According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Taking the supporters of Telangana supporters by surprise the Union government has given its nod to the ambitious Information Technology Investment Region proposal for Hyderabad which envisions an investment of Rs 2.19 lakh crore in and around the city over the next 25 years.
'There is a huge risk of misinformation and disinformation, and targeted campaigns that could potentially happen against candidates or to push certain narratives.'
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
Jai Bolo Telangana may attract only the supporters of the cause to the theatres.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
While Chouhan has emerged as a favourite to remain at the helm in MP despite the presence of some challengers, the leadership race is wide open in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, two states where the BJP has snatched power from the Congress.
Yadav accused the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in the state of floating the gimmick of reservation for minorities while doing no good for any section of society.
The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
The Election Commission on Wednesday changed the date of polling for the Rajasthan assembly elections from November 23 to November 25 in view of demands for a change given "large-scale" weddings in the state that day.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
The development comes days ahead of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state to inaugurate various projects.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa spoke to several legal and constitutional experts on the issue.
Should he begin the yatra from Gujarat's Porbandar, the birthplace of the Mahatma, on October 2, and skip campaigning for the five assembly polls?
"The issue is not pertaining only to Andhra Pradesh now. It is for the government of India to show us a way to resolve the crisis and help restore normalcy," he told a press conference in Hyderabad, a week after Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement favouring the creation of Telangana.
The joint statement was issued by senior leaders of 13 opposition parties, including interim president of Congress Sonia Gandhi, the Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar, and the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
There are concerns within the Congress with respect to the articulation of the party's demand for the caste census, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently accusing the grand old party of attempting to divide Hindus through its push for the Other Backward Classes.
The government rejected the contention on Friday that it has developed any second thoughts on the issue of Telangana, saying that the process with regard to its creation is underway and won't be affected by assembly elections in five states.
A Home Ministry spokesperson said the committee will hold wide-ranging consultations with all sections of people and different political parties and groups in Andhra Pradesh. The committee is headed by former Supreme Court Judge B N Srikrishna.
'Politics is a game of public perception and my father felt that by his long disappearances, Rahul Gandhi was losing the battle of perception.'
Despite the growing clamour from the central government on India turning digital, and banks requesting direct bank account transfer, the state government decided to hand over cheques to the farmers, which can be immediately converted into cash.
The TRS on Tuesday alleged that the Centre was being 'insensitive' in not bifurcating the high court so far.
The process involving the formation of a separate Telangana state will rest largely with the general public rather than the political leaders, Telangana Rashtra Samiti general secretary Subhash Reddy said on Thursday.
Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in three assembly polls.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday picked first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister, ending days of speculation that followed its victory in the assembly polls.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Sunday exuded confidence that its national president, who was sworn in as Bihar CM for a record ninth time after forming a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, will win Monday's trust vote.
Interestingly both parties in question are in denial mode, but reliable sources say that the offer to merge was made by the Congress.
Rao's son K T Rama Rao, a TRS leader said that they are open to a working relationship with the Congress. "Give us some time, and we will work out the modalities and take the next step," he said in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
With Kiran Kumar Reddy adamant that he will step down as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after the announcement on Telangana is made, the Congress is exploring the option of bringing Konijeti Rosaiah, the former CM back to the state to head the government. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
K Kavitha dared PM Modi to put her and other leaders behind the bars.
The 1987-batch IPS officer, who retired in DGP rank in 2020, is currently running an NGO, which aims to bring cheers to the marginal sections of the society.
IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A), which had agreed to set up a campus in the state, has not been able to start work due to the political uncertainty caused by the Telangana issue.
Hyderabad, which would be the joint capital of Telangana and the Andhra region for 10 years, could be modelled after Delhi where law and order is handled by the Centre, Congress leader Digvijay Singh has said.
Modi believes that the Congress leadership does not have the political sagacity to undertake a course correction because of its preoccupation about not losing its current gains in the voter base, observes Shekhar Iyer.
Two Congress members of Parliament from Telangana region have sent back their gunmen to the government saying the people were enough to protect them and they don't need any security.
The UPA managers feel the remaining phase of the Winter Session of Parliament, which will be dominated by the Telangana issue, may actually end up as a repeat of previous sessions. Anita Katyal reports.
Political crisis in Andhra Pradesh over the proposed Telangana statehood further deepened on Saturday with 20 ministers resigning for the cabinet.
The BJP is faced with the crucial question of who will lead the party in the four impending state polls this year: In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
