An adverse outcome against the BJP in UP can well be taken into its stride by the ruling combine at the Centre, argues Virendra Kapoor.
'The Congress wants to deprive Modi another term in 2024 and for that they are ready to make any sacrifice.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the party will go into the Punjab assembly polls with a CM face and the decision on it will be taken soon after consulting party workers.
'What is most distressing is that the revival of the economy, creation of more employment, and reducing poverty are not on the agenda of the government at all.' 'We are an economy on the verge of a demographic disaster.'
The BJP IT cell has held meetings right down to booth levels and these volunteers have been working for the past six months already.
Yogi Adityanath, who has been declared BJP candidate from Gorakhpur will be the second leader to contest from the district as a chief minister after Tribhuvan Narayan Singh, who lost in 1971.
A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's comment that there was no United Progressive Alliance anymore, Kishor, who has earlier been political advisor to various parties, also called for democratically electing the opposition leadership.
Opposition Congress on Wednesday claimed a total of 14 children died at the Madhya Pradesh government-run Kamla Nehru children's hospital in Bhopal in the last 48 hours, contrary to the state government's claim that only four infants lost their lives in the November 8 blaze, and demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the high court.
'...if elections were to be held today.' 'The problem is Akhilesh is not very aggressive.' 'Had he started his campaign aggressively six months ago, the picture in UP would have been very different.'
Yashpal Arya and his son, along with their supporters, joined the Congress in the presence of senior party leaders Harish Rawat, K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala in New Delhi.
Assembly elections to five crucial states will take place in a few months and the results will be decisive for the BJP, which is eyeing a third successive term at the Centre, in the forthcoming the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
The government's briefing is expected to focus on its evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as its assessment of the situation in the war-torn country in the wake of the Taliban seizing control of almost all key Afghan towns and cities, including Kabul.
Asked whether the Congress will go it alone on all the 403 assembly seats in the state or align with some political party, the party general secretary told reporters in an informal meeting here, "It is too early to say."
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Chhattisgarh and former state minister Brijmohan Agrawal has stoked a controversy as he said that those who call inflation a national calamity should stop eating food and using petrol.
New entrant Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the leading party winning 13 of 35 wards so far as the counting of votes in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls is in progress here on Monday.
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday once again trained his guns on former state chief minister Amarinder Singh, calling him a 'fraud,' 'coward' and a 'crybaby.'
"Didi has already said in Delhi that if Akhilesh Yadav needs our help, we are ready to extend help. The gesture of senior SP leader Jaya Bachchan seeking votes for the TMC during the West Bengal Assembly elections will be reciprocated in Uttar Pradesh," said Laliteshpati Tripathi, who recently joined the TMC.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she had suggested to the Congress that an advisory council comprising prominent personalities from civil society be set up to give a direction to the opposition, but rued that the plan did not materialise.
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday brainstormed with senior Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh on the preparations for next year's assembly polls, as the party resolved to hit the streets against the Bharatiya Janata Party government over issues such as unemployment, price rise and law and order.
'In order to stop the BJP actually, you need a party that changes the discourse rather than positing another pole for polarising it further. The answer to this kind of politics lies in refocusing the agenda on development'
After many years, intricate caste calculations will dominate politics in Punjab.
'Sidhu's suggestions regarding formation of the new government were completely ignored, so he stepped down.' 'Channi's government is walking on the same path as Amarinder Singh's.'
Rahul Gandhi's questions on Chinese aggression in Ladakh, in tweets directed at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, have drawn a response from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's MP in Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.
Azad, who is a prominent member of the group of 23 leaders who had demanded organisational overhaul in the Congress, said that for the next two months the party is the top priority.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Wednesday demanded probe by a committee headed by a judge to get 'more clarity' on the issue of corruption allegations against state home minister Anil Deshmukh.
Ajay Kumar Lallu said the party has emerged as the main challenger to the "oppressive" UP government and the 'winds of change' were blowing in the state.
'The Congress has indeed become overly dependent on the RJD.' 'A few Congress leaders have successfully convinced the national leadership about the benefits of maintaining ties with the RJD.'
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.
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.
Dominic Xavier wonders if the Congress will ever see happy days again.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is set to enter the Legislative Council unopposed as the Congress on Sunday announced that it would withdraw one of its two nominees for the May 21 elections to nine seats.
'The presence of Rahul Gandhi and his campaigning for the Congress will make a general difference, but whether it will make a saving difference, not sure.'
"This bunch of illiterate people cannot probably differentiate between 'shall' and 'consider'," the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.
After the resolution was passed, Chaudhary said being a president of the Delhi unit he has seen the sentiments of Delhi Congress workers and supporters for Rahul Gandhi that only he can fight against the ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday claimed that formation of any national alliance was not the topic of discussion at the meeting of eight opposition parties hosted by him earlier this week, but also said that if any such coalition emerges, its leadership will have to be 'collective'.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
Both the BJP and the Congress have issued whips to their 18 and 24 MLAs respectively asking them to be present in the Assembly and vote as per their party's line.
Ugly scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday as opposition MPs climbed on the officials' table, waved black cloth and threw files when the House began a discussion on farmers' protest against new reform laws.
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