"I will take Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) along... my relation with him is unbreakable," he said during an informal chat.
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
The great Indian election is over and now the wait for the results is shrinking with every passing moment. Though exit polls hint at a cakewalk for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Democratic Alliance, there are some battles which will be keenly observed on the result day.
The Congress president inaugurated a photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life at the historic Swaraj Bhavan where the former prime minister was born.
Sunday's results may be a bitter pill that the Congress has to swallow -- that its future cannot be hitched to Rahul unless he can resonate with the people, feels Saroj Nagi.
Attacking the Election Commission, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said that people have started doubting the credibility of the EVMs in a "big way".
'Scindia's willingness to consort with the BJP, a party he has rightly, and eloquently, excoriated in various speeches and statements in the recent past suggest a shallowness and hollowness of convictions and principles.'
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday the Aam Aadmi Party's plea seeking a direction to the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve Delhi assembly and hold fresh polls along with Lok Sabha elections.
Sharply attacking the Congress and the BJP for being in collusion to defeat the Jan Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal, who resigned as the Delhi chief minister, on Friday evening said that people will teach both the parties a lesson in future.
Basic salary of legislators will rise from current Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 and overall monthly package will be around Rs 2.1 lakh as against Rs 88,000 at present.
"It cannot be more unfortunate than the fact that you need somebody to make you realise the promises you have made to the public and you end up expelling that person from the party," the Laxmi Nagar MLA told reporters soon after he was expelled from the party.
Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi's seventh chief minister on Saturday at historic Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, capping his party's stunning electoral debut in the December 4 assembly polls. The date for the swearing-in ceremony was finalised at a meeting Kejriwal held with Chief Secretary D M Spolia.
The chief minister dug out appointments of parliamentary secretaries by the Congress and the BJP governments in the national capital in the past and said many of them including Ajay Maken, who had held the post, even had his own staff and access to important official files.
Storming the capital with a whirlwind campaign, Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram and alleged that they have ruined the country with their "bookish knowledge".
The Congress on Saturday claimed that Narendra Modi's campaign would soon peak as he has nothing new to say and keeps making 'mistakes'.
Upping the ante against the Congress, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused it of pursuing a "divide and rule" policy by fanning tensions between Hindus and Muslims.
Attacking the central government, he said it has made everybody stand in queue and wondered if this was the 'achche din' for which people had voted for Narendra Modi. "It has harmed the economy," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's remark in the assembly on Friday that only one gang rape in the city in December last year had prompted her government to launch the 181 helpline drew sharp criticism with the Bharatiya Janata Party saying it reflected her "insensitivity" towards women.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to apprise it by October 10 about the outcome of political process initiated by the Lt Governor by writing a letter to the President on exploring the possibility of government formation in Delhi.
'For a party with a fuzzy ideology, one that lives only for power, having a leadership that thought vaguely about returning to power in the distant future was a distinct handicap,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The Congress chief hit out at the BJP's ideological mentor, the RSS, alleging that it was a "male chauvinist organisation" and did not have women in it, thus cannot do what the Congress can for women.
'Rahul is misguided by a handful of family retainers who don't want him to show unrestrained initiative in forming allies.' says Sudhir Bisht.
Mamata Banerjee's TMC and Kejriwal's AAP challenged the old order.
SP-Congress alliance is likely to consolidate Muslim vote in their favour.
The party said that the Delhi cricket body had become a den of corruption during Jaitley's 13-year rule.
'Probably only Sonia-ji knows the extent of what he is doing.'
The results are being seen as a ringing endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies and a reflection of his unmatched popularity.
'He should bring in a working president from outside the family.'
He is starting to realise that an era is ending. And he is not ready to have a five-decade career besmirched by two alphabets -- AP -- that have cropped up in the AgustaWestland papers, says Aditi Phadnis.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Law Minister Somnath Bharti on separate pleas of two BJP leaders seeking to declare their election as void on the ground that they exceeded the poll expense limit of Rs 14 lakh each.
The Congress president said that if he was allowed to speak for 15 minutes on a host of issues, including the Nirav Modi scam, PM Modi would "run away".
As rumblings in Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party over chief ministerial candidate continue, its chief Vijay Goel on Monday said he was not a contender for the position but sought an early decision on the contentious issue which has virtually split the party and derailed its campaign for the polls.
In a brief statement, Jung's office said he has submitted his resignation to the government of India and that he would be returning back to academics, 'his first love'.
He had been on leave since February 23.
With Centre, state and municipal governments passing the buck on issues as critical as sanitation, Aditi Phadnis looks at the revolving door politics that is often played with the running of local self government
With the Aam Aadmi Party fighting for survival, Congress struggling for an identity and the BJP seeking to hold on to its political capital, these elections will be one of the most interesting India, says Aditi Phadnis
On the eve of Arvind Kejriwal's swearing-in as Delhi chief minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday asked its newly elected members of Legislative Assembly to be prepared for "snap polls" in near future, stating that tenability of the Aam Admi Party government with Congress support looks extremely suspect.
'You've got to be a doer to be re-elected.' 'You don't have to be a great communicator or an orator any more because voters want to see action and development on the ground.' 'And they want a doer rather than just an orator.'
'Kejriwal has read the Constitution, still he misused office to benefit his MLAs.' 'If the BJP and Congress are wrong, does that mean even you will do wrong things?' 'So how is Kejriwal different from the others?'
Prithviraj Chavan helping out Delhi's government tide over high onion prices has not gone down well in his home state of Maharashtra, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
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