'The clean break between Russia and Europe that this foolish attack is creating may actually last long.' 'It will undermine Europe and benefit the US and China.'
The Congress would go to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections without a chief minister face but will fight under the watch of general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whom the state party chief Ajay Kumar Lallu described as a 'storm' that will help sweep the polls.
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.
Petrol price on Thursday was hiked by 35 paise per litre and diesel by 15 paise, pushing rates to a new high across the country. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 101.54 a litre and diesel Rs 89.87 per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase comes after rates stayed mute for three days. Petrol price was last hiked on July 12, on a day when diesel rates had seen its first reduction in almost three months. The increase on Thursday neutralised the 16 paise price cut in diesel on July 12.
'Even though we are very religious and God fearing, we do not subscribe to the kind of Hindutva they practise, a very hierarchical, Brahmanical, Hindutva.'
Wait for a while before he does another somersault... But one thing is reasonably certain -- the twice betrayed BJP may not embrace him again, predicts Virendra Kapoor.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
Most exit polls have predicted a clear victory for the BJP both in Maharashtra and in Haryana, even though they have differed in their projection on the number of seats.
Voter turnout was 67.47 per cent in 2015 assembly election. The voting percentage was 57.04 till 6 pm deadline, and rose to 61.46 per cent as those in queues at polling stations were allowed to vote, poll officials said, adding it may increase further.
'Even if the BJP does not come to power, the system has changed.'
Strong rooms spread across the city storing the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being heavily guarded, with a 'three-layer security ring'. Tight security arrangements have also been put in place at various centres across the national capital.
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
The biggest winner will be the BJP -- which has such a small presence that every incremental vote it gets can only increase its strength. But the man who will win despite losing everything will be Captain Amarinder Singh, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Surendran said the BJP's central leadership alone will decide on the party's chief ministerial candidate.
'The BJP has become a reasonably larger force in Tamil Nadu in the last two years.'
'They are all the time asking people not to do this, not to do that.' 'Their version of society and Hinduism is very warped; not an inclusive one.'
'This election might be the most significant for the community and indicates the possibility of greater engagement.'
Mamata Banerjee predicts the BJP-led NDA will not get more than 150 seats in the next Lok Sabha election.
'Mamata will beat the living daylights out of BJP workers with the result that people who are not totally committed, they will promptly leave the party and go back to Trinamool.' 'Or when they find they cannot get what they came to the BJP for they will go back to Trinamool.'
He said had the alliance with Goa Forward gone through, the Congress would have got majority in the state and that it was unfair to now make him a "villain".
'A single seven-year term will free them from party pressures entirely,' says T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
Alleging that there had been politicisation and criminalisation of government officers in the state, the BJP leader, who was on a two-day visit, said the TMC government had stopped sending crime statistics to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) after 2018.
Shah also rejected West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to a temple of the Matua community -- which is in sizeable number in the state -- during his trip to Bangladesh violated the poll code.
'India has given assistance that we required, otherwise we would not have been able to survive this far.'
The cycle of violence resulting from the increasing criminalisation of politics cannot stop, will not stop, unless there is a wider political consensus against relying on criminal mafias for electoral purposes, argues Virendra Kapoor.
'There will be a broad coalition of non-BJP parties in at least 25 states'
The Pakistani military may shortly give Imran Khan the boot, substituting him with another puppet, predicts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
It won't be wise old Modi versus an immature Pappu any longer. It will be Modi versus a whole collection of experienced Opposition leaders, predicts Vir Sanghvi.
'Steve was the foremost strategic analyst on South Asia,' remembers Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'With 87 per cent of the votes counted, Ardern's center-left Labour Party has won 48.9 per cent of the vote, meaning her party looks likely to score the highest result that any party has achieved since the current political system was introduced in 1996,' CNN reported.
The protests brought home the fact that the Sri Lankan public is in no mood for halfway measures, as voices against Rajapaksa 'family rule' and 'securitisation' of the civilian administration began sidestepping the more critical economic crisis, affecting the nation and afflicting the individual, observes Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy.
Revenge he will exact from a party he had led with great aplomb until the Gandhi siblings stepped in and, in order to show who was the boss, flung him aside, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'The impression that Uddhav saheb is naram (soft or not-so-aggressive), anukool (congenial), manmilau (amiable) is true.' 'But he is Balasaheb's son. So, aggression comes naturally to him.'
'We would advise investors to invest in a disciplined way in equities for the long term.'
Neta app claims BJP is down to 212 seats from its 2014 tally of 282.
Never before in the history of the Republic has an election in the state mattered so much as it does now, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'Your strike rate is very important when it comes to seat-sharing.'
'The term 'pro-growth' must be qualified somewhat because, while a rising tide will lift all boats, it will not necessarily do so equally.'
Before Punjab goes to the polls: The state's electoral landscape at a glance.
'We are losing the battle of secularism, but we have not lost.'
