The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Constitution amendment bill to restore the power of states to make their own OBC lists after a thaw in the logjam as Opposition parties backed the legislation but demanded the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation, with many of them also calling for a caste-based census.
Himanta Biswa Sarma -- who is also the North East Democratic Alliance convenor -- took the oath of office and secrecy in Assamese.
Indian elections are won and lost on 'negative' imageries and campaigns - but not certainly on 'negativity' as a political trait and electoral creed, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The numbers, however, appear to be in favour of the ruling dispensation to get these bills passed from Rajya Sabha, while the lower house has already cleared them despite a key NDA member Shiromani Akali Dal vehemently opposing them.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been fielded again from Karnal.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu had begun seeing Governor Ravi's decisions and actions as a part of the state BJP's non-stop criticism of its government and directed from Delhi, a view strengthened by the governor's decision to return the NEET exemption bill, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
New Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Monday said controlling the 'alarming' COVID-19 situation in the state is his first priority and his aim will be to make the state one of the top five in the country in the next five years.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti had backed the NDA on demonetisation, GST and in the elections to the post of President and Vice-President during its last term.
Congress is the only other horse in the race for national power, never mind how distant. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah know better than to take the Congress lightly, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday did not rule out emergence of a Third Front, which was also favoured by the Samajwadi party, after the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal-United face-off triggered the possibility of a non-Congress, non-BJP grouping to fight the next Lok Sabha polls.
Seeking to capitalise on the large number of non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party parties having "substantial support and strength in the country," the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday entered into an alliance in Tamil Nadu for Lok Sabha polls.
He is now the first non-Congress chief minister to win a second term in office in the state, seen as a Congress bastion until just five years ago.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken full advantage of the anger of the people against Congress and its policies and complete absence of a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party alternative in the Lok Sabha polls, Left parties said on Friday.
Only on Wednesday, in his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Modi said he wants to resolve the Kashmir issue through Vajpayee's doctrine of "Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat" - a testimony to the former PM's lasting legacy.
The party is counting on women voters and caste calculus, among others, to swing the crucial polls in its favour
'I think there must be some sort of a nexus between the rioters and a section of police officials which resulted in gruesome killings and arson'
In an interview to Rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Shambhu Srivastava speaks about the need of breaking out of the communal-secular paradigm and focusing on the Congress party's poor performance and its track record in fuelling communalism.
Notwithstanding reluctance of some leaders of regional parties to make it public, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is strongly in favour of a Third Front to prevent communal forces from coming to power after the Lok Sabha elections
The best option in 2014 is the formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP government based on alternative policies, says CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury
'The BJP capitalised on the Left Front's failure and inaction and the Congress' deliberate retreat in Tripura.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday called for a federal front of non-Congress and non-Bharatiya Janata Party regional parties for the coming Lok Sabha elections and said a plan of action should be decided.
"All opposition parties should work together. It should be a one-to-one fight against the BJP. All opposition parties should help the strongest one in the state against the BJP," Banerjee said.
There is more than sufficient space for this amongst the electorate in India that will respond definitively and favourably to a credible alternative. Nitish Kumar has an excellent chance of capturing this space through the inclusive politics of third front formations, says Seema Mustafa.
When was the last time you saw the majority of the non-Congress political parties rooting for a Congressman as President? So why is the Congress hesitating to name him for the post? Neerja Chowdhury analyses the party's dilemma
The development comes a day after senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury called on Yadav at his residence amid talks of non-Congress and non-BJP parties coming together for the next general elections.
'Given that the RGF is a family-controlled trust, why would the Congress defend it every time someone accuses it of wrong-doing?' asks Virendra Kapoor.
'KCR's plan for the future is three-pronged. He wants to see a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre in 2019 so that he can become the Union minister for home or defence,' says R Rajagopalan.
Rao had recently said a non-Congress and non-BJP front should be formed in the country
Neither Modi nor Shah had held legislative or executive power in Delhi before 2014. They have no training in appealing to the diversity of India as represented in Parliament. Their prism is the provincial politics of Gujarat. An exclusive excerpt from Vinay Sitapati's fascinating new book, Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi.
Few had imagined the BJP would be able to travel this far when it was founded on April 6, 1980.
Stepping up its offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party, the government on Saturday said the opposition party should ask its chief ministers to resign in connection to the coal-gate row since the state governments decide who gets the mining lease. "The basic question is that who executes the lease," Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor E S L Narasimhan at a simple ceremony on the lawns of Raj Bhavan.
Asked whether the Congress will be a part of this confluence, he said, "I said that there will be sangam of people and thoughts. All answers are included in this."
Arvind Kejriwal's party will need around 50 seats to make a pitch for the Left's space in national politics. For that, it will have to contest more than one third of the Lok Sabha seats, points out Saroj Nagi.
Those who know Naveen Patnaik well say his final decision will depend on who has the edge after the election.
Slamming Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani for predicting a non-BJP, non-Congress prime minister in 2014, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday said it is like a general saying before a war that there is no guarantee on the outcome and "demoralising" the entire army.
If Narendra Modi becomes prime minister next month, he will be India's second prime minister from the western state of Gujarat. Thirty-seven years ago, Morarji Desai was sworn in as India's first non-Congress prime minister, indeed the oldest man at 81 to then hold the office.
Sarma added that the oath-taking ceremony would take place on March 6.
The Congress, out of power in UP for 27 years is making a big pitch to bounce back, on a cocktail of caste politics and promises of agriculture debt waiver worth Rs 49,000 crore and power rate reduction for farmers hit by high input costs and diminishing returns., reports Amit Agnihotri.
'Raman Singh will certainly be defeated by the alliance we have created," says Chhattisgarh's first chief minister Ajit Jogi.
