'Favourable treatment to selected areas has been a pattern throughout the state.'
The 61-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader was sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at Raj Bhawan here at 9 pm.
Caste assertions, including from the upper castes, could have the Sangh Parivar stumble yet again in its efforts to construct a Hindu rashtra.
Swami Swaroopanand, who was the Shankracharya of Dwarka, Sharda, and Jyotish Peeth, was not keeping well for over a year, his aide said.
Putting an end to his ten-year self-imposed 'exile' from electoral politics, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh.
The resignation also signals a continuing saga of unaddressed concerns of young leaders, once considered close to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Only 18 Bharatiya Janata Party legislators switched parties to contest the polls in this period
The toast of the Congress for their tenacity and the difficult choices they made to fulfil a five-month political commitment, their stories are many.
Governors must be impartial, fair, and above narrow politics to uphold the values and spirit of the Constitution. But in a rapidly changing political culture where the unstated rule is to crush the Opposition, such values have no meaning. At stake are Constitutional values, federalism and governance, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Rawat has a short tenure in his new role, but it is likely going to be an eventful one, reports Sahil Makkar.
'The RSS guides us, never dictates.'
The Supreme Court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana has learnt to have recommended eight names of judges, including acting chief justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal, for their elevation as chief justices of different high courts.
One political resolution is expected to be passed at the meeting where Modi will deliver the valedictory address, which is expected to shape the party's views on a variety of issues.
When almost the entire political class was engrossed in the Bihar polls, the Congress shahzada was holidaying in a hill station. As the Bihar contest and other by-elections have shown, a large number of states have become Congress-mukt, fulfilling the Hindutva brigade's dream, notes Amulya Ganguli.
Results of four state elections are giving a strong message that government and political parties need to ensure good governance and provide corruption free rule, industry leaders said on Sunday.
'As Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Delhi, on 24th December 2022, the security of the Bharat Jodo Yatra was compromised on multiple occasions'
As the five states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram -- go to the polls, here is how the big names are faring.
The BJP has played the social engineering card in Rajasthan with an eye on the Lok Sabha election where the party will try and retain all the 25 seats that it had won in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
'These poll results are not a reflection of the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Certainly not! These are state elections, which are fought on state issues, and there were no national issues involved.' A reflective Digvijaya Singh speaks to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
"When it comes to economic matters, state governments have a far bigger role to play. Whether it is acquiring land for a major project or issuing a licence to a private university, the role of the state government has become very important. MLAs are bound to be natural beneficiaries of this heightened economic activity."
Speaking to the reporters, Station House Officer Manoj Soni said, "A photo that is going viral in which it is being said that all the people are journalists. I want to make it clear that all of them are not journalists, only one of them is (YouTuber). Rest are the friends, and relatives of the accused."
In his poll rallies, Modi framed Pitroda's comments in his wider onslaught against the Congress, asserting that they have exposed its hidden agenda and that the party has become so removed from the country's social and family values that it wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children.
What are the political equations, the challenges, and the threats?
The 'black paper', titled '10 saal anyay kaal' also alleged that issues such as rising prices, unemployment, subversion of institutions and farmers' 'distress' had plagued the country.
The march will start near J J Hospital and end at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai.
Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President Uma Bharti, a sitting MLA from Uttar Pradesh, is likely to contest the next Lok Sabha election from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh.
'Rahul Gandhi never gets firsthand information. He does not know what is good or bad going on in the party.'
Reaching a consensus might also get tougher, as already seen with issues like inclusion of natural gas in GST and imposition of a sugar cess, both central proposals being resisted.
'The message has gone loud and clear (among the people of Assam) that the BJP is only interested in polarising (the country) and they are basically interested in (capturing votes in) the Hindi heartland and they don't bother much about rest of India.'
The party is very much united and working together, the AICC general secretary organisation said.
All eyes are on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as top leaders converged at her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi on Monday after a series of developments in the last 24 hours in Rajasthan, where a majority of the party MLAs have rebelled against Sachin Pilot and want Ashok Gehlot to continue as the chief minister.
Calling former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party "communal" following its alliance with the BJP, he urged Janata Dal-Secular, to remove the word 'Secular' from its name.
The Congress on Sunday gave a call to party leaders in poll-bound states to work with unity to ensure victory that will 'set the tone' for 2024 Lok Sabha polls even as it showed willingness to forge an alliance of 'like-minded' parties.
Behind its high-decibel campaign, powered by well-organised party machinery, the BJP also appears to have made a slight departure from its 'next generation' approach to stay ahead of an aggressive Congress and enhance its prospects of securing a majority of seats.
Experts said many of the programmes started in the last one year have been dogged by poor implementation, something which the state seriously needs to answer as it faces a tough electoral battle in the months ahead.
Fiscal pressure for the Indian economy is gradually rising, suggested analysts at Jefferies in a recent note, as oil prices (Brent) - which are close to the $100 a barrel mark - continue to climb ahead of a busy election calendar. They added that the sharp rally in the equity markets during the last few months has made valuations costly. As a result, Jefferies expects the Indian markets to remain choppy in the near term.
odi said the country has rejected negativity and asserted that the winter session was a golden opportunity for the opposition.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party took a swipe at the Congress, with its leader Ravi Shankar Prasad saying forging a coalition was not in its DNA and it only gives importance to the Gandhi family.
In a memorable year for the equity market, Dalal Street investors added a whopping Rs 81.90 lakh crore to their wealth in 2023 as a raft of positive factors powered a stellar rally in stocks. Experts said India's strong macroeconomic fundamentals, political stability owing to the BJP's success in recent elections in three significant states, optimistic corporate earnings outlook, signals from the US Federal Reserve about three prospective rate cuts next year and heavy retail investors participation played a major role in fuelling the stock market rally in 2023. In the year 2023, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 11,399.52 points or 18.73 per cent.
BJP strategists know it may not repeat its 2014 performance in its traditionally strong bases in the north and the west. This is where the success in the north east and east is so important.
