Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party has been a party with a difference and that is why it has repeatedly won the trust of voters, but cautioned against the saffron outfit repeating mistakes committed by the Congress in the past which saw its exit from power.
'In Independent India's politics you will not find any leader of a political party who has not contested elections or not held a powerful post.' 'It was only Balasaheb who never contested elections or held a post.' On the occasion of Balasaheb Thackeray's 99th birth anniversary, close aide Subhash Desai recalls vignettes about the Shiv Sena founder.
The Union government has ordered the complete withdrawal of the counter-terrorist commando force NSG from VIP security duties and handing over its nine "high-risk" VIPs to the CRPF by next month, official sources said Wednesday.
Bansuri Swaraj is banking on Narendra Modi's popularity, and the fact that the New Delhi electorate is known to vote on national rather than local issues for the Lok Sabha polls.
The Opposition's stand on the Ayodhya consecration is puzzling. Their only objection seems to be that the BJP has hijacked a religious event for political benefit. In saying this, the Opposition is either being naive or hypocritical, argues Jyoti Punwani.
At much personal cost, Advani is wise enough now to understand that BJP is not capable of winning 272 seats in the Lok Sabha on its own. He knows that most top leaders in the party as well as regional satraps are uneasy about an uncompromising, dictatorial leader like Modi dousing their future aspirations. He feels he still may be a compromise candidate acceptable to most allies, says Poornima Joshi
'Shekhar Suman joining the BJP when the nation is going to the polls is like gatecrashing into a wedding just when the guests are being served their meal.'
Rajnath Singh, who was selected the new president, would assume office on Monday.
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
Five years ago, Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani spoke to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com on the Emergency. On the 40th anniversary of Indian democracy's darkest hour, we reproduce the interview.
Here's looking at fashion designer Sakshee Pradhan's wedding album.
Surrounded by party workers, including 32 of Nationalist Congress Party's 53 MLAs, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday reminded his 83-year-old uncle Sharad Pawar that it was time for him to retire.
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
'Ajit Doval said, "They are threatening us now".'
The last Bharat Ratna award was conferred upon Pranab Mukherjee in 2019 and was posthumously awarded to Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika and Nanaji Deshmukh. The award was not given to anyone between 2020 and 2023.
Alok Kumar said that all the required medical facilities and other arrangements will be provided to Advani during his visit to the Pran Pratistha ceremony in Ayodhya.
Advani and Dr Joshi might not attend the consecration ceremony due to health and age-related reasons. Advani is 96 and Dr Joshi will turn 90 next month.
If Indira Gandhi hadn't targeted the RSS, Narendra Modi wouldn't be sitting pretty with his second majority and looking at a third, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Gandhi said the party will defeat the saffron party and Narendra Modi in Gujarat just the way it was defeated in Ayodhya.
Politely decline to be prime minister, and hand the baton to someone else in the BJP -- like Sonia did to Manmohan Singh -- advises Krishna Prasad.
Captain Sharan and Flight Engineer Anil Jaggia both confirm that the hijackers seemed to know a lot about flying an aircraft. Without help from the ISI or the Pakistan army, it was impossible, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
Destiny had decided that a grand temple of Lord Ram will be built in Ayodhya and it chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this, BJP stalwart L K Advani has said in an article to be published in a special edition of the Rashtra Dharma magazine next week.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
The government had earlier announced the country's highest civilian honour for L K Advani and Karpoori Thakur.
The satta market is accepting bets on how many times Modiji will mention Nehru at his election rallies, says A Ganesh Nadar with a wink.
Occasional lovers' tiffs have marked the history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, was passed unanimously as besides the BJP MLAs, members of the Opposition Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party extended their support to it.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'The BJP is using administrative machinery to fight elections'
Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party's 1990 rath yatra was for seeking "satta (power)", but the Congress's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is for "satya (truth)".
The BJP could ask at least a dozen of its 92 Rajya Sabha MPs, particularly those who have served more than one term, to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP's top leadership will drop its MPs found to be facing anti-incumbency, according to its internal surveys -- a pivotal tactic to ensure the party achieves its target of winning 370 seats.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, whose primary objective was construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, also became a symbol of 'reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism'.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday conferred Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, on former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and two-time former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The coming weeks are sure to have a lot of drama unfolding in Maharashtra, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP will enter this election, as it does every election, as if it is fighting to prevent a 2004-style defeat. This is a party that wins big because it always behaves as if its back is to the wall, predicts Mihir S Sharma.
Sacked Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday withdrew his plea in the Supreme Court seeking suspension of his life sentence in a 30-year-old custodial death case.
