The Congress cannot rest on its oars in Karnataka even if it gets, as predicted by several exit polls, a clear majority in the state assembly. Its real test will be in the Lok Sabha polls when the electorate will vote for the next government at the Centre. Read more

If Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party do indeed break their alliance, a rapprochement may not happen between the old allies even in the outside chance of Narendra Modi leading his party to a tally close to double hundred. Read more

The storm over Raja Pervez Ashraf’s pilgrimage to Ajmer Sharif was needless, to state the least. The Pak Premier was on a private visit and India went out of the way to make it appear as one, without, of course, causing any diplomatic affront to the visitor. Read more

The VHP’s endorsement of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate to carry forward the Hindutva agenda is a double edged sword. It might unite the Sangh Parivar’s core base while cutting the NDA into pieces. Read more

Congress leaders need a crash course in media interaction. Not just that. They need to be trained to talk the right thing at the right time, rather than talking out of turn they so often do. Read more

The element of surprise wasn’t as much in elevations and new inductions in the council of ministers as in the allocation of portfolios in Sunday’s reshuffle. Read more

The upsurge against corruption has acquired mind-boggling complexities. It has throw up serious questions but no ready answers. Rather than being an empowering experience, it has disempowered and divided public opinion. Read more

The decision to rename a prominent square in Lahore after Shaheed Bhagat Singh could go a long way in focusing on the joint history of India and Pakistan in the struggle for freedom from the British rule. I have always held that relations between our two countries cannot be repaired without an honest recollection of history, at the core of which should be an objective appraisal of our respective national icons. Read more

It’s encouraging that India and Pakistan continue to talk. But while they engage, they’d have to be careful about each other’s sensitivities on issues influencing popular support for peace between the two sub-continental rivals. Read more

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s refusal to join debate in Parliament on the CAG report on what has come to be called Coalgate could prove to be a self defeating exercise in the longer run. Read more