Many in party believe that Advani will be left out as the group of veterans supporting him will not stick together for long.
Chhagan Bhujbal, Jayant Patil (both from the NCP), Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut (both from the Congress), Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai (both from the Sena) took oath as ministers along with Thackeray.
Ahead of the G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Osaka, Japan and discussed a range of issues of mutual interest.
The deaths of Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi within months of each other neutralises any sympathy factor their parties may hope to gain from. What's more, by removing charismatic leaders from the fray, it also levels the field for others, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress leadership would take a call on who would be its deputy chief minister on Tuesday.
FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has protested to football's world governing body about the number of observers allowed into the hall for Friday's election, saying he believed they were working for his rivals.
2,470 BJP workers from across the country would spend a year visiting polling booths, while another 1,441 workers would spend six months and 378,000 workers will spend 15 days to reach out to party cadres and ensure better polling management in areas outside their home districts.
Congratulating Narendra Modi for his party's landslide victory in Lok Sabha polls, Peoples Democratic Party patriarch Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said he was hopeful the new BJP government would take tangible steps in finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem.
He also asserted that within 24 hours of taking oath, he would prove the majority on the floor of the House.
Given Nitish's track record as an accomplished trapeze artist who can dump the BJP overnight and embrace the RJD, he can leave the saffron party stranded should he fail to get the chief ministerial crown for the fourth time, notes Virendra Kapoor.
What will a split in the AIADMK mean for Tamil Nadu?
The US is not going to be able to mount a concerted 'Western strategy' against China or Russia in the present international milieu, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Jagat Prakash Nadda was elected unopposed as the Bharatiya Janata Party national president on Monday after he emerged as the only leader in the fray following the nomination process in which his candidature was endorsed by top party leaders.
'You may be an MP or an MLA; when we go to Bengal, we go as cadre.'
The resurrection of AAP has a lot of similarity with BJP's revival
Losing power after having come so close, Yediyurappa was determined to regain the reins of power from H D Kumaraswamy.
'Sirisena will keep both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe on tenterhooks till the next general election due in 2020,' says Aditi Phadnis.
'Such incidents can only exacerbate the sense of alienation among the Kashmiri people, in particular the Kashmiri youth.' 'It is as if for some of our political figures and misguided youth, Kashmir is a piece of real estate over which we assert our claim, but the people there are dispensable,' notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The 58-year-old leader will expand his council of ministers after the trust vote on Friday which he is expected to win without any hiccups.
Naveen Patnaik's guest list has been prepared with an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls, reports Archis Mohan.
The ruling National Conference's traditional bastion Ganderbal is set for a triangular fight with People's Democratic Party, National Conference and an Independent contesting the polls after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah decided not to contest from the constituency which goes to polls on November 25.
If Manmohan Singh was hobbled by allegations of sleaze and a stagnant economy, Modi faces the twin challenges of high unemployment and an uncertain and potentially volatile situation in Kashmir, points out Amulya Ganguli.
If Amit Shah is likely to take to the home ministry like a duck to water, Nirmala Sitharaman's handling of finance will show whether she will justify the confidence which Modi has placed in her.
'In the medium term, the advantage is still with the BJP.' 'One reason for this is Shah's talent. He is a terrific organiser and builds his strategies around the grassroots worker,' says Aakar Patel.
Lack of organisational network and a strong disconnect with the rural population led to the Congress president's defeat in what until now had been described as a party stronghold.
The DMK has performed well in the general election and will get more seats than its rival, the AIADMK, in the by-elections. But this victory won' help them, reports A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com.
They also demanded that if any discrepancy is found during VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of the paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that particular assembly segment should be done and compared with the electronic voting machine (EVM) results.
We asked you to tell us your reason for choosing not to vote. This is what our readers shared.
Hazare began his fast on January 30 at his native Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, demanding appointment of anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and in Maharashtra and resolution of farmers' issues.
It's been over two months since the flood waters receded, and it would seem with it so has anger against either the state government or the BJP-Sena candidates, reports Archis Mohan.
'Kejriwal has shown that not only can Modi-Shah be stopped, they can in fact be routed... Today, as the Delhi votes are counted, it shows not only the AAP's victory or BJP's defeat. But also the Congress's final irrelevance.'
The BJP wants to demonstrate to its opponents that it does not lack political friends, even after being recently jilted by trusted ally JD-U, says Anita Katyal
'Coalition governments, sometimes assumed to mean years of political instability, actually saw key institutions emerging with greater strength -- the Election Commission, the judiciary, the press, and civil society at large, among others.' 'The question now is whether the clock is being turned back in a new political phase,' asks T N Ninan.
Nationalism, Hindutva, and war on corruption, not growth, will define Modi's politics until 2019.
'The government has said it has kept its powder dry to fight the true battle against the debilitating influence of the pandemic.' 'The release of the shocking economic data this week should act as the fuse for using that powder now.' 'Further delays will make the battle that much harder,' notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Since the Mahabharata the Yadavs have been known for infighting. And the 2017 UP election proved yet another example of that, says Nazarwala.
Rajinikanth's personal trait can become a political issue if he enters politics and could get translated as sympathy if not support for the BJP, which can cut both ways, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
TTV Dhinakaran's call to the Congress to break up with the DMK and tie up with him, is aimed at consolidating the traditional anti-BJP votes. The stronger message is to all anti-BJP constituencies in the state, especially the minorities and traditionally aligned sections of the Dalit community, that he could be trusted to take forward an 'anti-Hindutva' agenda more seriously than anyone else, the DMK included, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
The saffron party's IT cell had realised the power of WhatsApp early in the day and wielded it to devastating effect in the Bengal elections.
