4 min readPatialaFeb 23, 2026 09:00 AM IST First published on: Feb 23, 2026 at 09:00 AM IST Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s expanding political outreach in neighbouring Punjab has triggered a predictable but sharp pushback from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), signalling that his cross-state engagements are beginning to register in the…
(Each week, Deputy Editor Liz Mathew maps the changing political landscape from New Delhi, focusing on power equations, policy moves, and shifts in alliances.) The BJP has long viewed Telangana as a potential second bastion in the South, a key element of its blueprint to expand influence across the Coromandel states. Yet, the party appears…
The NDA is poised to retain JD(U) leader Ram Nath Thakur for another Rajya Sabha term from Bihar, even as it looks set to sweep all five seats in the March 16 elections amid a divided Opposition. Thakur, son of former Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, is likely to be renominated as the party seeks to…
Ever since he was announced as the national president of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Congress’s student wing, on February 20, Vinod Jakhar’s phones haven’t stopped ringing. Holding the post of NSUI state president until his elevation, Jakhar scripted history by becoming the first NSUI president from Rajasthan. Jakhar already has had…
On February 18, a day before the start of Ramzan, the Islamic month of fasting, the Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar in J&K, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, issued an order banning the collection of donations during the month by an individual, an NGO, or a religious and charity organisation without the authorisation of the government, the Waqf…
Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji, the 62-year-old highest-ranking member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), was a staunch believer in the movement’s armed struggle and is alleged to be involved in the murders of over 250 security personnel and six villagers, and the looting of over 1,000 weapons as well as the escape from…
Recently, senior journalist Sanjaya Baru, who served as the media advisor to PM Manmohan Singh, floated the idea of Mamata Banerjee as a possible Prime Minister contender in an article in The Telegraph, and journalist-turned-Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sagarika Ghose seconded it. Apart from TMC leaders, the DMK and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) have…
3 min readNew DelhiFeb 22, 2026 08:22 AM IST First published on: Feb 22, 2026 at 07:06 AM IST In the second phase of Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) so far, the voters’ list in nine states/UTs has shrunk by 8%, with Gujarat seeing the highest deletions (13.4% or 68.12 lakh) and Kerala the…
The arrests and long imprisonment of 10-time MLA and Samajwadi Party (SP)’s stalwart Azam Khan, 77, who was among its founding leaders, has left a vacuum in the principal Opposition party in Uttar Pradesh. In an attempt to fill the void left in the SP’s Muslim leadership ahead of the 2027 state Assembly polls, party…
While the BJP-led NDA is looking to increase its tally in the Rajya Sabha significantly by the end of the year, beginning with the Upper House elections for 37 seats in 10 states on March 16, the ruling alliance is deliberating on various related questions, ranging from the number and geography of the seats to…