Two years after losing power in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has launched a series of statewide agitations against the BJP government over farmers’ distress that played a key role in the BJP’s rise to power in the state. Odisha, a predominantly agrarian state where over 80% of the population depends on agriculture for…
The BJP’s success in the recent urban and local body polls in Maharashtra has seemingly set the template for the party’s ambitious “shat pratishat BJP (100% BJP)” target for the 2029 Assembly elections, in line with the call given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Though the next major electoral test is over three-and-a-half years…
In Tamil Nadu politics, parties are usually born from movements, slogans or splits. Occasionally, they can also be the result of strategic planning by business conglomerates. A new entrant may soon join the state’s crowded pre-election field. Leema Rose Martin, the wife of lottery king Santiago Martin and until this week the joint general secretary…
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on February 5 announced that the state would bring a law to protect the khejri tree — revered as kalpavriksha or the wish fulfilling tree, and recognised as the state tree — following a growing agitation led by sadhus and members of the Bishnoi community against large-scale felling of…
The proposed withdrawal of the Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) for Himachal Pradesh by the 16th Finance Commission has pushed the ruling Congress into an aggressive political stance, while placing the BJP — usually on the offensive since losing power in the state in 2022 — on the defensive. As the state’s debt has crossed Rs…
(As Assam gears up for the Assembly polls, every Wednesday, Special Correspondent Sukrita Baruah decodes the electoral trends, political signals, and campaign moves shaping the contest.) In the past few days, two mega press conferences played out as the sites of political theatre in poll-bound Assam. The first was in a conference room at the…
The conflict between the Narendra Modi government and the Opposition INDIA bloc escalated in Parliament over the week, culminating in the Opposition resorting to a rare move to submit a notice for a no-confidence motion against the Lok Sabha Speaker. The bad blood between the two sides flared up after Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul…
With the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections round the corner, major contenders in the state are ramping up efforts to stitch up theiralliances for the polls. All eyes are on actor-turned-politician Vijay and his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which is making its Assembly poll debut. It seems to have already emerged as a formidable third front…
This time his focus was clearly on the India-US trade deal, which he called a “sell-out”. With most of the Opposition parties, especially those from election-bound states, keen to participate in the discussion on the Budget to try and corner the BJP-led government, the Congress saw reason and let the discussion take place in the…
Though the BJP put up a strong show across the 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, the Vidarbha region proved to be a mixed bag for the party. While it retained its bastion of Nagpur, the hometown of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and scraped through in Akola and Amravati, the Chandrapur…