Rallies, an integral part of Bihar politics are now churning out catchy names like 'Khabardar', 'Hunkar' and 'Adhikar' to attract the masses.
On the proposed Grand Alliance of the Congress and other parties in the state, Shah said the Telugu people had not forgotten how the Congress had treated their leaders like former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh chief minister Anjaiah and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.
'In 2019, in Modi we have a leader who has not shied away from showcasing a robust and aggressive response to the Pulwama and Uri attacks,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Union Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday criticised Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for going ahead with his political rally in Patna despite the blasts at the venue in which six people were killed, saying it was a "giveaway" and exposed his true character of not caring for anyone.
"The police is being forceful," said Father Dominic, who joined the protests.
Half-way through the polls, the fight has become more personal.
If you thought Vajubhai Vala's invitation to BSY was a one-off, think again :))
Voting will be held in 55 seats on Sunday in the penultimate phase of Bihar election, with stakes high for the Bharatiya Janata Party as it had along with its then ally Janata Dal-United bagged majority of seats in last assembly polls.
'No one has ever heard of a thulabharam scale collapsing before.' 'I was very fortunate to have escaped with a head injury, which could have been a lot worse if my optic nerve was hit or say if the hook had landed on my neck.'
'The brutal violence of the UP government's first response to the anti-CAA protests suggests that the BJP will test drive the NPR/NRC in UP, where it has both a massive majority in the assembly and a chief minister whose instinct for Hindutva extremism and whose appetite for punitive policing allows a prime minister as darkly majoritarian as Modi to appear statesman-like,' notes Mukul Kesavan.
'In Kerala, if the Left had worked on stopping fascism the BJP would not have become a force today.'
Priyanka Gandhi was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.
Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday took on Narendra Modi by raking up the "snoopgate" controversy surrounding him and said leaders who indulge in wrong acts against women should be "thrown out".
Brushing aside speculation about a leadership change in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan virtually confirmed on Thursday that he is not going to be replaced.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit may not be contesting the assembly polls, but she is very much in the thick of preparations for the Congress. Dikshit tells Kavita Chowdhury that she is not interested in any post in Delhi politics but does not rule out a role at the national level in the future.
'Dalits are not going to vote for the BJP in 2019.'
The beleaguered UPA government may provide Narendra Modi all the ammunition he wants. Still, without the politics of persuasion, the BJP's crowned prince has a daunting task before him, argues Akash Bisht.
Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat assembly, Shankarsinh Waghela on Wednesday asked Prime Minister elect Narendra Modi to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya within the constitutional framework now that the Bharatiya Janata Party has got an absolute majority, in a speech that was blended with sarcasm and praise.
Congress rivals have put factionalism aside for now. The party is betting on a series of well-received welfare schemes to return to power
This is going to be the first such exercise of its kind in the 27 years that Congress has been out of power in the state, which it had earlier ruled for four long decades.
'The test of true secularism in India is when a girl in your family decides to marry someone from another religion. If you accept her decision happily, then you are truly secular. If you don't, it means your secularism is fake,' argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
As Narendra Modi files his nomination in Varanasi, Praful Bidwai believes 'a straight contest against Priyanka would have put Modi on the defensive and forced him to concentrate on Varanasi.'
'Instead of camping in the cities and leading the party, leaders have to go to the interiors of the country.' 'The Congress is losing touch with the common man.'
Controlled communal tension is useful in ensuring continued Muslim support. Fear of the BJP is a requirement for both, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, to keep their Muslim vote bank in line, says Saeed Naqvi.
The former McKinsey India head is presently on board of many big Indian conglomerates.
Seeking to dispel the demoralisation in Congress in the wake of recent electoral debacle, a combative Rahul Gandhi today mounted a blistering attack on Narendra Modi saying those dreaming about Congress-free India will themselves be destroyed.
Prathamesh Murkute explains why he has volunteered his personal time and money to support a movement called the Aam Aadmi Party.
Kickstarting her party's Lok Sabha campaign from a mammoth rally in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her party would go it alone in the polls and renewed her call for a federal front.
One hopes the higher courts take the extraordinary steps needed to secure justice for the victims. The Gujarat carnage demands nothing less because of its unique nature and sponsorship by the State, argues Praful Bidwai.
The relief material consists of items required urgently by the affected people, namely rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets etc, it said.
'The strange thing about the Karnataka election is that the BJP looks more like the Congress of the past and vice versa.' 'Siddaramaiah has been able to out think the BJP almost every single day on every single issue.'
Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje breaks her silence.
'The BJP has latched on to the idea of nationalism, but the nationalism they advocate is not nationalism as we have understood it since the time of the freedom movement.' 'This is not secular nationalism, it is Hindu nationalism.' 'It is a form of nationalism that is exclusionary and it tends to conflate national interest with the government.' 'So, if you disagree with the government, for example, on surgical strikes or demonetisation, you are anti-national or holder of black money.'
The Congress on Friday raked up the post-Godhra riots issue against Narendra Modi, latching onto the claims by former Research and Analysis Wing chief A S Dulat to demand that the prime minister apologise for the communal violence in 2002.
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha has something pertinent to say but isn't clever enough to venture beyond screaming platitudes, notes Sukanya Verma.
There is nothing the young Purvanchali wants more desperately than to escape to a place with less hopelessness, and some opportunity, discovers Shekhar Gupta.
This theory of 'Hindus vs the rest' sees the two communities as two separate blocs. Isn't that the two-nation theory? What of the deep bonds that the communities have on the ground? asks Jyoti Punwani.
'Educated Muslim women overwhelmingly voted for me because of Modiji's stand on triple talaq.'
'Here's a list of the things we should be reading more about in the media,' says Mitali Saran.
Rubbishing as "joke" poll surveys projecting 100 seats for Congress in Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said his party will get 200-plus seats and there is no question of Narendra Modi and BJP coming to power.
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