In a relief toD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, the Supreme Court Monday directed the Punjab police not to arrest him till February 23 in a drugs case so he can undertake electioneering
With 85-year-old Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal at the helm, the old faces mostly stand out in the newly sworn Punjab Cabinet, whose average age is 60 years. Badal is the oldest member of his council of ministers, which comprises 17 other Cabinet-rank ministers, including his son Sukhbir Singh Badal as his deputy.
If the BJP is set to return to power in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and even Goa, it is not because of the party's performance or the quality of governance. No. It is essentially Modi's popularity, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Akali veteran Parkash Singh Badal will be sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister on March 14 for a record fifth time with the SAD-BJP combine on Friday jointly electing the 85-year-old leader to head the state for a second consecutive term.
A day after his party got a miserable drubbing in the Assembly polls, Peoples Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Wednesday accused Shiromani Akali Dal of using money power to garner votes.
The results of the Assembly elections were nothing to exult about for the Bharatiya Janata Party with the party faring poorly in Uttar Pradesh and its chief minister B C Khanduri losing in Uttarakhand although it grabbed Goa from Congress.
Despite attaining absolute majority in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party lost its vote share in comparison to Congress which failed to live up to its expectations in the poll results of the 117 member assembly.
The SAD-BJP alliance on Tuesday created history in Punjab by storming back to power for a second consecutive term, breaking a 46-year-old jinx.
Shiromani Akali Dal created history on Tuesday to become the first party ever to retain power in Punjab bucking the anti-incumbency factor with Parkash Singh Badal, the grand old man of the state politics, and his son Sukhbir Singh leading the charge.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari is confident that his party will come back to power in Uttrakhand as well as Punjab, where it has an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. He also believes that the party will fare way better in Uttar Pradesh than the predictions made by several exit polls. "I am confident that we will win the elections in Uttrakhand and Punjab," he said.
The Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in saving the life of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar whose mercy petition had been rejected by the President. In a statement, the ruling party in Punjab sought "direct and immediate intervention of the prime minister to save the life of Bhullar on grounds of humanitarianism and civilised concern and above all the national interest".
Modi also attacked the Congress for charging him with corruption in the Rafale deal.
Some reports suggest that the Centre has empowered the BSF to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside the Indian territory from the international border.
Though the Congress lost the battle in 2007 to the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, it hopes to regain power in Punjab this year. The party, which is banking on the anti-incumbency factor, believes it "will throw Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Bhartiya Janata Party out of power".
A beaming Amarinder Singh thanked the people of the state for their overwhelming support, saying he was committed to good governance and tackling the drug menace.
The prime minister may go for new faces with an eye on grooming younger leaders while also factoring in caste and regional balances
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal expressed his gratitude to Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh for his efforts in cleaning polluted rivers in the state. Badal appreciated the central minister's efforts through a unanimous resolution adopted by the state assembly on September 30, which thanked Ramesh for his "whole-hearted assistance to the scheme to make the state of Punjab pollution free."
The four ministers -- Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi -- and around two dozen legislators met in Chandigarh at the residence of Bajwa on Tuesday.
Political parties were bracing for the assembly election results on Thursday in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and politically volatile Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, sending out feelers for possible post-poll tie-ups.
Sidhu said there would be no need for Amarinder to go for power cuts or to regulate the office timings if the state acts "in the right direction".
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar held talks with leaders of the opposition in her attempt to break the Parliament impasse on the 2G spectrum issue.Leaders of several parties including the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party, RJD and the National Conference did not attend the luncheon meeting called by the Speaker to find a solution to the deadlock.
Revenge he will exact from a party he had led with great aplomb until the Gandhi siblings stepped in and, in order to show who was the boss, flung him aside, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Why Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manjinder S Sirsa is furious with the director and actor of Sacred Games 2.
General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others were killed in a helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force said.
The government has ruled out a separate marriage law for the Sikhs and dropped the proposal to amend the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 to provide for registration of the Sikh marriages.
'Narendra Modi might not have made 145 in Maharashtra, but it is definitely true that the Congress, and other dynastic parties, are well and truly stumped.'
Western UP contributes nearly 70 seats to the 402-member UP assembly. In 2017, the BJP had swept the region. Every pre-2022 poll survey had suggested the party would face its biggest attrition from this region because of the farmers' groups.
As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
AAP will have to learn to be patient as such electoral changes do not happen in a hurry, asserts Ramesh Menon.
"The prime minister should either bring down prices or leave his chair," Yadav told reporters.
In further trouble for beleaguered Karnataka Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, a petition seeking impeachment proceedings against him was moved by as many as 76 Rajya Sabha members on Monday.
If 'Raja' Amarinder Singh can address the issues of health and education, he is certain to coast to victory.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned for the day following disruptions by Opposition parties which raised slogans on the Pegasus snooping row and the farmers' issue by gathering in the Well of the House.
Rahul's babalog have forged an alliance that is now formidable. This is a challenge to older congress MPs. Second-timers and third-timers cannot be very happy with this development
If Modi's political retreat -- he has tried to avoid a pre-1984 type of situation in Punjab -- helps soothe Sikh sentiments, nobody should complain Modi, asserts Sheela Bhatt.
"During that time -- June, July and August of 2008 -- I was never in India. I was only here (in the US). I had no communication with the Prime Minister's Office or with anybody including the Akali Dal. It (the WikiLeaks allegation) was the biggest surprise to me," Padma Bhushan awardee Sant Chatwal said
The merger was sealed on Friday during a meeting between Badal and Rahul at the latter's residence here where Singh and All India Congress Committee General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad were also present, they said.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul asked how could he stand with the Akali Dal when he always talks about eliminating corruption.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, son of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is to being installed as the new CM of Punjab with the Shiromani Akali Dal's alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party giving its consent.
After 13 years in hibernation, the prospects of passage of the controversial women's reservation bill brightened with sharp divisions coming to the fore among one of the main the opponents of the measure--JD(Uas Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar declared his support.
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