Several SP leaders fear Muslim voters may shift loyalty, which will benefit rivals like the BJP.
'If Khan Market today -- a neon-drenched spectacle of blingy shops and pricey eateries -- is what it is, it's not due to the dramatic shift in political dispensations, but because free-market India is another country,' notes Sunil Sethi.
Asked about other SP leaders' "unhappiness" with Amar Singh, Shivpal said, "Taking everyone along makes an organisation stronger. There are all kinds of people in a party. One has to apply his mind also."
The counting for all five states will be held on March 11.
12 years after he was sacked form JD-S, Siddaramaiah, offered Karnataka's CMship to his political foe Kumaraswamy.
Whose political stock is likely to rise and which leader is most likely to make an impact in the coming year?
The Commission, sources said, will have to decide on who commands the majority in SP before January 17 when the notification for the first phase of assembly polls is issued.
Congress stalwart Murli Deora passed away on Monday morning after battling a prolonged illness. He was a politician who shared rapport across the political and corporate spectrum.
Hectic parleys and backroom manoeuvring continued among Board of Control for Cricket in India bigwigs but there was still no breakthrough in the leadership logjam to find a consensus candidate for the President's post left vacant by the demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya.
Nelson Mandela's remains arrived in his childhood village in eastern South Africa on Saturday for a traditional burial on Sunday, bringing down the curtain on 10 days of national mourning and memorial events for the anti-apartheid icon.
Amidst indications that Samajwadi Party leader and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is warming up to the idea of an alliance with Congress, UP PCC President Raj Babbar on Monday said his party will contest alone in the state and described such talks as "hypothetical".
Morey's tweet of support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong prompted Chinese sponsors and partners to cut ties with the league and forced the National Basketball Association (NBA) to answer difficult questions about free speech.
Some of the expelled youth leaders, close to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, have already met party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, triggering speculation of their early return to party fold.
Congress candidate Manvendra Singh, who recently crossed over from the BJP, will be facing off the Rajasthan chief minister in her political fortress of Jhalrapatan.
To an award show that's famous for honouring artists belatedly, we have sent as our official entry one of our major film-makers's weakest work yet, feels Sreehari Nair.
'How can the BJP give Muslim candidates tickets if they don't have any good Muslim candidates?'
Kerala's iconic Marxist and former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan turned 90 on Sunday.
'Pakistan has no strategic depth and is vulnerable to Indian military power without even crossing the border,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Its allies Apna Dal (S) and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party bagged nine seats and four seats, respectively, taking the total tally of the combine to 325.
While it took the Congress nearly a half century to earn the hatred of other political outfits, the BJP appears set to reach there in around six years, says Arun Bhatnagar, former secretary to the GoI.
Targeting the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, the PM said the two never see eye-to-eye on any issue but are now together demanding his removal as he is working to root out blackmoney.
With faction bosses not seeming to control anyone any more, can the BJP count on the AIADMK for the presidential polls any more, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Anurag Thakur on Monday hinted at initiating a probe against former chief Narayanswami Srinivasan in order to pave the way for his ouster as chairman of the International Cricket Council.
'There is a problem with the rise of a popular view that sees Kashmir through the prism of the larger, chronic Hindu-Muslim tensions.' 'By redefining the Kashmir problem simplistically in Hindu-Muslim terms could end up keeping Kashmir but losing most Kashmiris,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The latest shakeup of the White House leadership comes as the feud between Priebus and the new Communication Director Anthony Scaramucci went nasty over the past few days, hogging the media limelight.
At a time when the AIADMK has chosen the late Jaya's personal aide to lead the party, M K Stalin re-enters the scene with greater credibility and better clarity of his own role in the DMK, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'If you have never seen Kangana Ranaut on screen before, and instead know more about her in real life and the spirited controversies that seem to happily follow her about, you realise that the actress puts a lot of herself into a screen role, feels Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav fired barbs at each other at an event to celebrate the SP's silver jubilee, barely two days after putting up a united show.
With the presidential elections over, the time has come for Prime Minister Modi to show Tamil Nadu that the state's interests are safe under him, says R Rajagopalan.
RIL has been talking to groups including Gionee, Huawei and Xiaomi
An audio clip of Chhattisgarh CM's son-in-law, Congress' Ajit Jogi and his son Amit, points at their involvement in "fixing" the by poll to an assembly seat last year.
Akhilesh Yadav begins his campaign for next assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.
'The wonderful thing about being a journalist is that when someone tries to muzzle your work, it's a badge of honour.' 'You know you've done something right,' Priyanka Pathak-Narain, the author of Godman To Tycoon: The Untold Story Of Baba Ramdev, tells Sunil Sethi.
The average Indian soldier remains as hardy as before but he is certainly confused with the pace of change occurring all around him. It is here that the leaders -- the officers -- will have to adapt themselves to the new reality, says Nikhil Gokhale
We get tangled up in our own crooked web on purchases, and the murky arms bazaar knows it, says Shekhar Gupta.
Om Puri, notes Arthur J Pais/Rediff.com, has given one of the most endearing performances of his career in producers Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey and director Lasse Hallstrom's new film, The Hundred-Foot Journey
How does India's current national coach Ravi Shastri compare with the other men who have coached the Indian cricket team this century?
