Lok Sabha on Monday turned into a battleground for the Delhi assembly polls with Bharatiya Janata Party member Ramvir Singh Bidhuri launching an all-out attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government, alleging that they 'looted' the national capital and turned it into 'hell'.
Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the New Delhi seat and incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced the names of five candidates from the national capital, dropping four MPs -- Meenakshi Lekhi, Harsh Vardhan, Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, amid reports of growing discord with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has issued a warning, stating, "Don't take me lightly." Shinde's remarks come amidst a series of events suggesting tensions between the two leaders, including the appointment of guardian ministers for Raigad and Nashik, the establishment of separate project monitoring cells, and Shinde's absence from several meetings convened by Fadnavis. The recent downgrading of police security for 20 Shiv Sena MLAs further fuels speculation of a growing rift. While both leaders have denied any discord, the events suggest a power struggle within the ruling alliance.
The BJP is considering having two deputy chief ministers in the new Delhi government to represent the city as a "mini" India, party leaders said. The move is aimed at accommodating MLAs from different castes, communities, and regional backgrounds. The proposal is under consideration by the national leadership, which will also decide on the chief minister and other ministers. The process of government formation is expected to gain momentum after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his foreign visit over the weekend.
Ahead of the Delhi assembly polls scheduled to be held early next year, state Congress chief Devender Yadav said on Friday that the party will contest on all 70 seats and there would be no alliance.
The BJP has fielded former MP Parvesh Verma from the New Delhi seat against Arvind Kejriwal.
Carrying bottles of dirty water, the BJP protesters raised slogans against the AAP government and smashed 'matkas' (earthen pitchers) as a mark of protest over water scarcity in the national capital.
According to the analysis, there has been a 55 percent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
Atishi will have a brief tenure in office as assembly elections in the national capital are due in February.
Singh had fought the 2019 Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully from the South Delhi constituency as a Congress candidate.
On Friday evening too, Crime Branch teams had visited the residences of Kejriwal and Delhi Minister Atishi. But sources said the police teams could not serve the notices as officials at Kejriwal's home refused to take it and Atishi was not present.
It dropped sitting MP from Guna, Krishnapal Singh Yadav, to field Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the seat.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs will continue their overnight protest at the Delhi assembly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday to demand the sacking of Aam Aadmi Party ministers over alleged corruption charges.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
The Delhi government has been following the practice of banning all kinds of firecrackers for the last three years.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha alleged that the BJP is offering two options to his party MLAs -- they should either join the saffron party or the CBI-ED will put them in jail.
Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of the AAP, won the confidence motion with the support of 54 MLAs and said no legislator of his party defected.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
Hours after the AAP announced its night-long sit-in against the Lieutenant Governor, BJP MLAs also started an overnight dharna on the assembly premises demanding the sacking of ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption.
The chief minister said that it was indeed a mistake and assured that it will not be repeated after Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri raised the matter in the Delhi assembly.
The Delhi Assembly on Monday passed bills pertaining to over 66 per cent hike in salaries and allowances of its members who are among the lowest-paid lawmakers in the country.
Despite losing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party fared well in trans-Yamuna areas, including northeast Delhi that was rocked by communal riots in 2020, but its performance took a hit in the city's northern and southern parts of the city, data showed.
The Delhi Assembly on Friday suspended Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Jitender Mahajan from its one-day special session and also marshalled out BJP legislators Anil Bajpai and Mohan Singh Bisht for allegedly disrupting the proceedings of the House.
The resolution expressed "disapproval" against the controversial Gujarat-cadre officer being "forced upon Delhi" as its police commissioner.
The BJP had attacked him and the AAP after a video went viral showing him attending the event on October 5 where hundreds took a pledge to convert to Buddhism and not consider Hindu deities as gods.
Only three seats, which were among 12 constituencies where Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed rallies, were bagged by the BJP.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements, official sources said.
An advertisement for recruitment of civil defence volunteers by the Delhi government stoked a controversy on Saturday after it referred the people of Sikkim as "subject" along with those from Bhutan and Nepal, prompting the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress to launch a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation.
While five resident doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital had been sitting on a relay hunger strike since Friday, the senior doctors of the North Corporation-run facilities had gone on an indefinite strike on Tuesday. Their associations had joined hands in solidarity since Tuesday.
A total of 16 turncoats were in the poll fray -- nine fielded by the Aam Aadmi Party, three by the Congress and four by the BJP.
Cutting across party lines, chief ministers and others leaders urged the people to follow the self-imposed curfew from 7 am to 9 pm, noting that "social distancing" was key to breaking the chain of infection, as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, and states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Bihar imposed partial lockdown till month end.
AAP wins 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi assembly.
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