Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
He said the "switch" to the Sharad Pawar-led outfit has started in the form of ex-corporators, referring to the resignation of Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief Ajit Gavhane and two former corporators.
The Congress Legislature Party, which met at a private hotel in Bengaluru on Sunday evening, passed a unanimous resolution authorising the party chief to pick its leader.
The activist said leaders opposing Maratha interests would face consequences in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.
'The southern states will have no voice.' 'Political parties in future need to focus only on one region, the northern region, to win the general election.'
Saini, 54, a low profile OBC leader, rose through the ranks in the party and was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP's legislature group at a meeting held in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
In more than one way, it's a setback for the DMK and Chief Minister Stalin in political terms. The electoral fall-out, if any, will have to wait until the next summer, only when assembly elections are due in the state, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The development comes a day ahead of the announcement of the panchayat and municipal poll results.
Amid speculation of leadership change in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary in-charge of the state, Arun Singh, on Thursday ruled out replacing the chief minister and asserted that B S Yediyurappa will continue in the top post.
Sharad Pawar has left the door open for his nephew's return by not suspending him from the party for his rebellion.
After a series of meetings, Sarma told reporters that BJP's Assam legislature party is likely to meet in Guwahati on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
"It is just that Fadnavis and I have swapped our chairs. Only Ajit Pawar's chair is fixed," said Shinde, who was the CM before the assembly elections with Fadnavis and Pawar as his deputies then.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to go to Mumbai on Monday to discuss government formation in Maharashtra amid back channel talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party and estranged ally Shiv Sena for a possible tie-up.
Rathore, however, said he was a "true soldier" of the Congress party and it was in the public domain who had damaged the party.
Here are the key highlights of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
The recent move by a group of eight Congress MLAs in Goa to merge with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was as per constitutional norms, state assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.
Before the ceremony, Yogi Adityanath, who led the party to a thumping victory in the just-concluded elections, will be elected as the leader of the legislature party, party sources said.
The legislators landed at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi in a chartered flight and were taken to the Circuit House in the city in two buses.
The 44 legislators, including Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who deserted the Congress party on Friday and joined the People's Party of Arunachal are set to form a new government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led North East Democratic Alliance.
Amid the ongoing tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sena over sharing of power in the next state government, Fadnavis also asserted that he will be the chief minister for another five years.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced reservation for Muslims in supplying goods and services up to a value of Rs 1 crore to various government departments, corporations and institutions in the state budget for 2025-26. The budget also increased the value limit of government contracts in which Muslims can avail reservation to Rs 2 crore. The reservation to Muslims under 2B category is in addition to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Castes coming under Category-1, Category-2A. The budget also included various welfare schemes for minorities, including Rs 50,000 to support simple marriages and Rs 1,000 crore under the Chief Minister's Minority Colony Development Programme.
The state cabinet approved the Parliamentary Affairs Department's proposal to convene the first session of the 17th assembly and 196th session of the legislative council from November 23 to November 27, minister Amarendra Pratap Singh of the BJP said.
We have seen such scenes from legislatures in South Korea and Europe for instance, but who would have wagered that we would witness such tumult in India, in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly, no less, which only convened for legislative business days ago.
The Congress leadership is caught in a peculiar situation and wants to find a middle path to the issue, party sources said.
Amid intense discussions among Mahayuti allies over the distribution of portfolios and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's insistence on the home ministry, the clarity on the composition of the council of ministers is expected by Sunday, sources said.
Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal has criticised Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for questioning the judiciary over the timeline for the president to take decisions, calling it "unconstitutional " and a lowering of the dignity of the chair. Sibal asserted that Dhankhar's remarks are not neutral and amount to an attack on the judiciary by the executive. He also pointed out that the president acts on the aid and advice of the council of ministers, and therefore, the president's power cannot be curtailed. Sibal urged Dhankhar to seek a review of the judiciary's decision or an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court if he has problems with it. He also questioned why Dhankhar only focuses on actions taken during Congress governments and not after 2014.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP president, said, "Amit Shah has set a target of 35 seats. We will achieve that".
A day after Nationalist Congress Party extended unsolicited "outside support" to Bharatiya Janata Party in government formation in Maharashtra, party president Sharad Pawar on Monday said it was the "best alternative" to usher in a "stable" dispensation.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a 'performance audit' of ministers during their tenure.
Outgoing Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday called on Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and tendered his resignation.
Eight other ministers from the BJP and its alliance partners also took oath along with the chief minister.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has urged Muslims to wear a black armband on their right hand during Juma prayers on the last Friday of Ramzan as a mark of protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. The AIMPLB has been vocal in its opposition to the Bill, calling it "controversial, discriminatory and damaging." The organization has planned nationwide protests against the Bill, with large sit-ins scheduled in several cities.
'We would continue with the Congress government's schemes with a review to enable it reaches the beneficiaries.'
Thakur's name was proposed by Suresh Bharadwaj and Mahender Singh and seconded by other members.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
The formation of a new government in Maharashtra has been delayed due to a disagreement between the Shiv Sena and BJP over who should be the next chief minister. Shiv Sena insists on Eknath Shinde continuing as CM while the BJP favors Devendra Fadnavis. The delay comes despite the BJP-led coalition winning a landslide victory in the recent assembly elections. Sources suggest that the coalition has not reached a consensus on the CM, with various leaders from both parties voicing their opinions on the matter.
Sharad Pawar and other NCP-SP leaders will take a decision on whom to take back in the fold, said the MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district.