When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
This marks the entry of the 8th member from the Gowda family into politics.
The BJP, however, denied the former three-time state chief minister's assertion on Ranjan Gogoi who was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by the government in March.
A suitable non-Congress candidate from a regional party could help influence even some of the NDA allies like the Shiv Sena and the Janata Dal-United to vote for a consensus Opposition candidate, reports Archis Mohan.
Top Congress sources hinted on Thursday that Sharma will not have to resign as the party would re-nominate him by July. He is likely to get his third term in Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra or Andhra Pradesh.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
While the BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the Upper House, its ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which has four MLAs in the 403-member UP assembly, holds key to the fate its ninth nominee.
This is Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's maiden Lok Sabha election, but political experts and voters feel he can easily win Porbandar seat in his home state Gujarat, despite the electorate facing some key issues like unemployment.
The win in UP is especially significant because UP assembly members carry the maximum value of votes in a Presidential election, given the fact that the state is India's most populous.
To keep their MLAs together, political parties are organising dinner meetings and arranging hotel stays for them ahead of the council elections, which are taking place just three months ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
'Rather than criticising the kind of candidates fielded by political parties from our living rooms, NOTA in a sense implores the electorate to say this by turning up in person at a polling booth to ensure their protest is registered.'
An emotional Naidu said that destiny had stored something else for him, due to which he has to withdraw from the party. "I had told my colleagues that I want to see Prime Minister Modi come back again in 2019 and then I will call it off and join social service. But destiny decided otherwise. Finally after discussion, I have agreed. I have withdrawn myself from party, do not belong to BJP now," Naidu said.
He is part of an unenviable list of MPs who have been expelled from Rajya Sabha.
Firmly backing DMK leader A Raja, prime accused in the 2G scam, in the wake of the controversy over filling of vacancy in the Joint Parliamentary Committee, the party today asserted it will not allow him to be made a "scapegoat".
Former deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptulla would contest from Rajasthan.
The NDA, led by the BJP, has 5,37,683 votes includes the Shiv Sena, and the shortage is around 12,000 votes.
'Their conduct is as if they have come to arrest some dacoit.' 'They behave with everyone in this manner, whether it's Manish Sisodia, Anil Deshmukh or anybody else.' 'It is as if they are ambassadors of god and we are satans.' 'This is solely due to the sections in some laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.' 'This is a cruel law. In fact, the death penalty is better.'
While over 80 MLAs, including some of the independents, have reached a hotel in Udaipur, Soldier Welfare Minister Rajendra Gudha, SC Commission Chairman and MLA Khiladi Bairwa and MLA Girraj Singh Malinga expressed their displeasure in Jaipur.
Think you know all about the former Chief Justice of India, whom the Modi government nominated to the Rajya Sabha?
Nanaji joined the RSS in 1928 as a 12-year-old and later remained a member of Bhartiya Jan Sangh.
The desertion of MLAs is worrying for the party which has fielded its senior leader Ahmed Patel for the Rajya Sabha election.
"Nobody else has authenticated it (Swamy's documents), neither the chairman, nor me," Kurien said, adding that the responsibility of the documents rested with the person authenticating them.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday asked Chief Secretary N K Das to institute a probe into Wednesday's incident of protests by Guwahati-based journalists that occurred outside the main entrance to the Assam assembly complex regarding the entry of mediapersons at the time of filing of nomination papers by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for the May 30 Rajya Sabha elections, according to an official communique.
With May 31 being the last date for filing nomination, the party is set to announce the names of more candidates soon.
Chief Minister Manik Saha said that the BJP will contest in 55 constituencies in its bid to return to power in the northeastern state which has a 60-member assembly for the second time in a row.
Mitra, who had resigned from the BJP a few days ago, is considered close to veteran leader L K Advani.
'I am not a person who would do such things from behind the scenes.' 'I don't believe in taking somebody else's support for speaking out my mind.'
The 51-year-old BJP leader Vaishnaw, born in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, is a suave and former Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1994 batch. He managed to wrangle support from the ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik despite being in the rival camp.
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday filed his nomination papers from Amethi constituency which he has represented in Lok Sabha twice and expressed confidence about retaining it for the third straight time.
If BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla has to be believed then Sachin Tendulkar is in Parliament because of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Congress Working Committee member and former Kerala chief minister A K Antony is all set to be elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed as he was the only candidate to file nomination for the June 3 by-election from the state.
The MLAs of the three ruling parties and the BJP have reached Mumbai ahead of the elections.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
Senior Congress leader Rajani Patil is set to be declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra after the opposition BJP on Monday withdrew its candidate from the next month's bypoll.
The Congress on Monday nominated Bharatiya Janata Party turncoat Ashish Shukla against the saffron party's nominee, Sanjay Sinh, from the high-profile Amethi assembly seat in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
The CCPA meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was held on Friday evening after National Democratic Alliance presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind filed his nomination papers.
Abstention by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also helped the government get its legislation through in the upper house where the ruling party does not enjoy a majority.
It re-nominated Speaker of the dissolved Lok Sabha, Manohar Joshi, and Union ministers Anandrao Adsul and Subodh Mohite.
Gehlot, however, refused to disclose names of those behind the toppling bids allegedly involving transfer of money for horsetrading. "A complaint has been lodged with the SOG so that investigation about those who are involved in this organised crime of money transfer could be conducted," Gehot said at a press conference.
Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav, his party colleague Pawan K Verma in Bihar and senior Congress leaders B K Hariprasad and Rajiv Gowda of Karnataka were among the 12 candidates who filed their nominations on Monday on the last day for June 19 elections for Rajya Sabha berths in 4 states.
