Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
He made this announcement outside the Rajamahendravaram central prison after meeting TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who is detained for his alleged role in a multi-crore skill development corporation scam.
Y S Vijaya Lakshmi, widow of late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was on Thursday unanimously elected as the leader of YSR Congress Legislature Party.
Five years after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of a much younger Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday was on course to lead his party towards a landslide victory in the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls, with allies Bharatiya Janata Party and Janasena Party (JNP) in tow.
With the Congress leadership reportedly inching towards a favourable decision on Telangana statehood demand, a party member of Legislative Assembly and several YSR Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions on Thursday said they have "resigned" in support of united Andhra Pradesh.
The new TDP government will have to mop up over Rs 10,000 crore to fulfill the financial requirements for July, a retired senior bureaucrat said.
The agency made the disclosure in a chargesheet filed by it on May 10 against former Telangana chief minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Chandrashekar Rao's MLC daughter K Kavitha and four others.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
Megha Engineering had emerged as the second-biggest buyer of electoral bonds and donated the highest amount of about Rs 586 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party, according to the data released by the Election Commission on March 21.
The 26-party Opposition alliance has moved a notice of no-confidence in Lok Sabha demanding the prime minister speak on the Manipur situation inside the House. While the notice has been admitted, no decision on a date has yet been taken.
Call it the art of staying rooted yet bending with prevailing political winds. With Telangana going to the polls in December, and assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra and Odisha scheduled next year, what factors have influenced parties' recent moves?
The parties which gave chief ministers and sent scores of MPs to Parliament, drew a blank this time.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
About 40 per cent of sitting MPs have criminal cases registered against them out of which 25 per cent have declared serious criminal cases under charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women, according to poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties will make all-out efforts to thwart the government's move to pass the bill even as the numbers are stacked in favour of the NDA with BJD and YSRCP pledging their support to the government on the bill.
Over the last five days, Modi visited all of south, held roadshows, made an aggressive bid for his party, and took on the rivals with full gusto, especially the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana that was in power for 10 years.
If the Congress reached 90, it would have a pretty good chance of holding the BJP below the 272 mark. A hundred seats will rock national politics, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
The court converted Naidu's four-week interim medical bail in this case into absolute bail and ordered the former chief minister's release on regular bail, considering his age, old age-related ailments, non-flight risk and other reasons.
The BJP senior leadership believes the YSRCP is a more reliable potential ally post-2024 Lok Sabha election than the TDP.
Statements of five 'Angadiya' firm operators have also been recorded by the ED to establish the "money trail" of this alleged Rs 45 crore bribe amount.
However, there was no official word from the Lokpal.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
The fight between Jaganmohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu for the political supremacy in Seema-Andhra region has taken an interesting turn.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
Sources said the committee is also expected to underline its unhappiness at the conduct of some opposition members during its proceedings and make a mention of it in its recommendations to the House.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
He was first called by the federal agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
The BJP and Congress are the top two beneficiaries of the electoral bonds, followed by the Trinamool Congress.
Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra on Tuesday claimed that the meeting of the ethics committee of the Lok Sabha was postponed to keep a Congress member away from the proceedings and adopt the report by a majority, prompting a sharp retort from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey.
Also, 200 others involved in the riots are likely to be arrested as police are watching the footage to identify those who indulged in the violence.
The total assets of seven Members of Parliament analysed from Telangana is Rs 5,596 crore, that of 11 MPs from Andhra Pradesh is Rs 3,823 crore, and 30 MPs analysed from Uttar Pradesh have total assets worth Rs 1,941 crore.
Kejriwal (55) has been issued the summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and according to the sources, the agency will record his statement once he deposes before the investigating officer of the case in Delhi.
'It is not just about numbers. Sometimes coalitions and alliances have symbolic value.'
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred petitions submitted by the Trinamool Congress and the YSR Congress under the anti-defection law against their respective leaders Sisir Adhikari and K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju to the privileges committee.
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