From Arvind Kejriwal to Priyanka, this has been a media-determined election. Two forces stand poised, the people inventing new politics and the media inventing its own version of that politics, says Shiv Visvanathan.

The strong Modi wave, disillusionment with the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in the state and the division of the anti-Modi vote will help the BJP leader edge closer to the PM's chair, observes Sharat Pradhan.

'Modi's more than dozen interviews are helping him fine-tune the rough edges of his campaign. He is trying to influence floating voters, undecided voters, non-committal and caste-neutral voters into deciding whether to go for the Lotus or not. These could have been Congress voters, but its divided house, torn between the old guard and Rahul Gandhi, seems to have got completely confused.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt lists what the Congress did wrong to find itself in such a sorry mess today.

'I see you as a man who has split the nation into two. Vajpayee or even Advani would hold it together. One senses you cannot do this. To heal, to apologise, and to glue together a nation seems beyond you,' Shiv Visvanathan tells the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

'We are a party that represents the idea of India. That's why we have endured for so long. That's why we will continue to endure because we have the ability to endure, adapt, re-adapt... The BJP is very good at creating hype. And then believing their own hype. This happened in 2004 also. And they will know the answer on the 16th of May.' In arguably India's wealthiest constituency, where a miserably poor worker lives in wretched conditions hardly a few steps away from a billionaire, Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel speaks to Congress candidate Milind Deora atop his jeep. Questions and answers are yelled, in hoarse voices, to and fro above the din of loudspeakers, drums, firecrackers and the smoke and fragrance of kebabs and Kheema Rotis.

'We are a party that represents the idea of India. That's why we have endured for so long. That's why we will continue to endure because we have the ability to endure, adapt, re-adapt... The BJP is very good at creating hype. And then believing their own hype. This happened in 2004 also. And they will know the answer on the 16th of May.' In arguably India's wealthiest constituency, where a miserably poor worker lives in miserable conditions hardly a few steps away from a billionaire, Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel speaks to Congress candidate Milind Deora atop his jeep. Questions and answers are yelled, in hoarse voices, to and fro above the din of loudspeakers, drums, firecrackers and the smoke and fragrance of kebabs and Kheema Rotis.

Late Santokben Jadeja's son Kandhal Jadeja is taking on BJP strongman Vitthal Radadiya in the Porbandar Lok Sabha constituency. NCP's Jadeja, with his family clout, will look to limit the chances of Radadaiya, the influential Leuva Patel leader, who is clearly perceived a hot favourite. Haresh Pandya reports.

The fact that a woman-centric film can challenge those increasingly inane hero-vehicles is certainly cause for celebration, raves Raja Sen.

Even as both the ruling Samajwadi Party and its bte noire, the Bahujan Samaj Party may swear in the name of secularism, neither of the two critical players in Uttar Pradesh politics is willing to go for a united nominee against their common political foe, Narendra Modi, who seemed cocking a snook at them from Varanasi. Sharat Pradhan reports

Is Modi trampling upon senior BJP colleagues while taking decisions? How come Team Modi underestimated the political action-reaction when they were upsetting and uprooting the BJP's founding fathers L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the ticket distribution process?

Ravindra Shukla picks out his best option.

Sticking to his offer of 11 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress and one to Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday appealed to Sonia Gandhi to agree to the seat-sharing formula asserting that he would deliver results in Bihar and Jharkhand in the general elections.

Shreekant Sambrani is confident that today's adversity will make the country emerge even stronger

Arsenal will be out to show they have learnt the lessons of last season's painful home defeat by Bayern Munich when the sides meet again in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in London on Wednesday.

As the nation heads toward the general election, the Congress fortunes have most likely dipped below the point of no return. The Modi-BJP juggernaut rolls along despite some hiccups. And the meteor that rose in the form of the AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal seems to be disintegrating, says Shreekant Sambrani.

India and Japan have a shared interest in countervailing China's hegemonic ambitions in Asia. Although neither has an interest in forming an overt anti-China alliance, Tokyo and New Delhi feel increasingly obligated to work together to find ways to guard against a muscular Beijing's power sliding into arrogance, says Brahma Chellaney.

When you completely lack leadership qualities and have a problem facing the media, it isn't hard to see why Rahul Gandhi gets the bad press he does. In sum, he doesn't have it in him what it takes to be a great leader. Period, says Virendra Kapoor.

'If he plays his cards well; develops a thicker political hide; complements his populist 'Left of centre' image with a sounder understanding of economics, foreign policy and national security; and plays the waiting game with fortitude, who knows, India may well have a rejuvenated Congress party with a reformer and a statesman as its leader in the years ahead.'

If players, pundits and bookmakers are to be believed, Serena Williams has already sewn up her sixth Australian Open title and the other 127 women in the draw may as well pick up their racquets and head home.

Could the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP become the rallying point of new energies that are getting unleashed all over urban India, in quest for a different kind of politics, to such an extent that he can rein in Narendra Modi? It all depends on how it pans out its politics in the coming weeks, says Neerja Chowdhury.

Australia's stunning turnaround from Ashes joke to juggernaut in a few months has been the culmination of good, hard grind and paceman Mitchell Johnson finding himself in a supportive attack, according to captain Michael Clarke.

Raja Sen says the only superpower Krrish has is that of boring the audience.

A recent survey of 100 chief executives conducted by Nielsen for The Economic Times said 80 per cent want Modi to become prime minister.

Crisis-ridden NSEL on Wednesday declared ten more entities as defaulters after they failed to pay their dues on the second-pay out, taking the number of members who are to pay dues at 19.

Exchange to reply to FMC's letter soon, CEO says buyers can't be declared defaulters where there is 'market disruption'.

The last time Manchester United began a season without Alex Ferguson in charge Ron Atkinson was shown the Old Trafford exit door before Christmas and the rest, as they say, is history.

Every accomplished major immigration group in America has had its heroes and fallen heroes.

The CBI-IB tussle in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case is an avoidable conflict, says V G Vaidya.

There's very little of Superman in the film.

The four major Hindi general entertainment channels -- STAR Plus, Sony, Colors and ZEE -- have all launched music and dance reality shows in the 9-pm slot on weekends.

The Congress's real test would be to stop Modi and the BJP from achieving this short term objective of winning the forthcoming assembly elections so that they remain relevant when the parliament elections take place in 2014. They may be helped by the growing trend amongst regional parties to stay out of any alliance with any national party, says Sanjay Kapoor.

As the Congress juggernaut rolled on in Karnataka, 12 ministers of the Jagadish Shettar cabinet, including Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa, fell by the wayside, rubbing salt into the wounds of the vanquished Bharatiya Janata Party.

Mumbai Indians on Sunday snapped Chennai Super Kings's seven-match winning streak with a crushing 60-run victory in a lop-sided Pepsi Indian Premier League match in Mumbai.

They have been unconquered at home so far but Mumbai Indians face an arduous task to extend the record as they face a rampaging Chennai Super Kings in their Pepsi IPL match in Mumbai.

The company that used to be a juggernaut of smartphones is now undertaking a 'journey of transformation of business and brand'.

Who are the BJP leaders who are envious of Modi? Who is the Congress leader who has riled party members? Which Congress leaders are fighting for leadership in the same state? All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup...

The Bayern Munich juggernaut rolled on with a 3-1 first-leg win over an Arsenal side lacking confidence and ill-equipped to stop the German giants seizing control of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday.

Why is Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram worried? Who has the sharpest eye in the Congress? How is the Union law minister tackling the turmoil in his ministry? Catch up on all the gossip from Delhi, in this week's Dilli Gupshup.

It took an inspired performance from the Uttar Pradesh Wizards to finally stop the Delhi Waveriders juggernaut from rolling as they thrashed the home team 4-1 in their final round-robin match of the Hockey India League at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi.