At a hurriedly convened press conference, the former Uttar Pradesh said, "All deposits are as per norms and party rules and the money was collected before note ban. Should we have thrown it?"
'Our country does not need an NRC. We need to improve our economy which is in a bad condition.'
With so much bad news, everybody is hunkering down in readiness for Mr Modi's next radical Big Idea, says Kanika Datta.
'The handling of the pandemic, under this totally constitutional and legal three-level dictatorship, has begun to show its downside,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Addressing the party's mega "Bharat Bachao Rally" (Save India) at Ramlila Maidan, she also targeted the government over the economic situation and exhorted people to raise their voice to protect the country and its Constitution.
A projected drop in production in the 2016-17 sugar season (October-September) has kept domestic prices firm, reflecting in improved profitability and stock prices of companies.
My gamble to stand in the queue and get Rs 500 notes had failed. And only the months ahead will tell us if Modi's gamble will succeed or not.
India is going into the longest lockdown in the world, with the least amount of notice given to its people and the least preparation by its government.
Increments in 2017 would be less than in 2016, says survey.
Prior to the strike, bookies were expecting 200-230 seats for the BJP in the coming polls, for which they were offering 1:1 odds (Re 1 win for every rupee bet). But now they are anticipating 245-251 seats for the party and over 300 for the NDA, more than enough to form the next government, reports Rajesh Bayani.
'Who sent Masood Azhar back to Pakistan? Who bowed down to terror and released him? Not the Congress, but it was the BJP government'
The Congress surveys, at least until now, have indicated the nationalistic fervour over the Pulwama terror attack is more an effort by mainstream media outlets, like news channels and newspapers, to shape a particular narrative, when the people on the ground are still asking basic questions of livelihood, jobs and better price for farm produce.
"Our agenda is to fight for a country free of corruption and black money. But their agenda is to close (disrupt) Parliament...I am puzzled," Modi said.
'I had expected them to fight this election on the issue of development, but they are not doing that.' 'Now they have decided to belittle Gujarat's development.'
Singh asserted that the domestic challenges of India's economy were daunting in their complexity and devastating in their impact on the society.
Any erosion in the TMC, may benefit the BJP, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
Against a turbulent and uncertain background, Budget 2017-18 hewed a steady, forward-looking course, says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the government.
For his first Budget in July 2014, Jaitley inherited a fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP. From 4.1 per cent, the fiscal deficit came down to 3.4 per cent by 2018-19, with two slippages from the budgeted targets, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the former due to introduction of the GST, says Arup Roychoudhury.
'We are in the presence of a truly great politician,' says Aakar Patel.
Headed by Urjit Patel, MPC for the fourth straight time kept the repo rate unchanged, at which it lends to the banks, at 6.25 per cent. The reverse repo, at which RBI borrows, will be 6 per cent.
The BJP assessment -- or at least that of some of its leaders -- is that the Congress in Gujarat has peaked too soon, having already fired all its weapons and has nothing new to say.
The battle on creating jobs is virtually lost. If the battle for achieving higher growth too is lost, then its political consequences could become difficult to manage, says A K Bhattacharya.
'The JD-U and RLSP will have to listen to whatever Amit Shah says.' 'The BJP has so much power that he will snub either of the two parties.'
'A full majority might please the stock market for a couple of days, but the damage it usually does over five years is too high a price to pay,' argues Aakar
'When corporates have a stake in the government through contributions to political parties, democracy, which is supposed to work for the common man, doesn't.'
Shahs also said that his party will strive to rid the state of its 'Bimaru' tag as development is the way forward in Indian politics now.
Many political watchers give their prediction quite confidently of a coalition government. But nobody's certain on the nature of the coalition.
The BSP chief said Uttar Pradesh, which is India's largest state, will decide who will be the next prime minister.
'The Gujarat model was never an economic model; it was essentially a governance model.'
'Mr Modi identified what would help him win votes and got it done, like 24x7 power in three phases, better roads, more water, etc.'
'Good economic governance at state level is quite different from good governance at national level,' points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'No right thinking student of politics can name one state where the BJP gains in double digits.'
Internet trolls kept the social media abuzz in 2016 and spared none -- be it Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, cricketer Mohammad Shami or even 'Saifeena' -- unleashing posts and memes that ranged from controversial to hilarious to bizarre.
Kamal Nath argued that Modi had 'overexposed himself': By constantly pushing his own image on social media and on TV, attaching his name to multiple promises, Modi had become the face rivals could easily blame for India's chronic dysfunction.
Caste assertions, including from the upper castes, could have the Sangh Parivar stumble yet again in its efforts to construct a Hindu rashtra.
'Today you have 30 to 40 per cent of bureaucrats who are not parrots of the government, but what happens if you change the system?' 'If implemented, this can disrupt the system, which will have more adverse consequences than demonetisation.'
To do so, the government will have to tackle a number of broad development challenges successfully, says Shankar Acharya
S&P Global Ratings has forecast India's economy to shrink by 5 per cent in the current fiscal. It, however, has projected GDP growth to be 8.5 per cent in 2021-22 and 6.5 per cent in 2022-23.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday cautioned that poor cannot wait for long and they need to get succour "here and now", in remarks that come against the backdrop of demonetisation which, he said, may lead to temporary slowdown of economy.
The government must realise that it has very little time to recover itself, its reputation, its legacy - and India's fortunes,says Mihir S Sharma.
Other strong men have stopped Modi and his hordes in states before, but none of them with a footprint or battle cry to shake up New Delhi, observes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
HR guru Mayank Rautela provides a three-point plan.
