The BJP scripted history by opening its account in the state assembly.
Congress workers must feel what their BJP counterparts did in 2009, but that could change.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad and other leaders claimed the countdown for the ouster of the BJP and its allies from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had begun.
'In the long term, the party that is going to be irrelevant is the Left.' 'It seems absurd that the people of Kerala are the last ones to wake up to the reality that this kind of discredited dogmatic ideological politics has no place in the modern world.'
'There is a design of fundamentalists that the north east must become an Islamic country.'
'Bangladeshi Muslims want to increase their population in India.' 'They have made colonies in India.' 'Rohingyas are doing the same.' 'This has to stop.'
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
Cross-voting by Left and Congress MLAs on Friday helped Trinamool Congress gain an extra seat in West Bengal while a similar action by Congress MLAs in Andhra Pradesh saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi making its debut in Rajya Sabha as high drama marked the polls to the upper House in the two states.
Mudslinging and verbal attacks will definitely surge once the poll dates are announced, but as with any state, there are some crucial issues which will play a significant role in influencing voters in Assam too, says Devanik Saha.
Polling to elect representatives to the 140-member Kerala assembly, 232-member Tamil Nadu assembly and the 30-member Puducherry territorial assembly began at 7 am on Monday.
'The Congress will never change its ideology, but to fight this new kind of propaganda politics, we have to prepare ourselves.'
'The BJP's tie-ups with the Bodoland People's Front and the Asom Gana Parishad have incurred the wrath of local party leaders and workers ahead of next month's assembly elections.'
Unlike the LDF and NDA nominees who are at ground zero and campaigning hard every day, the Congress candidate's campaign is undertaken in absentia, dependent on an army of local and imported from the rest of Kerala Congresswomen and men.
The victory of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front in 12 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state has made Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stronger as Kerala is one of the few states that bucked the anti-Congress trend in the country.
Launching a fresh attack on Defence Minister A K Antony, Narendra Modi on Tuesday charged that the country's defence had suffered seriously during his stewardship and said he owed an explanation to the people for this.
She said there were attempts to communalise the guru's teachings and this amounts to 'betraying' him.
The last leg of poll campaign saw many national leaders canvassing for their parties.
Modi said this time 'a third decisive strength is emerging in Kerala and I am seeing this', thanking the thousands of people who stood braving the scorching heat.
Those who have studied Assam elections say the high turnout has the Congress worried.
It's been 13 days that the Winter Session commenced, but no work has taken place as MPs continue to spar over the note ban.
Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani resigned on Tuesday night after pressure mounted on him from the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front to quit.
The Bharatiya Janata Party appeared to cede ground in Uttar Pradesh where Samajwadi Party was leading on six of the 11 Assembly seats where bypolls were held while it was neck and neck with Congress in Gujarat and behind in Rajasthan, exactly four months after it swept the three states in Lok Sabha elections.
In a boost to the United Democratic Front ahead of assembly polls in Kerala next year, the Congress candidate K S Sabarinadhan on Tuesday won the Aruvikkara assembly by-poll by a margin of 10,128 votes defeating his nearest rival M Vijayakumar of the Opposition Left Democratic Front.
81 per cent voter turnout recorded in West Bengal, 80 per cent in Assam.
Assembly elections in Assam used to be a quiet affair and people outside the state would take little interest in the outcome. This time, even in faraway Delhi, people are keeping tabs on political developments in Assam.
As fuel prices continue its northward march with petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 80.73 and Rs 72.83 per litre in the national capital, at least 21 opposition parties, led by the Congress have staged a Bharat Bandh protesting the rise in fuel prices and depreciation of the rupee.
'It is our aim to capture power and rule in Kerala. We may not be able to achieve our target in one attempt.' 'By just hammering once, you will not be able to break a rock; you need to hammer the rock several times.'
'Continuity in a common agenda is essential, not to disrupt the progress achieved so far,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The Congress has been reduced to a C player in national politics thanks to its inability to read the pulse of the people, says Rashme Sehgal.
'In Kerala, if the Left had worked on stopping fascism the BJP would not have become a force today.'
'Oommen Chandy may well prove to be the Teflon chief minister whose reputation cannot be tarnished,' predicts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Kerala society is more advanced than any other society in India and everybody is more aware of the laws and how to proceed against the accused. So, you cannot blame Kerala based on the crime records,' says state home minister Ramesh Chennithala.
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
Bodo tribals influence as many as 30 seats. No wonder, national parties are keen to forge alliances with Bodo groups.
Unfazed by the absence of leaders of the Left, the Janata Dal-United, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee along with some regional parties on Tuesday sought to put up a united face raising the pitch against demonetisation by demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The year 2015 was a mixed bag for the Grand Old party --with the performance in Bihar being a consolation while the the National Herald case came back to haunt its leadership.
Buffalo meat was on Wednesday back on the menu of the Kerala House in New Delhi and was lapped up by the lunch-time crowd as the items that were briefly discontinued following a row that saw police carry out a raid at the canteen were sold out within "45 minutes".
'Modi swept the 2014 elections for two main reasons: First, the disgust with the Congress government with a non-functional prime minister, and second, more importantly, his promise of performance and hope.' 'He cannot expect to win 2019 on these planks again. His own success in finishing the Congress will take away one plank, and with five years of reign on his CV, he will need to flaunt performance more than promise.'
'It is heartening to know that from Narendra Modi downwards every significant leader in the BJP is angry with the gushers of that nonsense about a 'Hindu Rashtra' or the questioning of Sania Mirza's credentials,' reveals Virendra Kapoor.
'Instead of camping in the cities and leading the party, leaders have to go to the interiors of the country.' 'The Congress is losing touch with the common man.'
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