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It is now almost certain that the BJP will return to power, but not with a majority of its own, which will make it head a less close-knit coalition than at present.

Is the Bharatiya Janata Party playing safe by calling its ‘Ghosna Patra’ – which by definition every political party manifesto released before an election is – ‘Sankalp Patra’? Are Narendra Modi and Amit Shah trying to bluff the people into playing another game of dice, heads you lose, tails we win? ‘Ghosna’ or Sankalp, what's common to 2014 and 2019 manifestos is both are a montage of promises. Line them up side by side and you’ll stumble on promises made and promise not kept; promises now made with a question mark.

MK Stalin sits pretty in Tamil Nadu with perception with him and opinion polls saying that the DMK will win the most number of Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha seats. There is also talk that Stalin will be king, and kingmaker, both. If DMK trumps in the assembly bypolls, and wins enough number of the them, which are to be held with the Lok Sabha polls, Stalin could become Chief Minister. He was once Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

BHOPAL: It was less a Income tax raid and more a clash between Madhya Pradesh Police and CRPF. Income tax raids on several houses and offices of some close aides of Chief Minister Kamal Nath began from the early hours of Sunday which in the afternoon turned into a direct confrontation between CRPF and state Police. Platinum Plaza, a multi-storey residential and commercial building was the main target of more than 100 strong Income tax personnel. The raiding Income tax team was accompanied by more than 150 CRPF personnel.

Rahul Gandhi’s (NYAY) Nyuntam Aay Yojana may not have magic appeal of Indira Gandhi’s garibi hatao which swept the polls in 1971 but one thing is certain Rahul’s agenda has turned Narendra Modi skeptical and defensive and has also projected his image of being an alternative.

The massive financial engineering to mop up revenue collection to cover the large direct tax shortfall in the revised budget estimate for 2018-19 throws up a new challenge for the next government. The new government may find its coffer substantially dry, forcing it to go for large borrowing. Such a situation will also impact the next government’s budget preparation, especially on the development expenditure side. The finances of large profit making public sector enterprises, which have been used like a cash cow to fund budget deficits, are bound to be weakened hurting their capital expenditure programmes.

The picture emerged in the fag-end of the first phase of election campaign for 91 Lok Sabha seats spread over 20 states going to vote on April 11 suggests the most unexpected results from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. BJP may lose in UP and North-East but is comfortable in Maharashtra and Bihar. Congress is set to gain a little in North-East, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and in some UTs. Among the regional parties, TDP, TRS, and YSRCP fortunes may surprise all.

“You be sure. The Modi government will come back,” asserted 29 year old Raghav Gupta a salesman in the Drug Store. Shrugging his shoulders high, he added, “In any case I will vote for him.” He could not identify his constituency he is registered in as a voter. His abhorrence for the khichadi government and politics of coalition became apparent in further few minutes. Most educated-young urban voters like him believe that the coalition governments reek in corruption, survive on compromises and govern in casual manners. Yet they had never experienced any of four small coalition governments in three decades. They had seen from close quarters only Vajpayee and the Manmohan Singh without realizing both were also coalition governments.

Why Congress President Rahul Gandhi chose to contest from distant Wayanad constituency in Kerala when his traditional bastion of Amethi is safe? Congress leaders claim that Wayanad is near the tri-junction of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Rahul can simultaneously wield influence in these states.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has talked as a mature politician of the secular camp fighting the BJP when he said at Wayanad in Kerala that he would not speak a word against the Left during his campaign Kerala for Lok Sabha polls, his entire fight would be focused on the BJP and the RSS. At the other end, the CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was equally emphatic in an interview with the Scroll news portal that he did not feel betrayed by Rahul but he did not get what the Congress was doing.