'A country cannot be run on lines that everyone should be in agreement and those who disagree should be silenced.' 'If this is how they look at democracy, then I can only wish good luck to the future of parliamentary democracy in India.'
With the BJP expected to win about 100 seats -- just eight more than a simple majority in the 182-member Gujarat assembly and a steep decline from its 2012 tally of 115 seats -- Uttam Ghosh wonders whatever happened to Narendra D Modi and Amit A Shah's loud boast of winning 150 plus seats in the 2017 election?
The PM also said the results proved that there is a strong support for "politics of good governance and development".
The talk of an anti-BJP front got revived after leaders of various parties and prominent individuals congregated at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's New Delhi residence last month.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
The AAP has made inroads into Gujarat's politics by winning 27 seats of Surat Municipal Corporation, one of the six cities where voting was held on Sunday.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that he will campaign for his party Janata Dal-United in the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections. The JD-U has decided to contest the Gujarat polls, due in December, alone.
On Monday, he will be sworn in as the prime minister of India. Before that, on Wednesday, an emotional Narendra Modi bid farewell to the Gujarat assembly.
In Gujarat's political circles, the appeal was seen as an indirect call to vote against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
There are 57 members with criminal background, one with even charges of rape, and 134 crorepatis (74 per cent) in the newly-elected Gujarat assembly, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms, a non-political group aiming at governmental and electoral reforms. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Among the other names tipped to make it to the Cabinet are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Baijayant Panda.
He said the nationalist forces were "on the verge of taking over the country", which is why the Gujarat elections could make a difference.
In the unlikely event of the BJP-NDA losing all five states going to the polls in February-March, the Presidential electoral college numbers could be significantly altered, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party will fight the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections in alliance with the Congress with an aim to dislodge the ruling Narendra Modi government.
The Gujarat assembly election will be held in mid-December, according to a senior source in the Election Commission of India.
The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to break the opposition party to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora suspended Congress MLAs Paresh Dhanani and Baldevji Thakor on the charges of trying to attack BJP MLAs and two ministers -- Vallabh Kakadiya and Nirmala Wadhwani.
The Gujarat high court on Tuesday declared state Bharatiya Janata Party minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama's election in 2017 as void on grounds of malpractice and manipulation.
Tyagi said his party will contest on four to five "traditional" seats in Gujarat.
The bench said, "It is not an issue which can be taken up through an election petition and therefore, requires to be heard."
'The trick in a democratic battle is to highlight those aspects of one's personality which are the opposite of the 'enemy's',' argues Amulya Ganguli.
'Today, we being the majority pass a law and if the Opposition parties do not like it, they throw files at the Chair, and beat up women marshals.'
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the Opposition is suffering from "selective amnesia" as during the Congress-led UPA rule, the winter session was held in December in 2008 and 2013.
Police registered a first information report against the owner and manager of Neelcity Resort in Rajkot under Indian Penal Code Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) for opening the resort for Congress MLAs, in alleged violation of lockdown notification which does not allow hotels and restaurants to open till Monday.
In a setback to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, state Governor Kamla Beniwal has returned a bill seeking to make voting mandatory in the state, on the ground that the legislation violates the Constitution. The bill was passed by the Gujarat assembly in December 2009.
The Congress vice president had put out a tweet on Tuesday carrying erroneous percentages to depict a rise in the prices of essential commodities in a graphic and asked the prime minister whether his government was 'for the rich'.
Will DMK send former PM to the Rajya Sabha next month?
However, the SC granted liberty to the Gujarat Congress to file 'election petition' after conclusion of polls.
'The BJP's target could be the Kolis, Thakors and other numerically strong OBC communities to negate the shift of the Patel vote bank.'
Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani hit out at Chidambaram saying the Congress is 'scared' of the polls in the state.
The 50-share NSE Nifty ended 56.60 points, or 0.55 per cent, higher at 10,322.25
The high court had held that Returning Officer "illegally rejected" 429 postal ballots during the counting of votes, while the victory margin was only 327.
Patel told Congress to clear their stand on Patidar quota by November 3.
Deputy Chief Minister Nitinbhai Patel will contest from Mahesana
Citing the testimonies of eye witnesses, Vyas said that people of that area saw Kodnani at Naroda Gam during the morning.
Following the incident, a Congress MLA was suspended for the entire budget session of the assembly.
"BJP's victory in Gujarat assembly election is spectacular. We will win in Himachal Pradesh with a bigger margin," party in-charge for Himachal Satyapal Jain said.
Finance ministers from Congress-ruled states say they have alerted the Centre about the problems in GST for several months, but it is only now with the Gujarat assembly election around the corner that the Modi regime has started heeding these suggestions.
The leader of the opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela on Wednesday alleged that Gujarat government, when Narendra Modi was chief minister here, had favoured billionaire Gautam Adani promoted Adani Group to set up private port at Mundra.
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