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If the reports about the negotiations among the leading opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh- Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, on seat sharing for the coming Lok Sabha poll are any indication, the opposition parties have made a major breakthrough in achieving their objective of unitedly ousting the Narendra Modi government from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Once, the deal is officially announced, possibly before the coming assembly elections in the three BJP ruled states by the end of this year, that will galvanise the efforts of the opposition parties in coming to a seat sharing understanding against the BJP and its NDA allies, taking into account the ground reality of the political situation.

Navjot Singh Sidhu has the makings of a Mani Shankar Aiyar. Except that Aiyar can hardly make anyone laugh and Sidhu laughs from deep down in his throat at the lamest of jokes. Aiyar and Sidhu will not make good roommates. Sidhu will laugh at every Aiyar sentence and Aiyar will be left checking his wrist watch at every crack Sidhu makes. Genuine humour is neither man’s forte though both have a way with words.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP president Amit Shah has failed to have his way in the appointment of the new president of the Kerala unit of the party.

BRICS accounted for 23 percent of world economy, 16 percent of world trade and contributed 50 percent to global economic growth. Given these high stakes in global economy, trade war opens a new opportunity for BRICS to play a dynamic role to protect the global multilateral trading system, which is in jeopardy after USA signaled trade unilateralism.

Buoyed by a pick-up in exports in April-June quarter this year, India may target $400 billion annual merchandise exports in two years, a top export body said.

It might not be obvious always why the gods behave the way they do. From their Olympian heights so much more could be visible than ordinary mortals. That also probably applies to the central banks.

BHOPAL: There are now clear indications of MP Congress chief Kamal Nath and campaign committee chief Jyotiraditya Scindia working in greater coordination. Even there are no negative reports about coordination with Digvijaya Singh. A high level meeting was held in New Delhi to discuss the kick-off of the Congress campaign in the state. According to reports, the Congress president will launch a state-wide tour in September. A senior leader confirmed that Rahul will launch the campaign from Omkareshwar temple in Khandwa district.

There are strong reasons to conclude that overzealousness of some Assam state officials in dismissing claims of Indian citizenship might have resulted in rendering over 40 lakh people suddenly stateless. Mainly Bengali Hindus and Muslim residents, these people did not find their names in the upgraded National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on July 30.

There are places on earth, where if you found the words, you could talk to the gods! Would Mamata Banerjee, been aware of such places, be talking of “civil war and bloodbath?” Mamata is a most down-to-earth person, but that doesn’t mean she’s any less a shrewd politician than the average. In fact, she could teach the best a lesson or two.

The second National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was published on July 30. (The first one was published way back in 1951) After its publication, 40,06,707 residents of Assam, many of them living there for several generations, found that their names “had not appeared” in the NRC. They have now been given time till September 28 to apply for inclusion of their names with documents.