Today in Politics: PM Modi heads to Maharashtra; Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi in Odisha
After a show of strength for his nomination in Varanasi on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue his election campaign in Maharashtra on Wednesday.
Maharashtra in news
Behind Modi overtures to Pawar, Uddhav: checking ‘sympathy factor’, rising MVA, Assembly polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray to join the BJP-led NDA — by merging their parties, respectively, with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena — has charged up Maharashtra politics, which is already heated amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
In Maharashtra, amid disquiet over ‘threat’ to Constitution, Dalits invoke Ambedkar, close ranks
At Chaitya Bhoomi near Dadar Chowpatty in Mumbai, overlooking the Arabian Sea, there is a continuous stream of visitors in and out of the B R Ambedkar memorial on a bright summer day earlier this week. Holding colourful flowers topped with blue candles, men, women and children kneel before Ambedkar’s bust with folded hands, each lighting a candle as a mark of respect to the architect of the Indian Constitution.
Congress leader’s anger reflects larger picture of shrinking Muslim footprint in Maharashtra politics
Last week,Arif Naseem Khan, a former state Cabinet minister and one of the most prominent Muslim faces in the Maharashtra Congress, withdrew himself from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections, saying: “Congress ko Muslim vote chahiye… candidate kyun nahin (The Congress wants Muslim votes… why not Muslim candidates)?”
In Maharashtra’s 8 seats, shifting caste equations, Oppn focus on local issues unsettle ruling NDA
The discourse across the eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra that are scheduled to vote in the second phase on April 26 is witnessing a shift, with a shuffle in traditional caste equations, the rise of the vocal rural voter and the dominance of local factors.
Many new cracks on Maharashtra’s political ground but above it, one question: Modi versus?
When the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra wound to an end in a rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on March 17, those who were watching it closely noted two departures from the past. Rahul Gandhi walked up to the flaming torch set in the patch of green to pay his respects at the Bal Thackeray memorial in the Park’s premises. And when Uddhav Thackeray opened his speech, a word was conspicuously missing, it had been substituted. Instead of saying “My Hindu brothers, sisters, mothers…”, as he usually did, Uddhav said: “My patriotic brothers, sisters, mothers…”.
From the Urdu Press: ‘Congress’s prudent new strategy against BJP’, ‘MVA steals march over Mahayuti in seat-sharing deal’
With barely three days left for the first round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections to get underway, campaigning by all the contenders in the fray has reached a crescendo. The Urdu dailies have kept their focus on the poll coverage from across the country, highlighting that the outcome of the direct face-offs between the incumbent BJP and the Congress, the largest player of the Opposition INDIA bloc, in about 190 seats will essentially shape the narrative of the 2024 grand battle.
In Maharashtra, BJP and allies stuck over nine seats: Which ones and why
With five days to go for the start of the five-phase elections in Maharashtra, Mahayuti partners BJP, Shiv Sena, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are struggling to arrive at a consensus on nine of the 48 Lok Sabha seats that go to polls on in the third, fourth, and fifth phases and whose nomination dates close on April 19, April 25, and May 3 respectively.