laluji to expel his son from the party and sever family ties with him.'
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi rides a motorcycle during a road show in Jalandhar for the assembly elections.
He thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his father and JMM president Shibu Soren.
The Congress is likely to declare its chief ministerial face for Punjab on February 6 when former party chief Rahul Gandhi will visit the poll-bound state, party sources said.
As Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan celebrates three years in office, the BJP and Shiv Sena which hope to oust him when the state goes to the polls next year have reached a pact that they will stay silent on who the Opposition alliance's chief ministerial candidate will be, state BJP President Devendra Fadnavis reveals in an interview to Rediff.com
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said she is not the only face of the party for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and her remarks at a press conference on Friday about being the face of the party were made in a 'slight exaggerated way' in response to repeated queries from the media on the issue.
The list carries names of Sigbatullah Ansari, who is the brother of jailed gangster Mukhtar Ansari, and Atiq Ahmed who faces over 40 criminal cases including of murder and attempt to murder.
In the purported five-second clip, Reddy is seen addressing a poll rally in Nalgonda on Tuesday and is heard saying in Telegu 'Sonia Gandhi is going to give the CM position to me if the party comes to power. There is no one senior to me here'.
For the last several weeks, both Channi and Sidhu have, directly or indirectly, made a case to be declared as the party's nominee for the top post.
Malhotra, the deputy leader of BJP parliamentary party in Lok Sabha, conveyed his decision to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee through a one-line letter, party sources said.
A day after dropping hints of joining politics, former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on Wednesday said she was ready to become the Bharatiya Janata Party's chief Ministerial nominee in Delhi if such an offer was made to her.
The two weeks that EPS took fending off the Sengottaiyan rebellion has since become lost time for the AIADMK as that was also the time Vijay took to go all-out against Stalin and the DMK, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Chouhan's fate will be determined by the BJP central command's assessment of the implications of such a move ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Jakhar, the former president of Punjab Congress, said the party had never named its CM face adding that it was only an exception that the Congress high command had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls.
Vijay, with his chief ministerial ambitions, is a one-man army, at least as of now, and his campaign team considers him omnipresent. He has to be present in all districts, if not all constituencies at the same time, as there is no second-line leader or platform speaker in the party, who can draw crowds, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday echoed Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate should be a liberal person like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee acceptable to all sections of society.
A section of state leaders are reportedly miffed with Rawat's leadership and are of the view that the party's electoral prospects under him may not be very bright.
Ananth Kumar, the BJP election in-charge of Bihar, on Tuesday announced that the party will not declare the name of its chief ministerial candidate.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Minister Anil Vij on Sunday said he will stake claim for the chief minister's post if the party returns to power in Haryana after the October 5 assembly polls.
The Congress on Thursday said its president Sonia Gandhi had asked United Progressive Alliance allies in Jharkhand to decide on government formation and the chief ministerial candidate.
The decision is being seen as a balancing act in the faction-ridden party in the state.
The upcoming Opposition meet in Patna scheduled for next week will not discuss a possible prime ministerial candidate and will focus on deciding the common agenda for the parties to work on in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress party should project its prime ministerial candidate for the general elections next year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Saturday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to declare Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate at the earliest to ensure a majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
He also said he even declined the post of deputy chief minister offered by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to him.
Stirring the hornet's nest in the Bharatiya Janata Party, noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani has strongly pitched for projecting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Monday welcomed the idea of projecting Rahul Gandhi as the United Progressive Alliance's Prime Ministerial candidate in next year's Lok Sabha polls. On including the creamy layer of Other Backward Classes in 27 per cent reservation in institutions of higher learning, Karunanidhi said he had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.
President's rule was imposed in Manipur on Thursday, with the state assembly put under suspended animation following the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The decision came after months of ethnic violence that claimed over 250 lives. Singh's resignation was attributed to his handling of the violence and allegations of instigating conflict. The imposition of President's rule was met with a sense of hope by the Kuki-Zo community, who expressed distrust of the Meitei leadership.
Hype has been created over the issue of Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate after appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as election campaign chief to "target the party", BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said on Monday.
After a series of meetings, Sarma told reporters that BJP's Assam legislature party is likely to meet in Guwahati on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.
'There are differences over certain issues between the JD-U and BJP but we are in alliance and continuing.'
Taking responsibility if the party loses, Kiran Bedi said that it was not a referendum on the PM