The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'They should be given a strong message that they are not the ones who decide the rule of the land, and they are not the ones who decide what justice is.'
'And then the people who call themselves great nationalists, I can bet you that 99 per cent of them are dodging taxes, have sent their kids to America, or are doing everything to make sure that what goes on in this country doesn't affect their personal wealth or their whatever bull*&$%.'
Congress in Kerala on Thursday rejected the organisational support announced by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but welcomed individual voters to support the United Democratic Front (UDF).
The grand old party alleged that these namesake candidates are backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bharatiya Janata Party to confuse voters.
Like his father Karunanidhi and AIADMK rivals MGR and Jayalalithaa, Stalin would like to confine his real political work to Tamil Nadu, and not want to take after the late Congress leader K Kamaraj and take up a national role, even if to create greater political space for son Udhayanidhi, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The political and ideological differences between the Congress and Shashi Tharoor is no longer a matter of whispers.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged various banks to write off the loans availed by landslide victims and survivors in Kerala's Wayanad.
A group of retired judges has criticized Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks about opposition vice-presidential candidate B Sudershan Reddy and the Salwa Judum judgement, calling them 'unfortunate'.
'You know the situation in Yemen now. There is no government there.' 'The rebels are in control. So, there is no diplomatic channel through which we can negotiate.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of 'linguistic terror' and plotting to delete Bengali voters from electoral rolls, vowing to protect voting rights.
Sources close to the top BJP leadership tell me that Tharoor has already had secret meetings with the BJP's top brass and is waiting patiently to make his next move, reports Ramesh Menon.
Several leaders of the BJP and its allies are of the view that the NDA this time is unlikely to follow the instincts that made it pick Dhankhar and will be more conventional in its search for his successor.
A victim of alleged human trafficking and forceful conversion in Chhattisgarh claims she was coerced by Bajrang Dal activists to give a false statement. She also alleges police did not record her statement properly and that the arrested nuns are innocent.
The chief minister's office said the special team will be headed by IG Sparjan Kumar and will include four senior women IPS officers of the state.
Priyanka's victory seems assured, but the broader implications for Kerala's political landscape and South Indian politics remain to be seen.
'In my 26 years at Raj Bhavan, working with more than ten governors, I can tell you C P Radhakrishnan Sir stands out.'
No author in the Malayalam literary canon has influenced and profoundly changed the way normal people interact with each other than the ever-relevant, eclectic yet elusive body of work left behind by MT Vasudevan Nair, notes Arjun Menon.
Former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Kerala BJP leader C Sadanandan Master and Delhi-based historian Meenakshi Jain have been nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
The Kerala High Court has ordered a further probe into an allegation that state Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian insulted the Constitution in a speech in July 2022. The court found that Cherian's words, including 'ideal Constitution to loot the people', and the use of certain Malayalam terms, could be interpreted as disrespectful to the Constitution. The court also criticized the initial investigation, finding it insufficient and biased, and directed the State Crime Branch to conduct the further probe.
Gopi defeated Communist Party of India leader VS Sunilkumar in an exciting fight.
A profile of C.P. Radhakrishnan, the Maharashtra Governor and former MP, who is being considered as a potential Vice President candidate. His political journey, association with RSS and Jan Sangh, and his influence in Tamil Nadu politics are highlighted.
The Web portal of the Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, published an article (withdrawn later) that the Christian community holds many acres of land, far more than Waqf property.'
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
There is no guarantee that if we speak in only Indian languages, all our faults will be washed away and India will shine. Why then do they bully and belittle the English-speaking? asks Shyam G Menon.
'The current Election Commission functions more like a government department than an autonomous body.'
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 percent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
Sunil Ambekar, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh, said caste and caste-relations were a "very sensitive issue" for the Hindu society and it is an important issue "for our national unity and integrity".
The shift toward a staunchly secular identity will help Congress to rebuild its trust and confidence with the minority communities, especially Muslim voters. Arguably, this is where the Congress' future also lies in national politics, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Centre had sent multiple advance warnings to the Kerala government about possible floods and landslides in the state, starting as early as July 23, and nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed to the state the same day.
Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in connection with the Sanjay Bhandari money laundering case.
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that imposing fixed timelines on governors and the president to act on bills passed by a state Assembly would amount to one organ of the government assuming powers not vested in it by the Constitution and lead to a "constitutional disorder".
'What the US appears to be doing is to force India to be "the buyer of last resort", on whom their products can be dumped, 1.4 billion people have to eat something, so why not eat American corn?' 'What is exercising the Trump lot is the fact that most of the farms are in solidly Republican Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
The Centre has denied political clearance to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his visit to Paris to support the Indian Hockey team at the Olympic Games, an official source said on Saturday.
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It must become faceless, just as the entire direct tax assessment system has already become fully online, without any human intervention in the normal course,' recommends A K Bhattacharya.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
Even after 50 years, Sholay remains a lasting reminder of unity, shared memories and the joy of cinema, notes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
