Despite their top leaders frowning upon such practices, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Congress came together in the Achalpur Municipal Council in Maharashtra's Amravati district to ensure unopposed election of various committee chairpersons.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a scathing attack on Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, alleging that the latter purposely keeps mum on the tragic death of his mother and sister in an attack by Razakars in order to avoid losing Muslim votes. Adityanath claimed that Kharge's village, Varawatti, was burned down by Razakars and that his mother, aunt, and sister died in the attacks. He accused Kharge of suppressing this painful personal memory for political expediency and for fear of losing Muslim votes. Adityanath also alleged that Congress ignores historical atrocities for the sake of vote bank politics and conveniently forgets the history of the Razakars.
'Neither did I approach the BJP nor did they ask me to join them. It was a natural choice for both of us to make.' 'It was never for me to ask or for them to give.'
Rana, who currently represents the Amravati Lok Sabha seat, joined the ruling BJP at the party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule's residence in Nagpur along with her supporters late Wednesday night.
Lockdown in Amravati city in Maharashtra was extended for a week on Saturday in view of the coronavirus situation, while restrictions were also imposed for the weekend in Nagpur, Buldhana and Yavatmal.
Bogged down by regulatory issues and lack of earning opportunities in smaller towns, the 30-odd private FM radio companies may not participate in the third-phase expansion of private FM radio mooted by the government. In the third phase, government will issue licences for 680 FM radio stations across 237 cities in the country, mostly very small towns like Achalpur, Bettiah and Churu.
All eyes are now on 13 Independents and 16 MLAs from smaller parties.
A historic railway service flounders for an inflexible privatisation policy.
Bhide gave various references from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and attacked the current political and social system.
The central probe agency had on Friday carried out a fresh round of searches in connection with the case, they said.
The three Independent MLAs who have announced their support to the BJP are Geeta Jain, Rajendra Raut and Ravi Rana.
Researchers have found two new mutations in coronavirus samples from Amravati and Yavatmal districts of eastern Maharashtra which can escape neutralising antibodies, a senior official said on Thrusday. Meanwhile, authorities in the two districts have announced strict implementation of restrictions, including a weekend lockdown in Amravati, to stem the rising cases of COVID-19.