Page 8 - National Politics

Lok Sabha elections: Will RLD tie-up help BJP retain Muzaffarnagar?

For 2024, Balyan would expect an easier contest than five years back when the RLD, SP, and Bahujan Samaj Party had an alliance

Battleground 2024: J&K Assembly polls and statehood soon, says PM Modi

Modi questioned the intent of those posting videos of eating meat during Sawan, Navaratras

Modi's new BJP at 44

As the BJP heads for a likely third successive term in power, it's fascinating to debate how true it looks to the original proposition: A party with a difference

LS polls: Of filial bonds, sibling rivalries and ideological obligation

Family dynamics and political allegiances reflect both individual ambitions and familial ties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls

Bijnor's electoral journey: From BSP's legacy to 3-cornered battle in 2024

The history of Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency is intertwined with the rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its party chief Mayawati

After influencers, PM Modi targets young voters via online gamers

The "State of India Gaming Report" released by Google and Lumikai last year stated that the country has around 568 million gamers, and 50 per cent of these are between the ages of 18 to 30

LS polls: SP promises caste-based census, guarantee for MSP in manifesto

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday unveiled the party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, promising a caste-based census by 2025, a legal guarantee for MSP, and scrapping of the Agnipath scheme. The manifesto -- 'Janta Ka Maang Patra - Humara Adhikar' -- was released at the SP headquarters here in the presence of senior party leaders. The 20-page document has called for a PDA government this time. PDA is an acronym for Pichde (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities) that was coined by Yadav. The SP is a constituent of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said a caste-wise census would be conducted after the formation of the INDIA bloc government at the Centre to fill all the vacant government posts of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes by 2025. He said the Agnipath military recruitment scheme would be scrapped and regular recruitment in the

Battleground 2024: Next govt to pursue reforms agenda, says Citigroup

Citigroup said simple consolidation of Opposition votes is unlikely to significantly affect electoral outcomes for BJP given its dominant vote share in 2019

In Maharashtra deal, Uddhav's Sena gets lion's share, Cong takes back seat

Congress stepping back and allowing the Sena (UBT) to take the lead in the Lok Sabha fight was a sign of the national party's enlightened self-interest

Birender, Brijendra's BJP exit puts spotlight back on farmers' agitation

Birender believes the farmers' issues have not been resolved to this day, says wife Prem Lata

BJP's poll outreach: World's leading parties RSVP for festival of democracy

In all, more than two dozen political parties have been sent invitations and more are expected to be added to the list

Annamalai Kuppuswamy: Will 'Singham' deliver a blockbuster for BJP in TN?

Annamalai quit the police service in September 2019 and joined the BJP in 2020. Despite losing the 2021 Assembly polls from Aravakurichi, he was elevated to the post of state party chief the same year

Katchatheevu conundrum: Can disputed island set tone for campaigning in TN?

Katchatheevu, located northeast of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and southwest of Sri Lanka's Delft island, has been a subject of dispute between the two countries since 1921

Politics for nuclear winter

Opposition parties know better than most what they are up against. Much of the talk among them is more about where they could limit Modi, rather than having him voted out of power

BJP has an ambitious target

To go to 370, it would have to cross 45 per cent of the vote share. The aggregated National Democratic Alliance won 45 per cent of the vote in 2019, and 353 seats

The passing of the technocrat age

The 1990s and 2000s were a golden age for technocrats globally. Government - and not just in India - was, depending upon your point of view, either depoliticised or too highly politicised

People fed up with graft, inflation; want change in regime: Supriya Sule

People want a change in the country as they are fed up with corruption, unemployment and inflation, claimed NCP (SP) leader and MP Supriya Sule on Thursday. Sule, who has been fielded by her party from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra's Pune district, accused the present government of being against women and farmers. The three-term parliamentarian and daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar is pitted against her sister-in-law and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar. Baramati will go to polls in the third phase on May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4. People want a change in the country as they are fed up with corruption, unemployment and inflation. As this government is against women and farmers, they want a change in the regime, Sule said on the sidelines of a protest organised by her party's city unit against the hike in power rates. Asked about speculations that NCP leader Eknath Khadse might join the BJP, Sule said she could not sa

Election Commission asks Centre to stop Viksit Bharat WhatsApp campaign

After receiving several complaints from citizens and Opposition parties, the ECI directed MeitY to stop the delivery of 'Viksit Bharat' WhatsApp messages since the Model Code of Conduct is in force

Katchatheevu row: Island history, controversy and handover to Sri Lanka

The decades-long Katchatheevu island controversy has erupted again with PM Modi calling the move to cede the island to Sri Lanka by the Congress in 1974, 'callous'

Seems country being run not by govt but criminal gang: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "strangling" democracy and said it seems the country is being run not by a government but by a "criminal gang". Gandhi's attack on the government came a day before the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance's (INDIA) public meeting at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan which the Congress has termed 'Loktantra Bachao Rally'. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi wants to strangle democracy and take away the option from the people to choose a government of their choice." "On one hand, the BJP, which is doing 'chande ka dhanda', is running an 'extortion government' in the country, while on the other hand, by freezing the accounts of the main opposition party, putting chief ministers in jail and suppressing every independent voice, it is not allowing opposition to contest the polls in a fair manner," Gandhi said. "Whoever is not with BJP - jail him. Whoever donates to BJP - bail him out. With th