"During a competition called 'Third Degree', the jury asked the participants to strip to their underwear," a senior official said.
At least six people were killed and 30 injured in a stampede during a temple festival in North Goa, India. The incident occurred at the Sree Lairai Devi temple in Shirgao village, around 40 km from Panaji, as thousands of devotees thronged the narrow lanes to the temple for the annual festival.
The Goa unit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday revoked the appointment of its spokespersons in the state with immediate effect and the names of new appointees will be announced in the next couple of days, the party's senior functionary said.
The Goa Congress faced a spate of resignations and confusion prevailed over its alliance with like-minded parties for the upcoming polls in the coastal state as the opposition party was getting ready for a series of meetings by general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday.
The Congress on Saturday issued a show-cause notice to its leader Vijai Bhike after his statement blaming the ally Goa Forward Party for the poor performance in the last month's Goa assembly elections drew a sharp response from the latter.
Trinamool Congress's (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP and former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro has tendered his resignation from the Upper House of Parliament, party sources said on Tuesday.
Despite his apology, the Bajrang Dal sought his arrest, while Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said action would be taken against him as per law.
After the assembly polls in 2017, the GFP, which had won three seats, had extended support for the formation of the then BJP-led state government under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.
Talking to reporters, state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte hailed Eurica Dias for his selfless action and said it indicated that locals in the coastal state are basically helpful.
'Parrikar died twice...once on March 17 physically while today it is the death of his political legacy'
Newly formed Goa Forward party has opposed the release of a book on Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse scheduled for Saturday.
We want to make a non-BJP political front in this country, Raut said.
Tourism Minister Ajgaonkar also said that Goa does not want tourists who sell narcotics in the state.
However, Anup Sardesai, the writer of the book titled Nathuram Godse: The Story of an Assassin, said he would go ahead with its release at a different venue.
As per the power-sharing arrangement, Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar will be the deputy chief ministers.
As per state government statistics, 26 patients had died at the GMCH during the wee hours of Tuesday, followed by 21 on Wednesday, 15 on Thursday and 13 on Friday (total 75).
The CM said that parents have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their children.
The culling of key state leaders and bureaucrats has given rise to distrust and uneasiness in Pramod Sawant's style of functioning, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, and three of the 10 MLAs who joined the BJP -- Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte, Philip Neri Rodrigues -- were sworn in as new ministers.
The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP.
Sardesai is the second member of the cabinet after health minister Vishwajit Rane to talk about the exact nature of Parrikar's illness.
With the BJP's strength in the 40-member Goa assembly increasing to 27 with two-thirds of Congress legislators joining it, the Sawant government does not need allies' support any longer.
The death of the former defence minister, who represented the Panaji assembly seat, will also necessitate a fourth bypoll in Goa.
A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said all party MLAs have been asked not to leave the state.
'We will fight for removing the de-classification of coconut trees.' 'We are going to have our own Sound Act so that Goan people are not hounded by the police when they get married.' '80 per cent jobs for locals in the private sector, 100 per cent in government.'
In Goa, where Assembly elections are a few months away, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders led by Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and including former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and the party's vice president Luizinho Faleiro met Governor P S Sridharan Pillai and requested him to immediately seek resignation from the chief minister and announce investigation by an independent agency.
'This is a new Congress. Let the BJP be warned.'
The meeting comes a day after Gandhi alleged that the "Goa audio tapes", cited by the Congress to attack the Centre on the Rafale issue, were authentic and Parrikar was in possession of "explosive secrets" that give him power over Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They said this was preliminary voter turnout and the final figure may cross 80 per cent as electoral fate of 301 candidates were locked in EVMs which will be opened on March 10 for counting.
The chief minister has been in the US for treatment of a pancreatic ailment since March this year.
The discussions on the new Goa CM came to a halt after Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar wanted to be the chief minister.
The state government has started advising farmers to adopt 'cosmic farming' in which they need to chant 'Vedic mantra' for 20 days in the farm for better quality and quantity of their crop.
Before leaving for Mumbai on Tuesday, Parrikar held a series of meetings, including one with senior state ministers.
A senior state BJP leader had said earlier in the day that Sawant would induct BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly Michael Lobo, and three of the ten MLAs who have switched over from the Congress.
The two would-be Dy CMs are Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar.
State health minister Vishwajit Rane said Parrikar's health parameters were "satisfactory".
Yuri Alemao, Altone D'costa and advocate Carlos Alvares Ferreira, the three Congress MLAs who didn't join the eight of their former party men in jumping ship speak up about their decisions and their motivations to stay with the 137-year-old Congress.
Sadhvi also said "there is no such thing as saffron terrorism," adding that "saffron means dedicated life for the nation and dharma."
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday trained her guns on the Congress, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become more powerful as the grand old party is not serious about politics, and alleged that the country is suffering because that party does not take decisions.
'Across the political spectrum, especially from the side of the NDA itself, there is complete disillusionment (with the way the BJP is treating its allies).' 'This leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.'
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