Milind Deora says businessmen scared, afraid of speaking out

Milind Deora, head of Congress Party’s Mumbai unit who is known to be close to the business community of the country, said businessmen in the country are feeling uneasy about the current climate, but not speaking out due to fear. Deora, who was speaking in the context of the suicide of entrepreneur and businessman VG […]

COLUMN: What are Congress’ post-Rahul options?

Battered by the party’s second-worst defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi is most likely to submit his resignation at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday. The Congress scion, who took ‘100 percent responsibility’ for the embarrassing loss in the polls, has insisted on resigning as the party boss. While […]

TABLE – 10 EXIT POLL RESULTS – India Today, News18, Republic, Times Now, NewsX

Close to ten exit polls are set to announce the results of the most highly anticipated and tightly fought elections in Indian history in recent decades. Among those offering exit poll results today are India Today group, which has tied up with polling agency Axis, News18, which has signed on international agency Ipsos and NewsX. […]

Masood Azhar’s terror tag more a diplomatic victory than a strategic win

In what is considered a major diplomatic victory for India and an extra push for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the middle of the general elections, the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday declared Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan based terror group Jaish-e –Mohammad, a designated terrorist. The way was cleared for declaring the terror […]

Study finds massive Twitter manipulation by Indian political parties ahead of election

An analysis of Tweets associated the visit of Narendra Modi to Tamil Nadu last month showed unprecedented levels of attempted manipulation of Twitter by pro-Narendra Modi and anti-Narendra Modi forces, a Washington-based ‘fake news’ research lab found. Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) identified two manipulated hashtags during Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu in […]

Ujjwala LPG scheme crosses 7 cr customers

The government’s ‘free LPG connection’ scheme, Ujjwala scheme has crossed the 7 crore-target, making it one of the most successful programs of the current government. The scheme launched on May 1, 2016 with a target of providing LPG connections to 5 crore low-income households, and achieved the target in a record of time of 28 […]

Prepoll survey predicts sweep for Congress in Kerala as Sabarimala hurts Left

One of the biggest and first pre-election surveys held in Kerala has pointed to strong gains made by the United Democratic Alliance led by the Congress, and the National Democratic Alliance led by BJP due to the Sabarimala controversy. Even as the Left Front was riding high on a wave of popularity before the Sabarimala […]

Akhilesh Yadav tears into Yogi after being blocked from visiting Allahabad University

Akhilesh Yadav has laid into Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath after he was stopped from attending a function at Allahabad University. “Today, I was stopped from boarding a flight to attend a student union program at Allahabad University. I haven’t been given a reason why – but it seems the general impression was that […]

Why Mayawati, not Rahul Gandhi, is Congress’ real PM candidate for 2019

With India’s general elections only weeks away, a large section of ‘secular’ voters in India are learning to live with Rahul Gandhi as their most viable bet for a non-Modi prime minister. However, a deeper look, along with recent experience, suggests that it is Mayawati, not Rahul Gandhi, who has everything going for her to […]

Markandeya Katju predicts chaos after polls, sees threat to democracy

Retired Supreme Court judge Markandeya Katju, known for his frank and often outrageous political statements, has forecast chaos and instability after the upcoming 2019 general elections. The elections, he said, would create conditions similar to the mid 1990s and 1977, when no single party had the critical mass to form a stable government at the […]

CHANNEL PRICES: TRAI botches new tariff rollout; could hurt BJP in 2019

The curious case of TRAI’s implementation of the its 2017 Tariff Order, which threatens to add yet another negative factor for NDA in upcoming polls, can be an excellent case study of what ails India’s legal and regulatory system. The saga started almost two years ago with four companies — Star India, Discovery Communications, Tata […]

Upper Caste Quota: Jaitley says judiciary cannot annul this reservation

Finance minister and legal expert Arun Jaitley today allayed fears that the latest move to give reservations to forward communities will also be struck down by the courts like previous attempts. Replying to such concerns raised by Congress MP KV Thomas that drew parallels with a similar, but abortive attempt by PV Narasimha Rao, Jaitley […]

Sabarimala women’s entry re-opens BJP’s ‘golden chance’ in Kerala

After waiting patiently for a breakthrough, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prayers in Kerala seem to have been finally answered in the form of a crucial development in the Sabarimala temple standoff with two women entering the temple at night under police protection. The BJP has already kicked off a massive campaign to exploit the emotional […]

RESULTS TABLE – Congress leads BJP in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, MP

Early election leads indicate a slight edge for the Congress in elections to five states, with the party leading in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.  Please refer to the table to see the updated results. STATE SEATS BJP CONG TRS/MSF MP 230 108 111 0 RJ 199 77 98 0 CG 90 21 63 0 […]

Modi govt schemes well-regarded in rural areas-Phillip Capital

Broking firm Phillip Capital said it saw “good execution” and “very positive feedback” on central government policies announced by Modi government over the last four years in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and said a close fight — regardless of the outcome — would not have a significant impact on the stock markets. “We keep hearing […]

BJP suspends protests at Sabarimala as pilgrims stay away

The Kerala unit of the BJP has decided to suspend its ongoing protests and demonstrations at Sabarimala temple, even as these seem to have resulted in an unusual decline in the number of pilgrims who undertook the annual pilgrimage this year. As part of the decision, Yuva Morcha, the youth front of the BJP, canceled […]