Politics

One of the organisers and former JNU Students' Union president Mohit Kumar Pandey said that ever since the rally was announced on January 2, a lot of money has been spent on posters calling Mevani a deshdrohi (traitor) and urban naxal.

Pinarayi Vijayan said the young MLA's comments were due to his "lack of discernment" and "ignorance". He said it was for the Congress leadership to explain whether the lack of discernment was the party's hallmark.

Sources said that Naidu sent the notice to the Lok Sabha speaker for further action as Gandhi is a member of the Lower House.

Bedi said she wrote the letter after reading reports in local media that Narayanasamy has complained to PM Modi at a recent meeting about "bottlenecks" his government had to face.

Violence erupted in Pune on January 1 when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the British defeated the Peshwas of Maharashtra.

"Rajinikanth met with Kalaignar and asked for his blessings to start a party. There are people who think that using Rajinikanth they can destroy the Dravidian party in Tamil Nadu but that will never happen," said Stalin.

He also accused the Muslim community of exploiting government resources and "tax paid by Hindus" and batted for a law to restrict to two the number of children per family

The superstar had said that he will take a call on the Lok Sabha polls "when the time comes".

The Patidar leader said if Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel was ready to quit the BJP, then he would speak to the Congress to give the latter the post he deserved.

While Alagiri refused to speak about longstanding rivalry between him and his brother Stalin, the current chief of the DMK, he referred to a tweet by his son Dhaya Alagiri which indirectly hints at it. Betrayal never wins, Dhaya had tweeted.

Is Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s presence in the swearing-in ceremony of Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar a precursor to him playing a wider role in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the times to come?

Amit Shah, in a series of tweets, said that BJP's winning spree has continued after the victory in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls as it won three of the five by- elections.

Considered a consensus builder in faction-ridden Himachal unit of the BJP, Jairam Thakur is said to be a favourite among local BJP workers in the Himalayan state.

Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran has taken a big lead in the RK Nagar Assembly seat by-election in Tamil Nadu with 44,094 votes. The official candidate of the AIADMK is trailing at the second spot with 19,525, while the DMK has bagged 10,292 votes.

While Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the CBI was behaving like a "pet parrot" of the BJP government, Sanjay Nirupam said the torture of Lalu in the decades old case should stop now.

The clean chit has not only made the DMK leadership stronger and surer of itself, the cadre too feel re-energised.