Despite the difficulties facing their Kuki kinsfolk in Manipur, the MNF which rules Mizoram hasn't pulled out of NDA. MNF is projecting itself as taking a tough line against the Centre and as the protector of Mizo interests to voters of the state, but is also wary of losing BJP support
Typically, banks tend to be prompt in raising rates during a tightening phase but fail to display the same alacrity when interest rates are moving south
While the outlook is improving, one should be cautious in the near term, given that the stock has moved up swiftly.
Despite encomiums for his welfare schemes, the 2003 and 2013 losses have convinced Ashok Gehlot to pitch himself and his work to voters on an as large, lavish and eye-catching scale as possible and engage professional political strategists. Consequently, Rajasthan voters are seeing a “modern”, social media-friendly Gehlot avatar on poll eve
BJP and Congress are locked into a spiralling fight to outdo the other in offering sops to voters. The cash bonanzas amid a close electoral battle raises questions why parties don’t venture into such expensive schemes that strain the exchequer when there are no elections
Addressing a public rally in Sikar, Modi took a dig at the opposition, particularly the Congress, saying the slogan 'Indira is India and India is Indira' during the era of former prime minister Indira Gandhi has now changed to 'UPA is India and India is UPA'.
State budgets in an election year are a good place to spot quite early the focus areas and electoral strategy of incumbent governments. The Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh and Telangana budgets are revealing in how the chief ministers of the respective states have positioned their pet welfare projects with an eye on polls
BJP has discovered that law and order is the weak spot in Ashok Gehlot’s defence of his government in the upcoming elections. Gehlot is trying to blunt this line of attack from the BJP by dubbing it an attack on Rajasthan’s pride
The Grand Old Party is likely to talk seat sharing only after the Assembly elections
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Deputy CM T S Singhdeo, besides ministers in the state government Tamradhwaj Sahu and Mohan Markam, as well as Speaker of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Charan Das Mahant are among its members.
The Brand Modi narrative towers over BJP and NDA, so no alternative “coalition narrative” is possible. NDA parties are happy to ride on PM Modi’s coattails while BJP needs them to reach out to caste blocs. An agenda having national appeal while dodging both the “opportunistic alliance” taint and the leadership question is the Opposition camp’s holy grail
The Telangana Congress is in quite a farcical situation. It is up against the formidable K Chandrashekar Rao and has just 5 MLAs in the 119 member assembly but its leaders are already dreaming of the party winning the upcoming elections and fancying their chances to become the Chief Minister
While the opposition is trying to build the perception of a grand alliance, the important thing is to see who is better placed on the ground to convert perception into votes.
A seasoned organisation leader, Tomar has held various positions in the party, including that of its Madhya Pradesh president, and is considered a low-key profile leader who enjoys cordial relations with various regional satraps.
Mallikarjun Kharge has managed to strike back for the Congress high command against the party’s satraps in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Bhupesh Baghel has been forced to accept a Deputy CM, TS Singh Deo has yielded on his claim to CMship, Sachin Pilot is smoking the peace pipe, and Ashok Gehlot was told clearly that collective leadership is the way forward
Wave of consolidation expected across tech as cash-strapped companies seek buyers or risk going out of business
Congress is stitching a Karnataka-like Ahinda coalition to its traditional Reddy bedrock. For nine years, KCR has triumphed over caste divides by tapping statehood sentiments. BJP’s difficult attempt to unite the scattered OBC vote and play up Hindutva is the third pole in the fight for a winning social coalition
The Sidhi incident has greatly angered MP’s tribal communities. In 2018, BJP had done poorly in ST reserved constituencies forcing the party to launch a string of tribal outreach activities since 2021. Interestingly, BJP swept the same areas in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls suggesting that tribal anger is reserved for the state BJP government
The Karnataka elections have upset BRS and BJP calculations. Just as both parties were preparing for a titanic showdown, Congress staged a revival. But a soft corner to BRS will be a tough sell for the BJP central leadership after going hammer and tongs against KCR since 2018 on corruption and nepotism
This political move by the Congress high command comes ahead of the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, scheduled to take place in or before December this year.
As the Madhya Pradesh polls nears, Congress grapples with a key contradiction. Kamal Nath is trying hard to position Congress as a competitor for BJP’s Hindutva vote while Digvijaya Singh is attacking religious preachers aligned with the Hindutva ideology. How their camaraderie survives is a mystery, or a dead giveaway of strategy
Rajasthan’s history of voting out the incumbent government weighs against Congress, which is betting big on welfare schemes to keep the poorer sections happy. BJP, stung in Karnataka, appears to be leaning towards ex-CM Vasundhara Raje to lead the party campaign
To project itself as a national player and counter BJP more effectively, Congress needs more space in big states like UP, Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and TN. Regional parties are unlikely to be generous in any of these states. A situation where Congress underplays its national heft to make more space for regional parties doesn’t help its or the opposition’s cause in a national election
Both the MVA and the NDA in their present form haven’t been tested in a broad based election yet but the constituent parties are testing and sizing each other up. BJP is by a distance the largest party in the state but its alliance with the Shinde Sena is on a weak wicket and hasn’t had success engineering larger cleavages in the MVA
Tata Communications shares rallied 8 percent to end at record closing high of Rs 1,598, surpassing previous all-time high on January 17, 2022. The stock has formed robust bullish candlestick pattern on the daily charts with significantly higher volumes.