She expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Left.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will move the motion today in the Lok Sabha to choose Om Birla as the Speaker of the lower house amid a tussle for the post with the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Seeking a third straight term, Modi is not just looking to stamp his electoral dominance on India but also chasing history with another consecutive victory equalling first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's record.
'The Congress cannot speak the BJP's words while targeting Kejriwal.' 'What is the difference between the two? Where is the unity of INDIA then?'
There was an 8% decline in the BJP's vote share across six regions in UP, and that some OBC castes moved away from the BJP.
"If the BJP had governed with the same intensity with which it is running the bulldozer of injustice, today its members wouldn't have to hide in their homes, fearing the anger of students," he said.
A Raja said panel's chairman Jagdambika Pal has been conducting the panel's meetings in haste, raising doubts that it will not be able to serve justice.
Lalu's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, however, sought to downplay the remarks made by his father, in an interview to a local news channel, claiming that the RJD supremo had merely tried to satisfy the curiosity of the prying media.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
Opposition parties will hold the next meeting of their 26-member INDIA coalition in Mumbai on August 25 and 26, sources said on Thursday.
The Delhi Police's Crime Branch will investigate the case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with a scuffle on the Parliament premises that left two BJP MPs injured. An FIR was registered against Gandhi after a BJP complaint accused him of physical assault and incitement. Police will also investigate a separate complaint filed by the Congress, accusing BJP MPs of misbehaving with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has banned demonstrations by MPs and political parties at any of the Parliament gates following the incident.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, bought crude oil worth 49 billion euros from Russia in the third year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a global think tank said. India, which has traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East, began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The party was trounced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now left with only Himachal Pradesh in the north. It is ruling in only three states on its own and is in power in Bihar and Jharkhand as a junior partner in alliance with regional parties.
Congress, the main Opposition party in the BJP-ruled state, had left the Khajuraho seat for SP as per the seat-sharing arrangement within the INDIA bloc.
Sources said MPs of the opposition alliance in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will meet to chalk out their joint strategy for the session from September 18 to 22.
Yadav said in a post in Hindi on X, 'The BJP is warned not to come in the way of the public. Preventing voters from casting their votes is also a crime. The public has come to know about the conspiracy hatched by the BJP to prevent people from casting their votes by misusing power. BJP supporters are bent on violence...'
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said he was in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims but emphasised that it should be based on social backwardness and 'not on the basis of religion'.
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
The disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat in the Olympics after being found overweight before the final bout also saw the government and Opposition come to blows in Parliament.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
'They (INDIA bloc leaders) were not doing anything. Nothing happened after the first meeting of INDIA bloc that took place in Patna last year. Now, I have come back to the same place, where I was earlier (with NDA)'
Abhay Chautala said that Banerjee has told him that she had some preoccupation on that day and she will depute a senior leader of her party for the event while Thackeray told him that if he is unable to attend due to some reasons he will send a senior leader for the event.
Upset about being snubbed by INDIA, Nitish Kumar is weighing his political options. BJP would like him back knowing that it would jolt the Opposition alliance, perhaps irreversibly.
Various constituents of the INDIA bloc condemned Kejriwal's arrest and claimed that the BJP is scared of the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and acting out of panic to create problems for the opposition.
The BJP accused Congress leaders of colluding with foreign forces to destabilize India and demanded Sonia Gandhi to disclose her role in a George Soros Foundation-funded organization's activities. The ruling party also attacked Rahul Gandhi, calling him a "pawn" for his protests against the Adani issue.
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has begun consultations with its allies on the ruling National Democratic Alliance's candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker's post while the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is considering its options and may force a contest to score political points, sources said on Monday, a day before the filing of nomination for the key position.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dubbed the electoral bonds as the 'world's biggest extortion scheme' and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the 'champion of corruption'.
No one should make China an issue in their bilateral relations and their cooperation should not harm the interests of another country, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday reacting to queries on the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Trump.
A 39-member parliamentary panel has been constituted to examine the two bills proposing simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The panel, chaired by BJP leader Bhratruhari Mahtab, will include prominent members from various political parties, including the BJP, Congress, SP, TMC, and DMK. The panel is expected to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the first day of the last week of the next session. The government has decided to increase the committee's strength to include more political parties, highlighting the significance of this proposal to reform the election process in India.
"Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted," Prakash Ambedkar, who heads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, told reporters in Pune.
India's Parliament is set to begin its Budget session on Friday, with opposition parties poised to demand a discussion on the alleged mismanagement of the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, where 30 pilgrims died in a stampede. The opposition also accused the government of politicising parliamentary committees and pushing its agenda through its majority. The session will start with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both houses of Parliament. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Saturday for the eighth consecutive time.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asserted that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will return to power with a two-thirds majority in the 2026 Assembly elections in the state and ruled out the possibility of stitching any alliance with the Congress. Banerjee's statement comes amidst speculation over a possible Congress-TMC understanding in West Bengal, following the removal of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as state Congress president and the appointment of Subhankar Sarkar. However, Banerjee has categorically stated that the TMC will fight alone and secure a historic victory. The Congress, on the other hand, has responded by saying that regional parties are bothered about the Congress because they have realised their mistake in ignoring the party during the Delhi polls. The BJP has downplayed Banerjee's remarks, stating that the TMC's defeat in the upcoming elections is inevitable. The West Bengal Assembly elections are likely to be held in April-May next year.
Their leader is now Lalu Prasad Yadav, a convict in several corruption cases, he added.
Uddhav Thackeray claimed the new Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which was sworn in on June 9, will collapse and will be replaced by an INDIA bloc dispensation.
The Congress and the National Conference on Monday announced they will fight the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in alliance, with both parties contesting three seats each.
'It is not his doing, but Rahul Gandhi is forced by circumstances.' 'In taking political decisions, everything has to get his clearance.'
Earlier, Trump has already talked about slapping "100 per cent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India as well.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances