As Telangana voters queued up to exercise their franchise in the assembly polls on Thursday, they were pleasantly surprised by finding some of the well-known actors and politicians around them.
Nine ministers of cabinet rank and four ministers of state were inducted at the swearing in ceremony at Raj Bhavan with Governor Vajubhai Vala administering the oath of office and secrecy.
Controversy is not new to Andhra Pradesh Transport Minister and state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana. Botsa, who has been in the eye of the storm on earlier occasions for alleged mafia activities, does not seem to shy away from courting controversies. Now, he is accused of abusing his official position for the wedding of his daughter Anusha, a medico, in his native Vizianagaram on Friday night
The chief minister wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India S A Bobde in an unprecedented move alleging that the Andhra Pradesh high court was being used to "destabilise and topple my democratically elected government."
Some of them have also endorsed Sachin Pilot as chief minister. However, they added that whatever decision the party high command takes in this regard, they will accept it.
There is no mention of Kolar, the second seat from where senior party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, wants to contest, in addition to Varuna, where his name is already cleared.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
Jaishankar briefed the leaders of all parties about the situation in the violence-hit nation and the steps taken by the Indian government.
The rift between Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his mine-owning ministerial colleagues continued as they stepped up their campaign against a new cess imposed on lorries transporting iron ore.Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy, himself a mine owner in the ore-rich Bellary district, took the lead by holding parleys with fellow miners to mobilise support against the Rs 1,000 cess on each lorry load of iron ore.
Kavitha Kalvakuntla, 44, a Bharat Rashtra Samiti MLC, declared this in a late-night post on her official Twitter handle.
Kavitha said 'these tactics of intimidation' against the fight of her father and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BRS would not deter them.
Andhra Pradesh may witness a spell of President's rule in the wake of the resignation of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Gandhi claimed that Dalits, tribals, and Other Backward Classes were made bonded labourers and their participation was lacking in big companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and courts.
A case was registered against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Hyderabad for his alleged remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the police said on Wednesday.
Soundararajan, who addressed a press conference in Hyderbad, alleged that there were some social media posts by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti linking Raj Bhavan with the recent "TRS MLAs poaching case".
Benoy Babu of Pernod Ricard and Sharath Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma have been arrested under sections of the PMLA.
The BJP leadership revoked the suspension of Raja Singh, MLA from Goshamahal in Hyderabad in the outgoing Telangana Legislative Assembly, considering his explanation in response to the show cause notice served by the party earlier, Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy said in a statement on Sunday.
Clear battle lines have started emerging in the ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh between the supporters and opponents of YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of departed leader Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
A lower court judge arrested in a case related to cash-for-bail scam involving former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, has allegedly said that Reddy's relatives were ready to offer as much as Rs 100 crore to secure bail for him.
Amaravati is the present capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
According to sources, Kavitha was to be made to sit face-to-face with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, who was arrested in connection with the liquor policy case on Monday night.
The party has not applied the "one-family, one-ticket" formula for the Karnataka polls which it followed in the Punjab polls held last year.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
Congress on Monday appointed five new PCC chiefs.
Karnataka Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar on Monday quit the post, paving way for his induction into the ministry on Tuesday as part of a compromise formula evolved to end the recent dissidence against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
With no debate whatsoever happening on the Telangana Bill in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is once again set to seek a four-week extension of the deadline to discuss and submit a report on the Bill.
He said, the fresh budget of the new Congress government, which he will be presenting on July 7, is likely to be of the size Rs 3,35,000 crore.
The conference was seen by many as a show of strength by the Opposition with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav joining in to raise their voice against oppression of backward classes.
The police resorted to a lathi charge and seized several vehicles of TDP leaders, including Naidu's campaign vehicle, besides taking many party workers into custody.
C R Kesavan, great grandson of noted freedom fighter and India's last governor general C Rajagopalachari, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday as the party aims to boost its presence in southern India.
The leaders met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi in the presence of general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy.
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
In the first signs of political trouble in Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress party, the state minister for women and child welfare Konda Surekha tendered her resignation to the state governor ND Tiwari on Thursday evening.
Police sources said they suspect the hand of Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami behind the blast.
Six people were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the rape of a 16-year-old girl at her house in Hyderabad, police said.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
