Kumar Uttam

For BJP, turncoats key to breaching Pawar’s citadel

Maharashtra Assembly Election 2019: Why and how Devendra Fadnavis emerged as BJP’s top pick

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has managed to emerge as a strong leader despite not belonging to one of the dominant castes of the western state. Here are the reasons for the rise in his stature.

Why Shiv Sena accepted ‘junior partner’ status in Maharashtra alliance

Sena realises that the BJP’s strength and size has grown manifold over the past five years. The BJP is no more a party of urban pockets and has grown even in rural areas.

BJP announces first list of candidates for Maharashtra polls, CM Devendra Fadnavis to contest from Nagpur

The BJP and the Sena on Monday announced that the two parties will contest the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections together, but stopped short of disclosing their seat-sharing formula.

Centre pledges Rs 560 crore to states for skill development

MSDE minister Mahendra Nath Pandey made this announcement at a meeting with states, which also saw collaboration with 22 organizations to provide apprenticeship training opportunities to more than 2.5 lakh youth in the country.

Haryana assembly elections 2019: In first list of 78 candidates, BJP fields sportspersons Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will contest from Karnal, the seat he won for the first time in the last assembly election.

For Gujarat bypolls, BJP gives tickets to 2 ex-Congressmen

The BJP has also given ticket to Daval Singh Zala, also a former Congress MLA, it’s ticket time contest the bye election from Bayad.

How BJP plans to negate the problem of plenty for Maharashtra elections

The BJP is now in seat-sharing talks with its partner in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena. According to an Election Commission notification, the last date for filing of nominations for the Maharashtra polls is October 4; the verdict will be out on October 24.

Sushma Swaraj’s daughter fulfils her mother’s last promise

Bansuri called on Salve to hand over to him a coin of rupee as his fee for appearing before the International Court of Justice in the case relating to Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is in Pakistan Jail on charges of spying.

BJP-Shiv Sena seat sharing announcement for Maharashtra assembly elections likely over weekend

BJP contested the 2014 assembly election without an alliance with Sena, furled candidates in 260 out of 288 seats, and won 122 seats.

In Haryana, BJP not to field immediate kin of MLAs, MPs

Rajya Sabha MP Chaudhary Birender Singh could be an exception to this rule. Singh’s son Birjendra Singh successfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Hisar. Singh’s wife, Prem Lata, too, is a legislator from Uchana Kalan and is likely to be renominated.

BJP’s candidate list for Haryana, Maharashtra polls likely next week

The election commission on Saturday announced the schedule for the assembly election in these two states, fixing October 4 as the last date to receive nomination.

Khadi, marches by leaders part of BJP’s October 2 plan

A five page-note on the Gandhi Sankalp Yatra that BJP’s working president JP Nadda shared with his party colleagues urged them to wear clothes made from the homespun cotton that for Gandhi was a symbol of self-reliance.

BJP eyes solo win, better margin

The BJP has set a target of 220-plus in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly (along with its ally, Shiv Sena) and 75-plus in the 90-seat Haryana House.

BJP plans to bank on new faces in upcoming elections

Maharashtra and Haryana will go to polls in October, while Jharkhand votes in December. All three states are ruled by a BJP government, although the party has a majority on its own only in Haryana.

In BJP’s new appointments, a push for younger faces

This strategy will also have its reflection in the team of national office bearers when it is constituted after the election of Jagat Prakash Nadda as the party president by year end.

PM Modi 69th Birthday: Greetings pour in for PM Modi as he turns 69

Several Union ministers, vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee were among those who wished Prime Minister Modi his birthday.

Mohan Bhagwat to meet 70 int’l journalists to explain the functioning of RSS

An RSS leader said that the idea for such an interaction was being discussed within the organization since the April-May parliamentary elections when a section of the foreign media reportedly presented the Sangh parivar affiliates in a poor light.

Preraks a no-go for Congress, but lessons for the party in RSS structure | Opinion

The Congress was entertaining the idea of Preraks or motivators across the country to “envision, design and deliver” training skills to its workers as part of efforts to scale-up its mass contact programmes following a series of electoral setbacks.

Nitin Gadkari to call CMs on MV Act changes

The decision came on a day Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh joined a growing band of states that say the fines, which have increased in some cases by as much as tenfold, are too high.

Nitish Kumar is NDA captain in Bihar, BJP has to wait and watch | Analysis

A former union minister, Sanjay Paswan is currently a BJP member in the Bihar legislative assembly and his words should, ideally, have been taken seriously. But the BJP was quick to dismiss his suggestion as a personal remark. The JD(U) too is fuming.

‘People criticising J&K move doing it for politics’: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

The minority affairs minister believes Prime Minister Modi has established a culture of clean and transparent politics by demolishing “arrogance of power”.

Four reasons why Nitish Kumar is taunting BJP in Jharkhand

Nitish virtually took digs at the BJP, which has ruled the state for maximum period, and said the state carved out of undivided Bihar has not progressed the way it was expected to. He taunted the BJP government saying people from Bihar, where prohibition is in force, come to Jharkhand for liquor.

Forward caste or OBC? BJP in a bind over new Bihar chief

Junior home minister Nityanand Rai continues to head the Bihar BJP, unlike his Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra counterparts who were relieved of their organisational assignment within months of their induction into the union council of ministers.

Behind BJP choosing Tamilisai as Telangana governor, a Tamil Nadu plan | Analysis

Tamilsai Soundararajan is the second BJP leader after former Kerala BJP chief Kumannam Rajasekharan to have been given a gubernatorial assignment when they were heading the party in their state.

BJP to showcase Article 370 move in state polls

The Centre last month abrogated Constitution’s Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and barred outsiders from buying property and getting government jobs in the state. The abrogation was among the key poll promises of the BJP.

Economy in prolonged slowdown: Manmohan Singh

The senior Congress leader was reacting to the 5% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the April-June quarter, the slowest in more than six years.

To mark Modi’s birthday on Sept 17, BJP to observe ‘service week’

The ruling party will observe “Seva Saptah” (service week) between September 14 and 20.

BJP grows 60% to 18 crore, to elect Amit Shah’s successor in December

The Bharatiya Janata Party has enrolled about 70 million new members to take its membership base to 180 million and will elect party chief Amit Shah’s successor in December, said Jagat Prakash Nadda, the working president of the ruling party. “Only 8 countries have population more than BJP’s cadre size,” Nadda announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Govt campaign to focus on bringing key behavioural changes in people

A special focus of the Fit India Movement campaign will be on rural India that lacks basic facilities to improve physical well-being and awareness of fitness, one of the two persons cited above said on condition of anonymity.