In a setback to Congress in Uttarakhand, its MP from Garhwal Satpal Maharaj joined Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday, saying the country needed strong leadership.
Maharaj, who joined the BJP in 2014 soon after Harish Rawat became the chief minister of Uttarakhand, alleged that the Congress is "looking at people as Hindu and Muslim face".
The mosque's maulana and the mazar's caretakers said they were not aware of any administrative order in this regard and claimed this was for the first time that such a step had been taken during the yatra.
Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj his wife and 21 other people -- family members, staff and his followers staying in the same household -- have tested positive.
The gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum was done under the supervision of the experts of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), he said.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
The Uttarakhand tourism department is working on a plan to develop a 'Modi circuit' at the Corbett Tiger Reserve, covering the places visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while shooting for a television programme in 2019.
These include home, industrial development (mining), justice, labour, excise, environment conservation and climate change, disaster management and rehabilitation and civil aviation.
The Uttarakhand assembly on Wednesday passed a stricter anti-conversion Bill making unlawful conversion a cognisable and non-bailable offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of at least three to a maximum of 10 years.
At 45, Dhami takes over as the youngest chief minister of Uttarakhand.
Though the crowd of devotees was missing from the opening ceremony, the temple was decorated with 10 quintals of flowers and glittering with lights
The Devasthanam Board was assigned the management of 51 temples of the state, including the four famous Himalayan shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
At least half a dozen names have begun doing the rounds as Dhami's likely replacement, including Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Srinagar Garhwal MLA Dhan Singh Rawat, former chief minister Triveda Singh Rawat, who did not contest the polls this time, and Didihat legislator Bishan Singh Chufal.
Uttarakhand minister Satpal Maharaj said an inquiry will be conducted to find out how multi-storey buildings were allowed to be constructed in Joshimath which has been sinking for at least 20 years.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Wednesday filed his nomination papers from Sitarganj Assembly constituency for which by-election would be held on July 8, officials said.
Nine ministers also take oath. Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Madan Kaushik, Arvind Pandey, Subodh Uniyal,Yashpal Arya and Prakash Pant have been made Cabinet ministers.
Uttarakhand minister Amrita Rawat, wife of Satpal Maharaj who recently left Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, was on Monday sacked by Chief Minister Harish Rawat from the state cabinet and an Independent member of Legislative Assembly was sworn in as minister.
The death toll in the avalanche triggered by the bursting of a glacier in Chamoli has gone up to 58 as a total of 11 bodies are recovered from the Tapovan tunnel, whereas 146 people are still missing, said Uttarakhand Police on Tuesday.
Chairman of the Parliamentary standing committee on defence Satpal Maharaj on Sunday sought to downplay the controversy over the alleged unnotified movement of two Army units towards the capital in mid-January, saying such exercises are routinely held.
The three service chiefs are unlikely to be called before Parliament's standing committee on defence to give an account of the state of preparedness of the forces. This has become clear with sources in the committee and outside saying that the move has been given up as it would unnecessarily send a wrong signal at a time when the talk of a trust deficit between government and defence forces is being raked up.
The BJP deputed Shah as observer to Uttar Pradesh, where Yogi Adityanath powered the party to an impressive victory and where there are no hurdles in the way of the priest-politician's second stint in power.
In a move to help the party general secretaries in their duties, the Congress on Friday appointed eight senior leaders, including two Union Ministers, as coordinators to get its act together ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Those appointed to the post include Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Santosh Bagrodia besides Pawan Singh Ghatowar, Janardhana Poojary, Birendra Singh, P J Kurien, Satpal Maharaj and Rajiv Shukla.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced the names of candidates for 59 out of 70 seats in Uttarakhand for the upcoming assembly polls.
Opinion polls by a section of the media channels have stated that Harish Rawat is the most liked politician for the post of chief minister, way ahead of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
The former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh man's swearing in on Saturday
Inability to take everyone along during his nearly four-year term led to Trivendra Singh Rawat's undoing. He tried to take control of all major departments by holding on to more than 40 of them, but still could not deliver.
"Polling was held peacefully at the 11,697 polling booths across the state with 65.1 per cent of the electorate casting their votes till the close of polls," Chief Electoral Officer Saujanya who does not use a surname said.
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
By March 17 it would be clear on who will be anointed to the post.
Over 74 lakh voters will seal the fate of 628 candidates in electronic voting machines between 8 am to 5 pm when polling concludes, state Election office informed.
Dhami, who is a two-time MLA from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district, replaces Tirath Singh Rawat who resigned on Friday night.
Governance strategies can take a back seat, but the last word hasn't been said on how the BJP leadership will address Dhami's lack of experience, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Congress leaders are now in a "wait and watch" mode over the possible ripple effect of Punjab developments in faction-ridden Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states other than Punjab where the party is in power on its own.
'He has two small children, think of the impact on them.' Mixed emotions in Indian sports fraternity after Sushil's arrest in murder case.
Heart rending scenes were witnessed at the funeral of Major Bisht, who died while defusing a mine along the LoC in Naushera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Across the world Indian society is known as Hindu. All Bharatiya (Indians) are Hindus and we all are one entity," he said.
Harish Rawat's political one-upmanship weakened the party; nine MLAs who left won on BJP tickets.
The Congress is finding it tough to accommodate defeated senior leaders in the Rajya Sabha as it does not have the numerical strength in various assemblies to win the seats.
Coupled with his administrative and organisational skills and experience, his loyalty to the party and RSS ideology seemed to have won the day for him.
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