Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Almost all will say no. Then ask them why they don't push back at those who rise the slogan of Khalistan. Somebody would confront you with a counter-question: If people can talk of a Hindu Rashtra, why get so upset if others talk of a Sikh Nation, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The Amritsar Lok Sabha battle is getting more and more personal. Congress candidate and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh says merely being a Punjabi does not give his Bharatiya Janata Party rival Arun Jaitley the right to contest from Amritsar and he does not know anything about the place.
'And when the floats go by in the parade garlanded and decorated with the posters of gun toting assassins and murderers and martyrs, you look the other way.' 'And in return we will bring you 10,000 votes because the people of the gurdwaras will vote as we tell them to vote.'
Narendra Modi is expected to have a 45-member council of ministers who will take oath along with him on Monday evening. The council of ministers is expected to have 23 Cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and 11 ministers of state, according to sources.
The contentious bill will be tables in RS on Wednesday. The BJP hopes to get up to 130 votes in a 240-member upper house.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, J P Nadda and Prakash Javadekar were among the key leaders from the BJP at the meeting.
'The honourable prime minister virtually handpicked me for the Amritsar East seat.' 'Amit Shahji announced that if I am elected, the whole of Punjab will be drugs free.'
Such is the situation of the government in Punjab, the prime minister said while hitting out the Congress, and asserted that he will come to Jalandhar again and pay obeisance at the Devi Talab Mandir.
The explosion took place in the wash room of the second floor of the court complex, said police.
A day before her scheduled appearance before the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy case, Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K Kavitha led a hunger strike here on Friday seeking the passage of the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill in this Budget session of Parliament.
The agency had earlier given a clean chit to the Congress leader in the case.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh, one of the two assassins of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, joined the Bahujan Samaj Party in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab on Sunday.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
The suspense over the possible composition of the National Democratic Alliance cabinet is nearly over.
The Haryana Police closed the Ambala-Patiala highway after protesters gathered at the Shambhu border point with adjoining Punjab. The ruling Congress also held protests in Punjab, with the state unit chief Sunil Jakhar participating in one near the Shambhu border.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu announced in the House that the election will be held at 11 am on August 9.
SAD and Paksha have written to the panel headed by S S Ahluwalia that "not an inch" of land should be acquired without the consent of farmers.
Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs brothers should embrace each other rather than we sow seeds of hatred, SAD stalwart Parkash Singh Badal said.
Sidhu's joining may come in the next few days which are considered auspicious.
Ahead of the crucial third round of discussions, the opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday exuded confidence that it would provide a formidable alternative to bring political change in the country and asserted that it has several prime ministerial faces against BJP's only one.
An analysis of the assets data from Association of Democratic Reforms shows that the average assets of a winner of the 2014 LS election was more than the average assets of a candidate: more the money you have, more the chances of winning.
Last month, the Channi government replaced the state's advocate general A P S Deol after strong opposition from Sidhu.
"Making a person belonging to Dalit caste as the chief minister of Punjab is nothing but an election stunt. I have come to know through the media today that assembly elections in Punjab will be fought under a non-Dalit leader and not under Channi," Mayawati told newspersons in Lucknow
In line with exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Uttar Pradesh, after one hour of counting.
The only business that the House could transact was laying of official papers on the table of the House.
She said she would not resign from the assembly and continue to carry out development works in Amritsar East assembly constituency.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has held a series of meetings with MPs and Union ministers from Punjab and Haryana and surrounding states, and virtual interactions with state agricultural ministers of all BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ruled states where he briefed them about the merits of the two bills, the sources said.
Celebrations broke out outside the Rajasthan BJP headquarters in Jaipur and the party workers burst firecrackers and distributed sweets as Murmu emerged victorious in the presidential poll.
The SAD has been requesting the Centre not to introduce the three agriculture-related bills for the approval of Parliament until all reservations expressed by farmers' organisations, farmers and farm labourers are addressed, Badal said.
With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
The projectile, fired by some unidentified people, hit the Saanjh Kendra adjoining the Sarhali police station on the Amritsar-Bathinda highway on Friday night.
The residence of Geelani has been converted into an unofficial jail. No one is allowed to enter or leave the premises.
'The Centre and state need to take a unified approach and take concerted action before this matter assumes menacing proportions because unemployment, the drug trade and the levels of frustration among the youth make them vulnerable to any maverick who promises something better.'
Kaur, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
A tragic train accident in Amritsar on Friday took a political turn with the Opposition accusing the state's Congress government for lapses in allowing celebrations near railway tracks.
Why Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manjinder S Sirsa is furious with the director and actor of Sacred Games 2.
The Congress is planning to call a meeting of Opposition parties in May. It is possible to keep all possibilities open in case Karnataka yields a hung House, leading to a recalibrated Opposition.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was defeated by Aam Aadmi Party's first-timer and an eye surgeon from Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib seats, respectively.
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