Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview.
'Just today a shopkeeper I went to was saying how bad business is. He must have been a BJP supporter.' 'He finally said, "It's a good thing there's an NDA government, not a BJP government, 'they' had become too big for their boots,".'
'It is not his doing, but Rahul Gandhi is forced by circumstances.' 'In taking political decisions, everything has to get his clearance.'
Seeking a third straight term, Modi is not just looking to stamp his electoral dominance on India but also chasing history with another consecutive victory equalling first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's record.
The go-ahead given to prosecute Arundhati Roy would be seen by supporters of freedom of speech as an announcement that the Right-Wing doesn't feel humbled by the results of the elections, argues Shyam G Menon.
Is it is necessary to play divisive politics to succeed in the next general elections? asks Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'When one is low, all you can do is buckle up and get up and prepare for the next challenge.'
From damsels versus dragons to showbiz shenanigans, ready to catch all the action on OTT this week?
Lalu Prasad Yadav took his first step into politics as a student at Patna University in its union elections. The election won 29-year-old Lalu Yadav a Janata Party ticket to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1977.
...close to the 2024 general election. The BJP calling the Congress 'seasonal Hindu' is as laughable as the saffron party sparing itself the title of 'seasonal extreme Hindu.'
How else should one describe its election campaigns of the past years?
It was typically obsessive religion and personality cult with economic development for fig leaf, asserts Shyam G Menon.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
This strategy was discussed when Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently visited Mysuru to discuss the BJP's Lok Sabha plan, reports Aditi Phadnis.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
The 61-year old leader will take oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka from Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday at 11 am.
If Nitish is as shrewd a practitioner of realpolitik as he is billed to be, we'd like to see if he can do the unthinkable -- break up the BJP legislature party in Bihar.
Shah said the Congress was not rooted in any ideology or principles and was sort of a "special purpose vehicle" to secure freedom.
'But the coldness between the two is definitely melting.'
How could a President, seen as a political time-server, have manoeuvred things to a stage where he could strike fear into the heart of a prime minister who, only two-and-a-half years before, had been elected with the largest majority in history?
'Although perhaps not with a greater majority, and maybe even a slightly reduced majority in the Lok Sabha.'
In a veiled attack on MNS president and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, the chief minister said he does not pay attention to 'new players' of Hindutva.
Sam Bahadur is a mechanical summary of his life, ticking off one chapter after another without bothering to pause or ponder over their significance and influences, observes Sukanya Verma.
How did Arvind Kejriwal, a one-time votary of secularism, turn into a bargain-basement version of Narendra Modi, wonders Vir Sanghvi.
Our political history tells us this has never worked. A united Opposition does work in some specific, limited situations, especially in the states. But never as some brilliant pan-national collection of diverse interests with no ideological or political core, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The second season of Maharani 2 is bigger, better and far more brutal, observes Namrata Thakker.
'Nobody told me upfront that you are a Marathi girl so we will not cast you.' 'I questioned myself: 'Am I not good enough?' 'Am I not good-looking to be in this industry?''
'Toh ab tu mujhe sikhayega...,' Gambhir said in a verbal spat with Kohli
It was a year of so many contradictions and contrasts that it became dangerous to talk about movies, people lost their heads discussing Friday releases, psychiatrists began dabbling in film criticism, and film critics turned into psychiatrists, says Sreehari Nair.
In a statement released on the eve of General Naravane's visit, the Indian high commission in Colombo described Sri Lanka as India's 'Priority One' partner.
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani packs in abundant entertainment and hat tips to the KJo brand, observes Sukanya Verma.
'She was the only prime minister who won a decisive military victory.' 'She won a real war; she didn't play video games on prime time TV over surgical strikes!' 'She understood power better than any other politician, saw it as her birthright and used it with inborn expertise.' 'Every politician today who tries to be a "supremo" through populism and absolute control over his or her party is referring to the Indira Gandhi playbook!'
Huma Qureshi makes this predictable yet engaging political drama binge-watch worthy, notes Namrata Thakker.
'Raut saheb has mentally wired himself to spend some time in ED custody.' 'He knows the risk is huge, but rewards will be bigger if he comes out unscathed.'
'As his close associate Som Pal told me, "Mandal was never V P Singh's brainchild. It was a Janata Party commitment he inherited".' 'He would have done it anyway at some point, but the specific timing of his decision was dictated entirely by political exigency -- his government was threatened.' 'It also turned out to be a game changer in Indian politics.'
The Musharraf episode in the recent history of the subcontinent has convinced many realists in India that the hope of establishing peace with Pakistan is like accepting a dinner invitation from cannibals and expecting to live to tell the tale, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The future challenger to Narendra Modi would be somebody who can bring the Hindus and Muslims together again. The Hindus as Hindus, not broken caste groups, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Getting Brijbhushan to rake up Thackeray's anti-north Indian stand is the BJP's way of cutting Raj Thackeray to size.' 'Could just one MP have stopped Raj Thackeray's Ayodhya tour?'
The truth is not that Chandrababu Naidu's centre-right policies led to his defeat but rather almost the reverse: his defeat, and for that matter that of the NDA at the Centre, was widely -- but falsely -- interpreted as a rejection of their economic policies, rather than put down to bad luck and conventional anti-incumbency., say Vivek Dehejia and Rupa Subramanya.
The dinner Jill Biden and her husband US President Joe Biden hosted for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, June 22, at the White House brought together, Indians and Americans from so many firmaments.
