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Veterans of Trinamool Congress and BJP have locked horns in Burdwan-Durgapur-Asansol industrial belt of Bengal once the most go to place for a job seeking engineer or a manual labourer. A low voter turnout is not unlikely in these constituencies on May 13 -in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state. After years of cohabiting in the neighbourhood of closed Public Sector Units(PSUs) and once blue chip private sector enterprises, many voters feel no matter who is elected, this area once known as "Ruhr of Bengal" is long past its salad days.

Elections to half the seats in the Lok Sabha have been completed with the third phase of polling being over on May 7. This has provided enough experience and time to assess how the Election Commission (EC) has gone about superintending the conduct of a free and fair poll. The verdict in this matter can only be that it has failed badly.

How long it takes to listen to the victim’s tearful cries? That too when she is a mother of a four-year old, dares to plead to the demons for her life as her death could be the death of her child too. Their assent to it has been conditional. “Disrobe yourself or die.”

If the noblest could be compared with the plebeian, the infinite with the infinitesimal, the dignified with crass, then the underlying sentiments expressed by Sam Pitroda were in the same veins as Rabindranath Tagore’s great poem “Bharat Tirtha”. All this hyper reaction by the BJP leaders including the Prime Minister calling Pitroda as ‘ racist’ ignores the very basis of what he actually said. He was correct in his sense of history , but the presentation was a bit defective.

Politics in Haryana underwent a considerable change before the withdrawal of nomination on May 9 for the Lok Sabha Election scheduled in the penultimate phase VI on May 25. Election campaign would start from tomorrow in a backdrop of change of BJP’s chief minister on the eve of election on March 12, split in NDA making the allies BJP and JJP apart, and only less than two months after Nayab Singh Saini government in the state reduced to minority after desertion of three independent MLAs withdrawing their support on May 7.It is certainly ominous for BJP, since the party aims to win all the 10 Lok Sabha Seats from the state which it had won in 2019 Lok Sabha election, because it can’t afford loss of any seat if the target set by the Prime Minister has to be achieved.

Narendra Modi’s two latest remarks — first hitting out at Rahul Gandhi over Sam Pitroda's 'skin colour' comments, and second charging Ambani and Adani with buying Rahul’s purported silence — have caused furore in the political circles. Not only have they shaken the trust level of the top leaders of the RSS and BJP, these also underscore significant dimensional change in Indian national politics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi couldn’t have been more thrilled than when Indian Overseas Congress head Sam Pitroda spoke. On May 8, Modi feigned anger and outrage and gave Indians reason to feel divided after Sam Pitroda did what he thought was an honest classification of Indians and Modi declassified, i.e., separated Indians into racist cliques and slots by pointing out the alleged divisive agenda of the Congress in Sam's assessment. By evening, Sam had resigned from his post and the entire lot of Indians was talking in scattered bites, and in bits and pieces.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress in Kerala suffered a severe legal as well as political setback when the vigilance court in Thiruvananthapuram rejected the petition filed by party MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan seeking a probe against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter Veena on the allegation that they had received a monthly payment from the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) in return for favouring operations of the company.

KOLKATA: Political difference is meshed with an almost personalised rivalry at Berhampore and Krishnanagar constituencies in the run up to May 13, the day of the electoral battle of the fourth phase of the 18th Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal. Careers of a stalwart and an upcoming leader would be made or marred on this day as the campaign is witnessing corruption charges shouted from the rooftops together with dragging out of "dark deeds" of long deceased ancestors drowning debates on real issues which an election should be all about.

With the passing of every phase, the anguish gripping the RSS and traditional BJP cadres and supporters is getting more pronounced and discernible, notwithstanding the attempts of the top RSS leaders to make them relent and ensure the victory of the BJP candidates.