Given the dismal show of the Congress in the recently concluded assembly polls and the JMM eating into its vote bank, the possibility of Congress MLAs switching sides is not bleak, reports R Krishna Das.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states were among those present at the Raj Bhavan ceremony.
Party is above all. I am a loyal worker of the BJP. I hope I have done justice to the responsibilities that were given to me, said Biplab Deb.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP president, said, "Amit Shah has set a target of 35 seats. We will achieve that".
Two days after being sworn in as Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday took oath as an MLA along with deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi boycotted the ceremony alleging EVM misuse.
Following the engine snag, the two BJP leaders shelved their plans to travel to Imphal for the swearing-in ceremony of N Biren Singh as Manipur chief minister, sources said.
'Yogiji insisted to Venkaiah Naiduji that he needs two more strong arms to rule Uttar Pradesh.'
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
Robert Vadra indicated that he will also join politics and said there is an atmosphere of change in the country. His entire family is working diligently on this, he added.
Congress legislators will spend Thursday night inside the Karnataka legislative assembly and council, demanding the sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition for his statement about the national flag.
'We would continue with the Congress government's schemes with a review to enable it reaches the beneficiaries.'
Rathore, however, said he was a "true soldier" of the Congress party and it was in the public domain who had damaged the party.
"I challenge BJP to prove corruption charges against me. If proved, I will resign from politics," said Hemant Soren.
The recent move by a group of eight Congress MLAs in Goa to merge with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was as per constitutional norms, state assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.
The Congress leadership is caught in a peculiar situation and wants to find a middle path to the issue, party sources said.
Amid speculation of leadership change in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary in-charge of the state, Arun Singh, on Thursday ruled out replacing the chief minister and asserted that B S Yediyurappa will continue in the top post.
The Congress candidates were announced on a day former party chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in Aizawl on a two-day campaign visit.
The development comes a day ahead of the announcement of the panchayat and municipal poll results.
After a series of meetings, Sarma told reporters that BJP's Assam legislature party is likely to meet in Guwahati on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.
Outgoing Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday called on Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and tendered his resignation.
Before the ceremony, Yogi Adityanath, who led the party to a thumping victory in the just-concluded elections, will be elected as the leader of the legislature party, party sources said.
Before going to the police, Karad posted a video on social media, announcing that he would surrender and claimed he was being linked to the murder case due to political vendetta.
Curfew was relaxed in three Imphal Valley districts on Tuesday and the suspension on broadband internet lifted with conditions, even as Chief Minister N Biren Singh blamed the Congress for the present crisis in Manipur and NDA MLAs called for a "mass operation" against militants responsible for the killing of six women and children. Peaceful rallies were also staged across the state, with hundreds taking to the streets with empty coffins in Churachandpur district, demanding justice for those killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Jiribam, and members of various civil society organisations bringing out a procession in Imphal West district to protest the reimposition of AFSPA in parts of the state.
In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
Sharad Pawar has left the door open for his nephew's return by not suspending him from the party for his rebellion.
Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
What India needs more than one simultaneous election is better governance both at the central and state level. Yes, we need reforms, but our priority should be to make elections less expensive, make it more democratic, do away with freebies which are actually bribes before elections, allow only those who are educated to contest, and bring in a bill to make it impossible for criminals to contest, advocates Ramesh Menon.
An accidental encounter between Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray in a lift in Vidhan Bhawan on Thursday caused ripples in state political circles.
The state cabinet approved the Parliamentary Affairs Department's proposal to convene the first session of the 17th assembly and 196th session of the legislative council from November 23 to November 27, minister Amarendra Pratap Singh of the BJP said.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to go to Mumbai on Monday to discuss government formation in Maharashtra amid back channel talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party and estranged ally Shiv Sena for a possible tie-up.
Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda has appointed Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party general secretary Vinod Tawde as central observers for the election of the leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly.
Amid the ongoing tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sena over sharing of power in the next state government, Fadnavis also asserted that he will be the chief minister for another five years.
'The Speaker has to act in an impartial way and in accordance with what the Supreme Court has laid out in its judgment.'
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
The 44 legislators, including Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who deserted the Congress party on Friday and joined the People's Party of Arunachal are set to form a new government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led North East Democratic Alliance.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would sound the poll bugle of the party for the coming assembly elections in Telangana by addressing a public meeting at Khammam on Sunday.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
With the Congress emerging victorious in Himachal Pradesh, state party president Pratibha Singh is considered a key frontrunner for the chief minister's post, closely followed by former party chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and outgoing Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri.
Sawant, who took over as chief minister for the first time in March 2019, brought the BJP tantalizingly close to the simple majority mark of 21, defying pre-poll predictions of a hung assembly.
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