Authorities were on their toes in Banaskantha and Patan districts and relocated thousands of people residing in low-lying areas to safer places, they said.
Chief Justice of India Justice B R Gavai on Friday praised Justice Bela M Trivedi for her career trajectory from the subordinate judiciary all the way up to the Supreme Court, where she became the eleventh woman judge to be appointed in its history.
Facing stiff dissidence in Saurashtra, Gujarat's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is pinning its hopes on the northern part of the state and Mehsana district for making up possible losses.
The administration is geared up for more showers as the India meteorological department has warned of heavy to very heavy rains with isolated extremely heavy rains in several districts of the state till Thursday morning.
While rain intensity reduced on Tuesday compared to a day ago, affecting mainly districts in the Saurashtra region, administration carried out rescue and relief operations on a large scale, shifting thousands of people to shelters.
She added that light rains are also expected in Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts on October 16, adding that the possibility of light rains at a few places in Ahmedabad cannot be ruled out for that day also.
While the BJP faces rebellion in some pockets and an undercurrent of anger palpable among the dominant OBC Chaudhary community due to the arrest of dairy cooperative leader and former home minister Vipul Chahduary, local caste dynamics and selection of candidates are likely to play a major role in the final outcome, political analysts said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of a new airbase coming up in north Gujarat near India-Pakistan border and said it will emerge as an effective centre for the country's security.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday evening as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The state government has begun preparations to deal with the fallout of the cyclone as it will bring very strong wind and heavy rainfall in the region, officials said.
A region-wise analysis of the Gujarat assembly results shows that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept Saurashtra region, winning 40 of 48 seats, regaining its hold over a region where the Congress held sway in 2017 polls.
Cyclone Biparjoy has left a trail of destruction in Gujarat's Kutch and Saurashtra regions as some 1,000 villages are still without power with hundreds of electric poles getting damaged, while several coastal villages were flooded due to heavy rains and incoming seawater, officials said on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.
A total 2.51 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for the second phase of elections, including 1.29 crore men and 1.22 crore women.
The BJP has done extremely well in the Patidar-dominated constituencies of the state, winning almost every seat that has significant Patel population.
The very severe cyclonic storm 'Biparjoy' intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and is likely to cross Saurashtra-Kutch and adjoining Pakistan coasts around the afternoon of June 15 as a 'very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS)', the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday.
"I am not at all unhappy with AAP and I have not taken any decision about joining the BJP as of now. I will decide only after meeting my workers and people. As of now, I am with AAP," Bhayani told reporters in Gandhinagar ahead of the swearing-in of the BJP government scheduled for Monday.
Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that the government is constantly working to ensure that there is no loss of life due to the weather phenomenon.
Just hours before voting in the second phase of Gujarat assembly polls on Monday, Congress sitting MLA Kanti Kharadi from Scheduled Tribes reserved Danta seat in Banaskantha district in North Gujarat has claimed that he was assaulted by the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ladhu Parghi.
Rahul Gandhi mostly stayed away from the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, choosing to focus on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
As one moves towards Vadnagar, local issues such as high prices of cattle feed and inflation becomes louder.
Two days ahead of his 57th birthday, Union Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah offered prayers at the Bahuchar Mataji temple in Mansa, north Gujarat, on Wednesday, October 20.
The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
Hindu temples are also coming up in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, the prime minister told the gathering.
A total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are contesting the polls in these assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.
In Gujarat, of the 12.5 million hectare of area under cultivation, while six million is dependent on rainfall, two million is covered by groundwater, a bulk of which is said to be in north Gujarat. Scanty rainfall in the last one and half years has not only depleted groundwater level but also affected dams.
The ruling BJP in Gujarat has decided to organise kabaddi and cricket tournaments that will have 'Article 370' in their names in Union Home Minister Amit Shah's Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, party office bearers said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday undertook an aerial survey of affected areas in Gujarat and the adjoining Union territory of Diu to assess the devastation caused by Cyclone Tauktae.
'By the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they moved back to the BJP almost totally and later their backing helped us win the local body elections.'
Hemant Shivsaran lists the number of projects the Modi government has announced since August to woo Gujarat voters.
'The BJP's problem is what rabbit can it pull out of the conjurer's hat?'
The aircraft was forced to land at Jaipur airfield by air defence aircraft of the IAF, they said.
Army and air force contingents have been rushed in to assist in relief and rescue operations.
Swarms in about 3,526 hectares of 5,000 hectares under control; farmers burn tyres or dry straw, play loud music and beat steel plates, and use large fans to destroy or drive away the pests, reports Vinay Umarji
Akshardham temple belongs to the Swaminarayan sect, which has a huge following among the Patel community, and the Congress is trying to woo the community.
Narendra Modi had worked superbly in 2007 in north Gujarat. It's important for Modi that Mehsana and other parts of north Gujarat give a thumping victory to the Bharatiya Janata Party to counterbalance any possible losses in Saurashtra.
An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of the NDRF and SDRF remained deployed on Sunday in view of the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) warning that the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae will reach the state coast on Monday evening and cross it on early Tuesday morning.
Among the 121 villages declared 'partially scarcity-hit', 58 are in Kutch, 52 in Banaskantha district in north Gujarat and 11 in Jamnagar district in Saurashtra region.
"The bus driver lost control due to heavy rain as the tyres slipped on the road when brakes were applied," Banaskantha SP said.
In a tweet, the prime minister's office said, Modi has approved an ex gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund for the kin of those who have lost their lives.
With the reduced strength at 65, the Congress may find it difficult to win 2 RS seats.
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