'We all wanted a strong Centre with a decisive mandate from the people, to allow them to take bold decisions.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday traded barbs with her party dubbed as 'Behenji Sampatti Party' and she punning on his initials calling him 'Mr Negative Dalit Man'.
Against estimates of black wealth of Rs 300 lakh crore and black money in cash of Rs 3 lakh crore by economist Arun Kumar, the PMGKY numbers fall short by a huge margin.
Sticky labour laws and a difficult business environment have led to employers shifting their new hiring in favour of contract labour where social security is much lesser, says Mahesh Vyas.
The success stems from Titan's betting hard on wedding jewellery over the last three years. It now contributes 20 per cent to revenue.
Can Mamata Banerjee unite the Opposition?
The CWC passed two resolutions on the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement and re-dedicated itself to uphold and defend the idea of India as envisioned by the leaders of the freedom movement.
Narendra Modi government is working for 'making India' whereas the Congress is working for 'breaking India'.
It is far from clear that this GST will have the silver bullet effect that the "pure" GST would have provided, says Mihir S Sharma.
'I am not a friend of anyone who wants to defend, justify and glorify any businessman, power drunk person or religious fanatics, fake activists, apologists of terrorists, appeasers of some, oppressors of others, pretending to be political leaders,' says Amit Mehra.
'The middle class stood by the BJP, especially after demonetisation, and they expected something in return.' 'Some section of the BJP believes the middle class is condemned to vote for the BJP as they have no other choice.' 'They think they can treat them any way, still the middle class will run to vote for it.' 'That's what the Budget seems to convey.'
Delhi is a year-round health hazard that visitors shun like the plague, says Sunil Sethi.
The specifics will also cover what's fit and proper to be a chest manager; the insurance and re-insurance aspects; and the new capital threshold, which is Rs 100 crore now.
Muslims constitute 20% of UP's electorate. Currently, Muslim voters are divided between Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati's BSP. What will tilt the balance? Can Muslims back the winning party? Mohammad Sajjad explains the mysteries of UP's Muslim politics.
Instead of a consumption stimulus the government must address the NPA issue with a war footing and invest in infrastructure, affordable housing and exports, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Meanwhile, an independent MLA in Gujarat has declared his support to the BJP.
Police arrested four people for the assault on Wednesday.
'More people will come out of the BJP. You just wait and watch.'
What surprises will the finance ministry and the RBI spring on us next? Put on your thinking caps and predict the next boomerang coming our way!
Bankers seem to be pleased with the government for keeping its promise of not interfering in operational matters, but are apprehensive about the intense scrutiny of their functioning.
'What is critical today in India is confidence of depositors.' 'If you have these kinds of problems spreading like this, the confidence level of a lot of people in the system gets shaken.'
The Congress chief spoke to the students on a host of issues, including demonetisation, job loss and his growth as a political leader.
With rate cut expectations running high ahead of RBI meet this week, risk appetite improved especially in rate sensitive stocks
'Being authoritative is one thing -- Nehru was that -- but being authoritarian is quite another -- the current prime minister is clearly one.'
Modi lamented that there was a time when people stood for values and the times changed where people started making compromise on corruption
Increasingly seen as the 'bellwether' for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the assembly election results will not only decide as to who will rule UP but show which way the wind is blowing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections two years hence.
BJP strategists need to remember even at this late hour that 'negativism' sells when you are in the Opposition as the Indian voter has mostly voted anti-incumbency, and not when you are in power. You still needed to highlight your achievements and promises, and let the voter draw his conclusions, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the absence of the over-arching 'Jaya charisma', EPS has to convince the AIADMK's traditional constituencies, including those in his western districts, that his leadership would stand up against the BJP-led Centre even in a post-poll scenario, a la Jayalalithaa, and would not yield as much as party founder MGR had done, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Don't forget the BJP in the last election almost doubled its vote.' 'Even if they were not traditional BJP supporters, they were convinced about Mr Modi.' 'If the voter perceives that Mr Modi has performed well and he reinforces it, they will vote for him.' 'Otherwise, they won't.'
Not all Opposition parties on board, say they are once bitten, twice shy.
Nitish Kumar's decision to resign as the state chief minister was as dramatic as the time he decided to tie up with old foe Lalu in 2015.
The issue was raised in both Houses of Parliament with main opposition Congress too seeking clarification.
However, he said it would have been better to have an alliance and expressed confidence that the party will win upcoming assembly elections in all states --- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
'The monumental first Modi wrought in 2014, followed by the miracle in Uttar Pradesh, is not a matter for celebration, but an ominous warning of the perils ahead.' 'There are 5 areas which Modi has to address immediately and relentlessly if he has to live up to all that the people are taking him for,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'The financial sector will be hit even harder than the overall market.' 'The banking sector will eventually be rescued.' 'But it may go into a long downwards spiral before things turn around.' 'Threat or buying opportunity?' asks Devangshu Datta.
'The new government will have to contend with slowing economic growth, weak private investment, anaemic exports and vulnerable external imbalances, a stressed financial system, mounting fiscal pressures (including high government debt-to-GDP ratios) and an exceptionally bad employment situation,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
If Mr Modi and his team expect to win the 2019 elections, groundwork for improved performance in their second term should be done now.
'Gujarat should have been a breeze. But the Patidar agitation and economic uncertainty queered the pitch.' 'Yes, the BJP won and its rank-and-file will take great comfort in the assembly victory. But the leadership is taking stock for a very tricky set of elections coming up in 2018.'
'They have no other agenda, but to perpetuate hate.' 'They have destroyed the economy and polity and they survive only on hate.' 'They think through hatred, they can mobilise the large chunk of Hindu votes.'
'Most likely scenario is Modi comes back with either a much smaller majority and no majority at all and a coalition.' 'Very hard to imagine him doing better than he did last time.' 'He will then be a weaker prime minister,' the author of The Billionaire Raj tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
