'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'
I hope those who underestimate Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be proved wrong in this fight for Thiruvananthapuram's future, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
'People have only seen me crying and being this martyr mother and sacrificing wife.' 'But I want to do something which is dark, something mysterious.'
'You're going to have your own journey and that can be very beautiful.' 'It can also be very terrifying because there is no precedence.'
'...by combining religious and political missions -- to destroy the Babri Masjid and establish Ram Rajya.' 'Hindutva was successful in creating synergy with the aspirations of devotees,' Dhirendra K Jha, author of Ayodhya: The Dark Night, tells Kanika Datta.
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
The police identified the driver and the vehicle through the CCTV footage of the area.
While Lok Sabha members across party lines demanded an inquiry, hundreds of students continued their protests near Rau's IAS Study Circle in the west Delhi locality where the horror unfolded Saturday night, killing the three students trapped in the basement illegally used as a library as floodwaters rose outside.
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
'Now that the Ram mandir is done, we need to move on. And grapple with COVID-19, a sputtering economy, a belligerent China...' 'The temple may win a few more elections for the BJP, but by itself it won't solve the nation's growing problems of economic and social distress,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
From the 'khiladi' brand of movies rocking his boat to a love for starring in biopics and scripts inspired by true stories to headlining endless remakes of South Indian hits, there's a pattern to the man and his methods.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
'He should not come to Kerala and fight against the CPI which is an integral part of the INDIA alliance'
'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
Clashes were reported from Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, Narayanpur in North 24 Parganas, and Alipurduar town in north Bengal, among others.
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
'The prime minister took a meeting recently and he asked for suggestions and ideas for a plan till 2047.'
The opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side, and consultations in this regard have already begun.
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
The Congress has not released a poll manifesto but a declaration of appeasement.
A Capitol Police officer was killed and another injured after a man rammed his car into a security barrier outside the United States Capitol and then got out of the vehicle and lunged towards the officers with a knife, setting off a major security scare.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
'Who are these people on the streets?' 'They are youth and students who were hoodwinked, bluffed by Modi for the last seven years, with a promise of 2 crore jobs every year.' 'And Mamata sings the same tune.' 'But the youth can see that as long as there is Mamata or Modi, there is no hope.'
'We need a candidate who will do our work and fight with the authorities; someone we can hold accountable.' 'Piyush Goyal is not that candidate.'
'I have serious doubts about the longevity of the NDA government and the longevity of the 18th Lok Sabha itself.'
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
The issue combined with its alliance with anti-Congress parties in 1989 won the BJP 85 seats in Lok Sabha elections against mere two in 1984.
Rahul Gandhi's focus will be on his Nyay Yatra, rather than the INDIA bloc's election campaign, leading to speculation among allies that the Congress leader is already looking at the Opposition's fight beyond May 2024.
Stars from the south Indian movie industry have stepped up to do what they can to help out.
Shah made the announcement while addressing the passing out parade of the first batch of the five newly constituted Assam Police Commando battalions in Guwahati.
Sukanya Verma lists her this week's OTT recommendations.
'I have been battling cancer for the last six months. Now, I feel that the time has come to inform people about it'
The Mahagathbandhan's seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Besides the national capital, polling for the sixth round of the marathon seven-phase elections will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
Reetika Hooda became only the second Indian and first woman wrestler from the country to emerge World champion after her title triumph in the 76kg event at the Under-23 World Championships, in Tirana, Albania, on Friday.
Both the BJP and the Congress have their share of challenges, with finding winning horses on top of this list.
