Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, the little-known Hyderabad-based firm that in recent years won the prestigious Zojila tunnel deal among other projects, forayed into city gas and acquired a media group, was the second largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds.
The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
Nineteen Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Left, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party, came together to jointly announce the boycott, saying they find no value in a new building when the "soul of democracy has been sucked out".
The rancour of associating with the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist while forming the board of the Siliguri Corporation has now created a major problem for the West Bengal unit of the Congress, as Debaprasad Roy, one of the vice-presidents of the state Congress, has resigned from the post, protesting the Left help sought by his party to gain power in the municipality.
The two-day deliberations, which will be held at Grand Hyatt in the suburbs, will begin in the evening of August 31 and from 10am on September 1. The meeting will be followed by a press conference, Raut informed.
They then vandalised the premises, breaking CCTV cameras and locking the main gate before leaving, he said.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on Wednesday accused Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is on a visit to New Delhi, of violating constitutional norms and asked him not to return to the state.
Despite disruptions over central rule in Uttarakhand and fresh revelations on the AugustaWestland chopper deal, the Rajya Sabha passed four bills and Lok Sabha cleared three.
Tiwary is in line to contest the Bengal assembly election from a constituency in Howrah district.
'The time has come for all those believe in a democratic India to stand up and be counted and to make a choice.'
Saifuddin Laskar (47), TMC area president of Bamungachi area in Joynagar was shot dead from close range near his house by miscreants when he went out to offer prayers in the morning, the police said.
Goel's tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year.
The original suggestion was to call it 'Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance', but the word 'democratic' was replaced with 'developmental' after Kumar and Yechury raised some objections saying it sounded too similar to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), sources said.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
Scenes from the election campaign in New Delhi, Mainpuri, Bardhaman, Srinagar, Etah, Mumbai and Puri.
TC insiders said at the moment she was not willing to join hands with any faction of state Congress and was more interested in strengthening her party organisation.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey, who wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accusing Trinamool Congress's Mahua Moitra of taking 'bribes' from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament, has also written to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging him to investigate the IP addresses of her log-in credentials for the House.
Modi, while addressing a rally in Barasat, said whatever happened with women in Sandeshkhali "is a matter of shame".
'People of the state who bless me will give a befitting replay to the Congress.'
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
The CAA, enacted by the BJP-led government at the Centre in 2019, aims at granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year.
Ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on Thursday met the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and alleged that the Border Security Force (BSF) is threatening people in the border areas of the state to cast their votes in favour of a particular political party.
Several leaders of the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have given a privilege notice against leader of the house in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal over his certain remarks against some opposition leaders.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Although there is a visible dent in TMC's urban votes, especially among women, the CPI-M and the BJP are unlikely to benefit from this'
Tapas, the TMC upa-panchayat pradhan of the area, was absconding ever since his name surfaced in the first information report lodged by the family of Kaushik Purkait who was beaten to death on Monday night.
A 10-member delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) had announced the dharna after meeting a full bench of the Election Commission (EC) to press their demand.
The CPI-M leader was the chief minister of the state from 2000 to 2011.
Mamata Banerjee's sights are not on the next month's Presidential election. She is focusing on another election that will take place in 2024.
The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5.
Several BJP-backed state governments have unveiled schemes targeting the poor, women, farmers and students, following the party's setback in the Lok Sabha polls.
While the BJP distanced itself from the article, the TMC also rubbished allegations of "understanding with the saffron camp" but the Congress said that the "cat is now out of the bag".
'If she manages to throw out people, go for surgical operations, clean up her image, she will be victorious.'
Ramesh, however, said it was too early to talk about all this right now as the Congress' first priority was the upcoming elections in Karnataka and the string of state polls this year.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
'I've come here as a commoner. Justice is needed to ensure that this incident is never repeated.'
A Sikh Indian Police Service officer, who was deputed at Dhamakhali to prevent senior West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari from visiting restive Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, got agitated after a group of activists of the saffron party allegedly hurled the 'Khalistani' jibe at him.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Expelled Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday failed to get any relief from the Delhi high court which refused to stay the eviction notice issued to the TMC leader asking her to vacate the government bungalow.
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