On June 26, for the likes of me, the music died. Any impression of potential change held forth by the outcome of the 2024 general election, was vaporised, reveals Shyam G Menon.
Amid deepening fissures in Kumar's ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, BJP leaders have indicated that they are open to tying up with him again.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Sena bloc led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the 'real political party' after its split in June 2022.
The action comes a day after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs who were inducted as ministers. Tatkare's daughter Aditi was among the ministers who took oath on Sunday.
The former union minister has also been made a member of the TMC national working committee as per the order issued on Monday by TMC general secretary Subrata Bakshi.
Wang Junzheng, Tibet's new Communist party boss, is on a number of sanctions lists by the US, Britain, the EU and Canada, for his tough role in Xinjiang, aimed at China's Uyghur ethnic minority, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
'Politics is a game of public perception and my father felt that by his long disappearances, Rahul Gandhi was losing the battle of perception.'
Determined not to be arm-twisted into delaying the execution, he decided to hold a late night hearing at his residence. In the pitch blackness of the night, the original verdict was upheld. The next morning, on 9 October 1992, General Vaidya's assassins were hanged until death.
It is thanks to the policy of liberalisation conceived by Manmohan Singh and enforced by P V Narasimha that the Indian economy has now become the world's 5th largest economy by nominal GDP, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The Champai Soren-led coalition government in Jharkhand will seek trust vote on February 5, minister Alamgir Alam said on Friday after a Cabinet meeting.
Nearly half of the MPs elected in the 2019 general elections in India were first-timers.
Ajit Pawar-led group was the real Nationalist Congress Party when two factions emerged in the party in July 2023, Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday held.
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
A 10-member delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) had announced the dharna after meeting a full bench of the Election Commission (EC) to press their demand.
In a state where thin margins and minor swings decide electoral outcomes, nothing can be left to chance, even for those relishing the cocooned life, observes Shyam G Memon.
'Besides Ayodhya, the BJP lost in nine other constituencies with a Ramayana imprint; it tasted success only in Thrissur.' 'In Rameswaram, K Navaskani of the Indian Union Muslim League won with a 44% voteshare in a 84% Hindu constituency.' 'In the 21 seats in the Ayodhya and Varanasi regions, both crucial to the Hindutva project, the BJP won just 7.' 'It won just 3 out of 12 seats around Modi's constituency,' points out Krishna Prasad.
Constituencies that are going to the polls in the first phase, slated for April 19, have just 19 days for campaigning. Contrast that with those going to polls in the 7th phase, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
The results in Karnataka were declared on May 13 but the party has not finalised its chief ministerial face yet and the process of consultations is on.
'The BJP is doing politics 24x365, but the Congress revs up only during elections.'
The political heat in West Bengal has been giving the rising mercury levels serious competition since the high court order.
The Chinese Communist Party's all important 19th Party Congress is just months away, and President Xi Jinping finds himself confronting unlikely challenges to his pre-eminent position, says former RA&W officer and China watcher Jayadeva Ranade.
Three different invitations were sent out for the wedding and the receptions with top-run guests being sent a large red box that contained an intricate chest incorporating a mini silver temple featuring gold idols of various Hindu deities, including Lord Ganesh, Radha-Krishna, and Goddess Durga.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
After the outbreak of the pandemic in the country he has ruled with an iron hand in recent years, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist party of China, has mostly stayed put in Beijing.
The Assam government released full-page advertisements in newspapers claiming Bhimashankar as one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in the state, Mahesh Pathak, president of All India Tirth Purohit Mahasabha, told reporters in Mathura.
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
'People in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people.' 'Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you.'
Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party, some opposition leaders also wondered if Goel resigned to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket like former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
'I declared myself a Sikh. We want freedom from caste discrimination.'
'It will be the end of the Congress after the Lok Sabha election.' 'Many Congressmen and even Communists will move to the BJP.'
In an interview with PTI, Roy praised the Union government for implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, stating that it would benefit the refugee population, including the Matua community, who had fled neighbouring countries to escape religious persecution.
Hu, 79, sitting next to President Xi Jinping in the front row with other top leaders at the ornate Great Hall of People was persuaded to leave the meeting by two men, presumably security guards.
Upset about being snubbed by INDIA, Nitish Kumar is weighing his political options. BJP would like him back knowing that it would jolt the Opposition alliance, perhaps irreversibly.
Leader of the opposition in the assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha of the Bharatiya Janaat Party, sat next to Choudhary and he was seen exchanging pleasantries with Kumar.
Droupadi Murmu scripted history on Thursday by becoming India's first tribal President in the one-sided contest, defeating Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
He will be around for another crack at the elections, and a clear majority, predicts Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
In the event of Left parties deciding to withdraw support forcing a mid-term poll for the Lok Sabha both the sides have a lot to lose, as the shadow-boxing between them will have an impact on the poll outcome, political observers point out. Knowing well that CPI-M is ideologically opposed to the nuclear deal and that it would not have a direct bearing on the electorate, the Congress party is confident of facing people, but not before bringing down the spiralling prices.
Soon after the suspension of 33 opposition Lok Sabha MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all democratic norms have been thrown into the dustbin by this "autocratic" government and it has shown zero accountability towards Parliament.
Modi, in his rally just days ahead of the last phase of the Lok Sabha election, also said that "well-wishers of Naveen babu are worried over his deteriorating health condition."
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