In fact, given the current tensions and massed troops on both sides, there is a danger that the LAC will become more like the Line of Control with Pakistan, a heavily fortified and strongly defended border where weapon fire exchanges regularly occur. Indeed, Stratfor Worldview research has listed a sharp increase in new Chinese facilities along the LAC in 2019-20.
Parties including the Congress, Left, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have written to the Election Commission and the President opposing the advancing of the budget presentation to February 1 before the polls.
He also sought to know if Modi, during his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, asked the latter about the 2017 Doklam standoff.
Amid a controversy over the recent the JNU row, the BJP said freedom of expression does not give a right to call for the country's destruction.
Presently director at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's Sugarcane Breeding Centre in Coimbatore, Bakshi Ram's next target is to improve both cane yields and sucrose content in cane varieties cultivated beyond the Vindhyas in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as also Maharashtra.
Central Administrative Tribunal says orders unjustified and against principles of natural justice. Nitin Sethi reports
"We always said Tuki did not have a majority. His resignation proves BJP right as well as the actions of the governor," its national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
'The BJP has done the Uri surgical strikes, handled the Dokalam crisis and the Balakot strikes.' 'So if there is a de-escalation only at the diplomatic level and not resolving this issue of a colonel being killed, then it translates into public anger.'
Putting up a brave front, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday asserted the Harish Rawat government remains in a minority and it will be proved on April 29 when it takes the floor test, after the Uttrakhand high court restored the Congress government, revoking the President's rule.
The EC limits campaign expenses incurred by a candidate to Rs 50 lakh to Rs 70 lakh. But there is no such limit on spending for parties. The vendors aren't complaining.
The party managed only 52 seats on its own and many of its top leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia were defeated in the polls.
Giving yet another twist to the continuing political drama in Uttarakhand, the division bench has stayed the Thursday's floor test in the state assembly till April 7.
The Delhi police is under the Centre hence they need to explain about the issuance of license in violation of rules, the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said.
In a major development in the ongoing Samajwadi Party feud, Mulayam Singh Yadav has postponed the national convention of party called by him on January 5.
'A lack of strategic trust and the 'persistent security dilemma' prevails between India and China,' points out Dr Rup Narayan Das.
As the Modi government completed two years in office, Singh also made it clear that not allowing an the National Investigation Agency team to probe the Pathankot terror strike will amount to "betrayal".
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said she is not afraid of anything as the party has nothing to hide in the case.
In more than a dozen assembly constituencies, the Muslim community, locally known as 'Pangal' or 'Meitei Pangal', can swing results.
The Supreme Court had last month ruled that any appeal for votes on the ground of 'religion, race, caste, community or language' amounted to 'corrupt practice' under the electoral law.
Political analysts say that with 32 per cent vote share, the BJP would still be ahead of what BSP had polled in 2007 or SP in 2012.
'The Himmatsinghji Report is still 'missing'.' 'It is a great loss for the knowledge of India's borders.' 'It would have an immense value at a time China is bound to shift its attention to other border fronts in the Himalayas,' notes Claude Arpi.
As the virus continued to spread its tentacles across India, several parts, including Kashmir valley headed towards a virtual lockdown with the administration restricting movement of people in several parts and banning all public transport in Srinagar city.
'The potential of one such LAC engagement going out of control and leading to heavy casualties cannot be ruled out,' warns Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who have extended support to the Congress to form the government in the state, were not present.
Narendra Modi on Sunday hit back at Sonia Gandhi over her 'zeher ki kheti' barb saying it is the Congress which spews poison and reaps the harvest out of it with its divisive politics.
'With 27 days to go, the total bank deposits has come tantalisingly close to the Rs 14 lakh crores of banned notes which was in the financial system on November 8.' 'Black money hoarders may have actually laundered their black money into white,' argues Rajeev Sharma.
The results are a ringing endorsement of Modi's popularity, his government's achievements in the last five years and his campaign, which centred around national security, nationalism and Hindutva.
'The problem of a Hindu rashtra is that it has no text which can be adapted to the modern world.' 'The most prominent element of the Hindu way of organising society and the State is through caste.' 'This is not acceptable to most Hindus.' 'Because a Hindu rashtra also erodes the power and the rights of the majority of Hindus, we can be assured that this is not something that the BJP, or any other force can do,' argues Aakar Patel.
'Perhaps it isn't protocol at all, but power before which we abase ourselves,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
A senior Congress leader said the Opposition's presidential pick Meira Kumar might also pay a visit to Lucknow to seek votes from the electoral college as the party "will not leave any stone unturned" for the election.
'There's nothing in the 2019 campaign air, the chunavi hawa that tells you it's a wave election, for anyone,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
Close friend Tarun Vijay pays tribute to the four-time Goa chief minister and former defence minister who passed into the ages on Sunday.
'Sachin Pilot once calculated that with a million Indians flooding the labour market every month, only an additional 12 million jobs annually could keep unemployment at the same level.' 'That's chickenfeed for the functionaries who cram my e-mail inbox every day with such a constant flow of job offers that trying to empty it is like trying to drink dry the horn connected to the ocean in Norse mythology,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Here are some reactions by political leaders to the five-state election verdict.
'What made him so adored even among those who didn't agree with him? It was his sincerity and a clear heart that throbbed for Indian unity which won him admiration across the faults of the political divide,' says Tarun Vijay, MP.
Modi said he saw the election results, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, as the "foundation of the new India".
Forget India, UP won't accept Rahul's leadership, says Rita Bahuguna Joshi while joining the BJP
If the PM gives the historic opportunity of laying the foundation stone of the Ram temple to a Dalit girl, it will send a transformational message to the Dalits in India and will give them a sense of belongingness, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
The election in this seat is also important for Union minister and local MP Mahesh Sharma who has considerable influence the area.
Fate of more than ten Governors, including Karnataka's H R Bhardwaj and Punjab's Shivraj V Patil, appointed by the outgoing UPA government hangs in balance with indications that the new dispensation may politely ask them to vacate the Raj Bhavans.
