'We have got together to save the democracy, Constitution and brotherhood. The country's constitutional institutions are being misused and the country's wealth is being sold out'
The BJP enters challenging times where it has been given a task to hold onto the values of Ram in running the country as defined by Narendra Modi in Ayodhya, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Pratinav Anil is able to foresee some agency and assertion on the part of India's Muslims. His hope emanates from the citizenship rights movement of Muslims in 2019-2020, notes Mohammad Sajjad.
Raising doubts about the longevity of the Siddaramaiah-led new Congress government in Karnataka, Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday said its future is dependent on the results of the 2024 Parliament elections.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
The alliance adopted a resolution to this effect and said its theme for the elections will be "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India, (India will unite, India will win)".
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
"We have a commitment before the people of Karnataka. Parliament elections are ahead. So, I have to bow to the AICC president and the Gandhi family. In the larger interest of the party (I have agreed to the formula) and why not, because sometimes the ice should break. Ultimately, there is a responsibility towards what we have a commitment to the people of Karnataka and we have to deliver," he said.
Kumaraswamy was speaking after releasing the first list of 93 JD-S candidates for the election.
Shankar went to Karnataka Legislative Council chairman Basavaraj Horatti's office and tendered his hand-written resignation.
'"PM Shastri ji created...VP Radhakrishnanji inaugurated. Narendra Modi closed it. Nehru ji lives in the hearts of INDIA'
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
While arithmetic political stability is a reality, the end result of politics in Maharashtra is hard to predict.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
Banners have come up in front of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar's residences in Bengaluru, erected by supporters, congratulating them for Congress win and projecting them as "next CM".
The Opposition Congress on Saturday seemed to be on course to breach rival Bharatiya Janata Party's lone southern citadel Karnataka, inching towards the magic figure of 113 needed to form a government on its own.
'I have faith in the party high command. I have certain principles. I can also take about 50 legislators and do the shouting, but for me the discipline of the party is important. If people like us don't follow things, there won't be any discipline in the party. I have said that if the high command gives me the responsibility, I will take it up. I have not said I won't'
According to Congress, the five schemes are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
The first Karnataka legislative assembly session, after the formation of the new government will be held on starting Monday next week in Bengaluru.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and union territories(UTs) to register cases against those making hate speeches even without any complaint, terming these speeches as a 'serious offence' capable of affecting the secular fabric of the country.
The state is mainly witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular).
The current public mood is that it will be a hung assembly. No one, not even in the BJP, is talking about even a simple majority for the party.
Narendra Modi has proved through execution of this event in Ayodhya that amongst all his contemporaries in politics he knows ordinary Indians like none other, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Narendra D Modi and his party campaigned in these elections uncharacteristically without any big ideas. Of course, winning each election at all costs could be a big idea as well, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the two aspiring CMs.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought data on the beneficiaries of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act in Assam, saying there was no material before it which could indicate that the effect of granting Indian citizenship to Bangladeshi immigrants between 1966 and 1971 was so great that it impacted the demographic and cultural identity of the border state.
The top guns of all the major political parties were on a campaign blitz across the state in the past few days, even as the ruling BJP has been striving to break the 38-year-old pattern of alternating governments and retain its southern citadel.
Sena minister Ramdas Kadam claimed that the CM has agreed to cancel the directive.
The BJP leadership knows it can't boast of governance in the state as the Bommai government has little to show. So, the game plan is to project Modi, who will reiterate how important it is for a state to have the same party ruling in power at the Centre, observes Ramesh Menon.
Top state leaders--Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Congress' Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar and Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy are contesting from different seats.
The opposition bloc also got support from Telanagana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS, which saw the bill as a move to usurp powers of an elected government in Delhi, and asked the House to vote against it.
Bharatiya Janata Party's southern ally Al India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday reiterated its stand against the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code.
It had meant nothing but moments of intimacy, sweet but transient moments. An intriguing excerpt from Manju Kapur's new novel The Gallery.
The veteran socialist leader, who ended his long alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party last year, was responding to queries from journalists about the 'Hindu Rashtra' clamour, which was openly endorsed earlier this week by his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath.
The opposition alliance that will take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and an 11-member committee will be set up for coordination, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced after a meeting of the parties in Bengaluru.
A bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava passed the order on the public interest litigation filed by one Sudhir Kumar who argued that the film, if released/broadcast, is likely to create hatred amongst different religious denominations and thereby destroy the secular fabric of India.
The transmogrification of Prime Minister Modi to Saint Modi began with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. By identifying himself with Lord Ram, Modi raised himself in popular imagination to a saintly person.
'There was an overt campaign and there was a covert campaign. The overt campaign may be development, government, and all this nonsense. But the covert campaign, which Mr Amit Shah was doing, was far more important with the help of RSS cadres. This has been an RSS election. From day one I have been saying, this is not Congress versus the BJP, this is Congress versus the RSS,' says Jairam Ramesh, one of the key strategists of the Congress party.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will have an understanding with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in Karnataka.