Bharatiya Janarta Party candidate Ramesh Bidhuri on Wednesday again targeted Delhi chief minister and his rival from Kalkaji seat Atishi, saying she was running around like a 'hirni' (doe) in the streets of the constituency ahead of assembly polls after doing little for the people for years.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday demanded that Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa reveal the source of his claim that 50 bombs had reached the state, questioning if he had direct links with Pakistan. Bajwa, who had made the statement in a TV interview, said he cooperated with police but refused to divulge his sources. The police visited Bajwa's residence and questioned him about his statement. Mann also sought a clarification from the Congress party, saying the government will take strict action if Bajwa's statement was meant only to "create panic."
The rebel leader has been a vocal critic of AAP leadership since he was removed as leader of opposition in Punjab assembly in July last year.
12 AAP MLAs went to Raj Niwas, the LG's residence, at around 11.30 am with the demands. They later claimed that Jung 'refused' to meet them, but the LG secretariat said Jung's schedule was already prepared for the day and procedures have to be followed for seeking an appointment.
Several members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday night exchanged blows and hurled plastic bottles at each other in the chamber of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House, on a day the city got its new mayor.
Atishi, Raghav Chadha and Dilip Pandey are among the first-time MLAs. Atishi, who was fielded from Kalkaji, won the seat by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dharambir Singh by a margin of 11,393 votes. Chadha, who had also registered victory from Rajinder Nagar, defeated his BJP rival Sardar R P Singh by a margin of 20,058 votes.
Bajpai said he quit the AAP as he felt "suffocated" over the "misbehaviour and insult" meted out by the party and claimed that several other legislators of the ruling party in the national capital felt the same way.
The Aam Aadmi Party has removed its MLA Alka Lamba as party spokesperson after she "deviated from party line" while making a statement on Transport Minister Gopal Rai being relieved of the charge.
Rekha Gupta had the support of the RSS, which actively participated in the Delhi assembly poll campaign to help the BJP win.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi was left teetering on Monday after Independent MLA Rambir Shokeen withdrew his support to Arvind Kejriwal, whose party's strength has now been reduced to 35 in the 70 member house.
With the sole motive of triggering communal violence and riots, the BJP got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis 'illegally' settled in different parts of the country in the last eight years, the AAP alleged.
The ED also alleged that Kejriwal, during his questioning, said AAP communication in-charge Vijay Nair 'did not report to him' but to his cabinet colleagues Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj and that his interaction with Nair was 'limited'.
"I quit... I believed him... I backed Arvind for principles not horse-trading," she tweeted.
The move of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has further reduced the possibility of the INDIA bloc alliance working in the MP elections.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the party's Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha as well as its Gujarat chief ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi also figure in the list shared with the media on Tuesday night.
In face of this confrontation, membership of 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs may be cancelled, dealing a huge blow to the Delhi chief minister. Rediff.com explains how things came to this pass.
Kejriwal charged that the BJP toppled Manipur, Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments.
Among these are Labh Singh Ugoke, who defeated former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi in the Bhadaur assembly segment by a margin of 37,558 votes, and Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, who beat Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal in his traditional Lambi seat by 11,396 votes.
Rekha Gupta, a former DUSU president and a long-time member of the RSS, has been chosen as the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly and will become the fourth woman chief minister of Delhi. She won the Shalimar Bagh seat in the February 5 Assembly polls, defeating her AAP rival Bandana Kumari. Gupta, a BCom graduate and lawyer, has a long history of working for women's welfare, having served as the national secretary of the BJP's youth wing and the national vice-president of BJP Mahila Morcha. The BJP has returned to power in Delhi after over 26 years, ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
'Now Modi ji is saying it is his guarantee that every corrupt person will be made a minister'
In his absence, the party stares at uncertainty as many of its other senior leaders are either in jail or in political obscurity.
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress of repeatedly supplying "oxygen" to Pakistan, and slammed the opposition party for its leader Charanjit Singh Channi's remarks questioning the veracity of Balakot air strikes after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Congress is full of pro-Pakistan leaders who make statements against India's interests, and mocked the party for its letter that had advised its functionaries to toe the official line on the issue. Patra also criticized other Congress leaders for their comments on the Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks, accusing them of lowering the morale of the armed forces. He further slammed the Congress for claiming credit for the government's announcement of the caste census and said the party never carried out the exercise during its over 60-year stint in power.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The bypolls, however, will not have any direct impact on the respective legislative assemblies. The results will be declared on November 23. In Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki. Ninety candidates are in the fray in these seats with the maximum of 14 in Ghaziabad. This will be the first electoral test of the INDIA bloc as well as the NDA in the politically-crucial state after the Lok Sabha elections. In Punjab, bypolls will be held in four assembly seats - Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala. The bypolls were necessitated after MLAs representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha. Polling will also be held for the Palakkad seat in Kerala and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.
Around 50,000 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Cabinet colleagues and chief ministers of National Democratic Alliance-governed states, among others, are expected to attend the ceremony.
The law officer said the money trail showed that Rs 45 crore "kickback" used in the Goa assembly elections came from four hawala routes.
Party MLAs, including Madan Lal, Jarnail Singh, were seen lunging at Mishra and dragging him as he raised a poster.
The party will hold similar protests in all district headquarters across the country on December 26, senior party leader Sanjay Singh said.
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday raised questions on the genuineness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degrees and claimed that they would turn out to be fake if a probe is conducted.
Party MLA Bhupat Bhayani, who had initially hinted that he may go with the BJP to 'resolve several key issues' of his constituency but later set aside all speculations, saying he was not unhappy with the AAP, was also present during the meeting.
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai alleged in a press conference that Delhi police on the instruction of PMO put up banners carrying photos of PM Modi at venue of Van Mahotsav programme on Saturday night.
The Enforcement Directorate questioned Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot for about five hours on Saturday and recorded his statement in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to the Aam Aadmi Party government's now-scrapped excise policy, officials said.
The 20 MLAs told the high court that they would move fresh petitions against the taking away of their assembly seats as their pleas had become infructuous after President Ram Nath Kovind put a stamp of approval on the EC's recommendation.
AAP spokesperson and MLA Atishi said Sisodia was arrested because of growing popularity of the party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal.
All 27 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party will meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday with a request to dissolve the Delhi assembly, AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal said.
The resolution expressed "disapproval" against the controversial Gujarat-cadre officer being "forced upon Delhi" as its police commissioner.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Parvesh Verma emerged as a giant-slayer on Saturday with his victory against Aam Aadmi Party supremo and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a fierce contest from the New Delhi seat by a margin of 4,089 votes.
Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij Monday said the probe into the killing of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)'s state unit chief Nafe Singh Rathee will be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation even as 12 people including a former MLA were booked in connection with the murder.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the PAC, has entrusted Vishwas with the responsibility of Rajasthan which goes to polls by the end of 2018.
A loud sound was heard at around 1 am outside Kalia's residence near Shastri Market in Jalandhar, police said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident.
