If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said the former chief minister Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government had to be replaced as it was being run by the BJP from Delhi.
Farmer outfits on Friday started mobilising more batches of peasants from Haryana and Punjab to head towards Delhi's borders to join the ongoing agitation against agri laws, even as political parties such as the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Indian National Lok Dal threw their weight behind them.
Who controls the government in Punjab?
The Dera had approached the apex court last Friday after the Akal Takht, the highest religious body of Sikhs, served an ultimatum to the Punjab government to close down all Deras in the state by May 27.
The Sikh high priests have also demanded that Ram Rahim tender an unqualified apology for wearing clothes similar to that of the tenth Guru Gobind Singh.
Singh noted that opposition members tore rule book, threw papers at the desk of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was in the Chair, and climbed the officials' table -- something, he added, he had never witnessed before.
Rajnath Singh was flooded with question on the Dera controversy and he had to be careful not to say anything that would embarrass Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.
The 58-year-old surrendered shortly after 4 pm, and was taken for the mandatory medical examination, conducted at the Mata Kaushalya Hospital.
After his statement, opposition leaders will speak and if required Singh may give a clarification, the sources said.
In both the states, the Congress has conceded defeat, admitting that price rise may have been one of the major reasons for the drubbing.
Raninder Singh is allegedly involved in a hawala deal.
A Patiala court rejected their bail pleas in the disproportionate assets case.
Hours after taking a 'U-turn' by informing the high court that it is withdrawing its notification dissolving all gram panchayats in the state, the Punjab government suspended two senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers on Thursday for a 'technically-flawed' decision.
"Indian National Congress welcomes S Navjot Singh Sidhu into the Congress family and we thank Congress vice president for his visionary approach in bringing together like-minded people on common platform under the Congress umbrella," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a statement.
Party also concerned about dissension in Uttarakhand and erosion of support in Goa
'This is evidently pure vendetta politics and may even end up helping the Akalis in the elections'
Mann is a Lok Sabha member from Sangrur constituency in Punjab.
Kejriwal's apology spree began last month, with "sorries" to the BJP's Nitin Gadkari, the Congress's Kapil Sibal and the Akali Dal's Bikram Singh Majithia.
The SAD MP from Bathinda said the alliance will be voted back because it had worked hard for the future of the state on an agenda of "development, development and yet more development".
'The politics that is now being played in Punjab doesn't contribute towards peace and tranquillity.'
The Janata Dal-United, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, opposed the government's move on Article 370 through a fresh Presidential Order ending special status to Jammu and Kashmir. On Monday, opposing the Narendra Modi-led government's decision, they walked out of the Rajya Sabha where the bill to split the state into two Union Territories was passed. Similarly, on Tuesday, the JD-U walked out of Lok Sabha while the bill was being discussed. In Patna, JD-U national spokesperson K C Tyagi said: "We completely differ with the Central government's move on Jammu and Kashmir. There was a need for wider consultations on it, but no consultation was done even within the NDA. We own the legacy of socialist leaders Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, who had opposed attempts to tamper with Article 370 during Congress (government in the past)." Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com on the same, the JD-U leader said that 'walking out of Parliament won't affect their ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party'.
Raninder Singh is accused of being involved in a hawala deal.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
After months of investigations, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Saturday filed a charge sheet against former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and his family in a disproportionate assets case in a court in Ropar.
"We did not find any sacrilege attempt or any evidence to back it. One person ran the gurdwara. This thing has moved to murder and inquiry is on," Channi said.
Chief Judicial Magistrate C L Mohal told the Punjab chief minister to appear in a Chandigarh court on September 20.
Sidhu in a press conference on Friday had questioned the Channi-led state government over the steps taken for the delivery of justice in the cases of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and drug trafficking.
The BJP Friday formally announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress.
Besides Kejriwal, no other chief minister will be present in the oath-taking ceremony, according to AAP sources.
The move came after the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government on Monday approved an amendment to the British-era Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha who joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday said his tipping point to join the party was when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee got attacked in Nandigram.
A large crowd of party workers had gathered outside the Central Jail to greet the former chief minister.
'Politics is in a mess. Good people have to join to clean it up.'
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three bills to replace the colonial-era criminal laws by voice vote.
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