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.
In line with most of the exit poll predictions, bookies in Delhi feel the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get more than 340 seats in the Lok Sabha polls while the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) may secure around 200 seats.
Moderate turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling across five assembly constituencies across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala where bypolls are underway on Thursday.
The collegium system has shut the doors of judgeship in the higher judiciary on Dalits, OBCs and even the poor among the upper castes
'If his health was good he would have become CM again after polls.' 'Those who are with Nitish Babu today will remain with him till the elections to use his name for votes and would definitely play games with him after the polls.'
Senior BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Choubey has expressed his desire to see Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the Deputy Prime Minister. However, the JD(U) and the RJD have dismissed Choubey's remarks as inconsequential, with the JD(U) pointing to Amit Shah's recent statement that Nitish Kumar is the coalition's leader for the upcoming assembly polls. The RJD has also ridiculed Choubey's statement, stating that the BJP is looking to get rid of Nitish Kumar and that Tejashwi Yadav will be the next Chief Minister of Bihar.
The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both Bharatiya Janata Party), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Janata Dal-United), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Most JD-U ministers favour a return to the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
"If you see in the context of alliances and statistics, then this is the strongest alliance government," Modi said while addressing newly-elected MPs and leaders of the NDA from across the country following his election as leader of the ruling bloc ahead of his government's swearing-in on Sunday.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which had suffered decimation in the last general elections, was leading in five seats, out of 23 where it had fielded candidates.
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha is preparing his excuses for future defeats in the upcoming assembly elections, including Bihar, Fadnavis said in his articles published in the Indian Express and Marathi daily Loksatta.
Shah pulled no punches in lambasting the RJD supremo for alleged nepotism, accusing him of making his wife the chief minister, getting his daughter elected to Parliament and "now both his sons want to become the CM".
Narendra Modi will take oath as the prime minister for a third consecutive term on Sunday evening as President Droupadi Murmu has invited him to form the government.
BJP will find it tougher to push contentious Bills, especially those that would require Constitutional amendments, without the support of its allies and cooperation from the Opposition.
Here are the number of seats won by parties in all states and Union Territories in the Lok Sabha elections.
'Wrong feedback was given against Parasji to the top BJP leadership in New Delhi by a senior BJP leader, who is also a Union minister from Bihar.' 'He deliberately provided wrong information about the RLJP to the BJP leadership to help Chirag Paswan.'
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to hold a caste census 'out of fear' of the country's deprived population, to which the opposition was lending its voice.
The Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament, will debate the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday. The bill has been met with strong opposition from several parties who claim it is unconstitutional. The government, however, insists the bill aims to improve the management of Waqf properties in India by bringing transparency and efficiency.
Reddy alleged that contracts worth thousands of crores were awarded to people close to Modi, who then purchased Rafale aircraft.
Nishant Kumar's demand that the NDA name Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial nominee is seen as a gambit to consolidate the CM's position in the ruling alliance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked NDA MPs to follow parliamentary rules and conduct, and learn from senior members about the best practices, comments that came a day after the ruling alliance accused Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi of making a "most irresponsible" speech.
The incident has left the family grappling with grief and pride as they remember their brave son who sacrificed his life while saving another.
The Congress leaders maintained that Indian defence forces had attained complete superiority and dominance over Pakistan before the sudden "ceasefire" was announced by US President Donald Trump.
'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)'
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
In the battle for 2024, the place is hogging the limelight, primarily because of Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who according to some opinion polls, may turn out to be the dark horse when votes are counted on June 4.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was surging ahead in two southern states -- Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka -- while the respective blocs led by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and Congress in Kerala were on their way for another excellent show, going by the latest trends emerging from the counting of voted polled in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
'It was really difficult for Laluji to expel his son from the party and sever family ties with him.'
The upcoming delimitation exercise should reflect the social realities uncovered by the census, ensuring proportional political representation for marginalised groups, it read.
Over the medium and long term, the BJP hopes to devour the AIADMK, they having identified the party as 'ideologically not as sound as the DMK', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Nitish slammed the opposition and expressed confidence that they will be defeated in the next Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress on Sunday said it was not stopping anyone from being part of diplomatic delegations to be sent to various countries following Operation Sindoor and that its leaders who have been named at the instance of the government must listen to their conscience and contribute to the exercise.
The Congress demanded that the government and the Election Commission come clean on the EVM issue and urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the Border Security Force (BSF), central agencies, and the BJP of fanning tension in Murshidabad by allegedly facilitating cross-border influx from Bangladesh. She also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep the Union Home Ministry under control. Banerjee has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of three people killed during the violence and directed the state chief secretary to initiate a probe into the role of the BSF.
Speaking on the occasion of the unveiling function of various projects first in Aurangabad and then in Begusarai district by Modi, Kumar also said that he is confident that the NDA will win more than 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to the Election Commission data, 30 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP-led coalition in the latest elections, a sharp drop compared with 39 in 2019 and lower than the tallies of 2014 (31) and 2009 (32).
Former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, who quit after his Lok Janshakti Party faction was not given any seat by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday announced his party's support to the ruling alliance, ending speculation over his next course of action.
Former intelligence chief PSR Anjaneyulu has been arrested in connection with a case involving the alleged harassment of Mumbai-based actor-model Kadambari Narendra Kumar Jethwani. Anjaneyulu is one of the three IPS officers who are under suspension for allegedly "hastily arresting" and "harassing" Jethwani without proper investigation in a case filed against her during the erstwhile YSRCP regime. The arrest comes after a complaint filed by Jethwani against the alleged harassment, and the subsequent investigation revealed the involvement of several IPS officers. This case highlights the ongoing scrutiny of officials from the previous YSRCP government by the current TDP-led government.
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