Singh targeted the Congress using a 'snakes and ladders' analogy, saying the party will fall to zero from 99 after being bitten by a snake -- referring to the grand old party winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi on Sunday described farmers, who have been protesting against three farm laws, as 'our own flesh and blood' and suggested that the government should re-engage with them in reaching common ground.
The girl's family has alleged that she was raped and murdered.
"Krishna was born in Uttar Pradesh but made Gujarat his karma bhoomi. I was born in Gujarat but Uttar Pradesh has adopted me," the PM said in Hardoi.
It also allowed political parties and candidates to hold meetings and rallies with the restriction of using only 50 per cent capacity of space being relaxed.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
Even as Congress General Secretary and the party's in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh on Tuesday sought to describe Rahul Gandhi's 'kisan sandesh yatra', which he launched from Bhatta Parsaul early on Tuesday morning as "completely apolitical", both the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bhartiya Janata Party sought to term it as a "political gimmick."
The Centre and state governments bonded and then fell apart during the longest lockdown walk.
Tandon, son former Chhattisgarh governor late Balramji Das Tandon, assured everyone that he will live up to the expectations and the trust which the BJP has reposed in him.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a post on X that his 18-year-long stint in public service has come to an end.
"Angad Singh has called in a meeting of his supporters on Monday morning to decide his next political step," said a source.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday took a dig at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP leader Mayawati, saying they had 'fear' of visiting Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar during their terms at the helm of the state.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
His visit comes close on the heels of the party holding a series of review meetings in Lucknow, which had fuelled speculation of a ministerial reshuffle in the state.
The share of candidates who were successful among the BJP was 56.5% in 2019. It was 5% for the Congress.
State deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya among 692 candidates are contesting on 61 seats spread across 12 districts in the fifth phase.
What some of our political leaders were up to on Monday.
Addressing media persons in Lucknow, Mayawati said, "The Congress is worried only about Rae Bareli, but I am worried about the whole of Uttar Pradesh." Denying allegations of Sonia that her government was against development, Mayawati alleged that the Congress had put impediments in state government's schemes like Ganga and Yamuna expressways.
Some important simple truths about the issue may be more helpful than high sounding debates, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
Days after the Uttar Pradesh government denied the Vishwa Hindu Parishad permission for the yatra, the row has gained a religious-political colour.
Boxer-cum-politician Vijender Singh has said he has no qualms about admitting that he has paid an emotional price for the decision to make a political switch from the Congress to the BJP, but insisted that he had his reasons to do so.
Priyanka Gandhi addressed 209 rallies and roadshows, the maximum by any top leader during the UP election campaign, followed closely by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who spoke at 203 poll events.
Strongly opposing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for trifurcation of the state, Samajwadi Party on Monday called it a "political gimmick" aimed at diverting people's attention from corruption charges against her.
While Modi had a party and an organisation that supported him, all Mulayam, a self-made man with no inheritance in politics, had was a set of (fairly flexible) beliefs.
Local residents have stressed that land acquisition for rehabilitation must be completed promptly, as it has been delayed after estate owners challenged it in the Kerala high court.
An Allahabad high court bench of Justice Shekhar Yadav had on Thursday last urged the government and the poll panel to consider postponing the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections for a month or two and banning all political rallies amid the fears of an impending third wave of Covid.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised Rahul Gandhi as the leader of opposition on Wednesday, a day after the Congress communicated its decision to name him for the position to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
Family members of Dalit icons B R Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram and other 'prominent people' belonging to the scheduled castes are among those invited for the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, according to sources.
In a veiled attack on the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said political forces were behind the recent Muzaffarnagar communal riots as they feel they cannot achieve electoral victory without creating such conflicts.
'In politics, not everything is spoken and there are a lot of messaging done very discreetly.'
'The BJP would like to build a 'rainbow' coalition of different castes and communities buttressed by the appeal of nationalism and Hindutva.'
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
Commenting on the seat sharing in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said in Ballia that a decision will be made as soon as Surya Uttarayan occurs.
Samajwadi party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Dimple is the first lady from the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister's family to take a plunge into politics.
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda said.
Stressing that the Apna Dal-S stands for social justice, Union minister Anupriya Patel on Monday dissociated her party from "Hindutva and all those issues" and said it is ideologically different from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
