Responding to the donkey remarks made by Akhilesh, Modi said the criticism of donkeys by the UP CM only reflected his 'casteist mentality' and 'the feeling of hatred does not suit him'.
Can Gandhi handle the rough and tumble of 24X7 Indian politics with aggressive rivals such as Modi and BJP President Amit Shah to counter?
With Lok Sabha poll results just a week away, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said it did not believe in 'political untouchability' and was open to support from any party.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.
With Thursday's win, the Congress's strength in the Lok Sabha has gone up to 48.
'Corruption is rampant in every office in the state from the villages right up to Gandhinagar. I have witnessed all these issues first hand... Before Narendra Modi became chief minister Gujarat had a debt of Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore. Today it is Rs 180,000 crore. There has been six-fold jump in public debt in Gujarat in the last ten years... Every child born in Gujarat owes a debt of Rs 30,000 today. How can you call this development? Look at how high taxes are in Gujarat. Look at the condition of our public health system. There are not enough doctors or nursing staff in government hospitals; not enough teachers in schools and colleges.' Three-time BJP MLA Dr Kanubhai Kalsaria rips apart Narendra Modi's policies.
'Modi is the first BJP leader to try to include Dalits in its fold.' 'But the rank and file of his party is backward and want to bash up Muslims and Dalits whenever they have a chance.'
It seems the Congress just does not have the energy and vitality to break through even in the states where it has a ground presence and the wind of anti-incumbency on its back, says Aakar Patel.
The seats identified are from Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Northeast.
The last 25 years of Indian democracy have shown that anti-incumbency in state elections is on the decline. This is a positive trend because continuous terms will allow political parties to look beyond single-term policies and focus on long-term development, says Richard M Rossow.
Hot on the heels of stiff opposition from its allies, the Centre on Monday decided to drop its move to name a judge to head the commission set up to probe the snooping of a young woman by Gujarat police allegedly at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
With the political class coming under severe attack for undue interference in the functioning of the bureaucracy, the United Progressive Alliance government has decided to amend the Model Code of Conduct for ministers to include a reference to the need for upholding the impartiality of the civil service.
Having focussed excessively on the Congress, and continuously drawing a Modi-Rahul parallel as if it were the sole selling point, the BJP has lost sight of the regional parties that are seeking to take the centre-stage, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Delhi doesn't want Modi to invest his substantial political capital to help Trump without the visit yielding positive results for India.
'Rather than an outcome of 'pro-incumbency', the exit poll results betray a completely lackadaisical approach of the Opposition parties.' 'While a new kind of politics was on display for the past five years, they were still mired in their old-style methods which will cost them the election,' predicts Utkarsh Mishra.
The 10-year UPA rule came under sharp attack in the BJP's National Council meeting in on Saturday, which unveiled the new government's future plans and policy prescription in domestic and foreign affairs arena in a political resolution, which hailed the "strong and able" leadership of Narendra Modi.
'For short-term gain, the BJP makes extraordinary promises, they take extraordinary decisions, but in the long term it is going to impact both them and the country.'
The long-delayed declaration that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for prime minister had a certain air of inevitability about it. But the last-minute drama should not take away from the plain fact that, in naming Modi, the BJP has merely acknowledged that it has in him a politician of rare skill and charisma -- of a degree unseen in national politics perhaps since former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
