The Bharatiya Janata Party's comprehensive defeat to the Congress in Karnataka where the two parties ran a campaign of contrasts has left the ruling party much to ponder as the two rivals are facing a direct contest in three more state polls this year in the run-up to the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
As per reports, nominations for the party national president will be filed between 10 am to 1 pm on Sunday. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on the same day.
As part of efforts to ensure peaceful, free and fair assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, the Election Commission has directed the authorities to set up effective pickets and carry out patrolling to check influx of both licensed and illicit arms and ammunition into the poll-bound states.
"If a film Kashmir Files is made, then at least, there should also be film 'Lakhimpur Files', where farmers were crushed under the wheels of a jeep," the SP president told journalists in Sitapur district on Wednesday when asked for his opinion on the Bollywood movie.
What will India look like if the colours of the parties ruling the various states were to be plotted on a map?
States like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had on Friday announced similar incentives.
Addressing the valedictory session of the BJP's national executive, Modi stressed that the BJP runs on the values of 'Sewa, Sanklap aur Samparan (service, resolution and commitment)' and 'does not revolve around a family', urging its members to work for people, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said quoting the prime minister.
Cow vigilante Monu Manesar, who was booked by Rajasthan Police for the murder of two Muslim men in February and is also accused of inciting communal hatred in home state Haryana, was arrested Tuesday, officials said.
Two technocrats, two hard-boiled politicians are India's new Cabinet ministers...
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
'The voter is cautioning the BJP not to take them for granted.'
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Maharashtra counterpart Prithviraj Chavan held talks with Congress central leadership in New Delhi amid indications that decision on replacement of chief ministers will be made soon starting with Assam.
Cricketer-turned-politician Chetan Sharma on Tuesday quit the Bahujan Samaj Party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at a function in Faridabad but said he will not contest the forthcoming assembly elections in Haryana.
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said on Thursday that his party has not accepted the Trinamool Congress's proposal of a merger as it does not want to compromise on its Assamese identity.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday took a dig at Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav over his meeting with Amar Singh, saying Samajwadi Party will not get revived by bringing the former party leader back but by reaching out to people.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The Baharatiya Janata Party has propelled to power in Haryana by a dramatic surge in vote share that saw its tally zooming from 4 to 47 in the 90-member House in the backdrop of a Modi wave.
'This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics'
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday asked the newly elected members of Legislative Assembly of the state to donate their first salary towards the Jammu and Kashmir flood relief fund.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted, "Shayad meri tapasya mein kuch kami reh gayi (Maybe my penance fell short)."
Mukesh Agnihotri, the leader of opposition in the outgoing assembly, was administered the oath as the deputy chief minister.
Any move of the present government to appease the Marathas may boomerang. Eknath Shinde is a worried man with the agitation not having an easy solution, notes Ramesh Menon.
Shah's meeting, if it happens, with Thackeray assumes huge political significance given the Sena's demand for equal sharing of power in the next government in view of the senior ally BJP's weakened tally.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
BJP now governs 35% of country's landmass as against 71% in 2017. 43% of country's population is now governed by the BJP or allies in the states as against over 69 per cent two years ago. In all 3 state polls since its Lok Sabha win, BJP's vote share has fallen by big margins.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday evening discussed the party's strategy ahead at a meeting of the Parliamentary Board, its highest decision-making body.
Pawar made the announcement at the 25th anniversary of the party, founded by him and P A Sangma in 1999.
The rules for the CAA are likely to be issued before the MCC comes into effect, sources privy to the development said.
The JMM-Cong-RJD alliance won 47 seats in 81-member assembly while the incumbent BJP managed to win only 25 seats. CM Das lost his seat to a party rebel despite giving the first full-term government to the state.
The voting will be held on November 30, December 7, 12, 16 and 20.
Per capita income in the state has consistently been below the national average for at least 24 years. However, it has narrowed the gap with the all-India level in recent years.
Differences within the Aam Aadmi Party again came to fore when its patron Shanti Bhushan hit out at Arvind Kejriwal, questioning his organisational skills and internal democracy in the party.
'...if elections were to be held today.' 'The problem is Akhilesh is not very aggressive.' 'Had he started his campaign aggressively six months ago, the picture in UP would have been very different.'
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the organisational elections should be utilised to "reinvigorate and rejuvenate" the party following the debacle in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
In the wake of forthcoming assembly polls in Haryana, retired bureaucrats and police officers are in the fray to test political waters in the 'jat' heartland which goes to polls on October 15.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party convenor and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal on Saturday announced a split from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance over the Centre's new farm laws.
