Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi, suspended from the Maharashtra assembly over his remarks praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, will be '100 per cent' put in jail, Chief Minister Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the legislative council.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
'They sent a message that I will not be given the ticket and ordered me to issue a statement -- Gujarat style -- that with immediate effect I was retiring from politics.' 'They were treating me like a political novice who would be pushed around on the order of vested interests.' 'This rude behaviour hurt a lot. It was then I spontaneously decided that I will challenge this dictatorial order and expose all those who want to hurt Lingayat pride in Karnataka.'
The BJP is in power at the Centre and Maharashtra, while there is infighting in Chandrapur, she said.
'Can you imagine that Surat's voters won't have any say now in exercising their fundamental right to choose a candidate of their own choice? This is what the BJP has reduced India's democracy to.' 'With this ugly act, in one stroke, the BJP has disenfranchised the voters of Surat.'
Lovely hailed the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for giving him and his colleagues the opportunity to join the party when they felt lost.
The BJP is far more prepared than the Congress as their pool of prospective candidates is much bigger, reports Prakash Bhandari.
Gujarat assembly Speaker Nimaben Acharya, who won from Bhuj seat of Kutch district in 2012 and 2017, has also been denied ticket this time by the party.
Gaikwad, an MLA from Buldhana assembly seat in Vidarbha region, is no stranger to controversies.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Friday slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the India and Pakistan clash in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025.
Soren, who is scheduled to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on August 30, also resigned as an MLA of the state assembly and a minister in the Jharkhand Cabinet.
Rohit Pawar further claimed "four-five" leaders around Ajit Pawar were trying to project the latter as the "villain" and putting all the blame for the party's split on him.
"What are her qualifications? She is just Sonu Sood's sister," Harjot Kamal said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will come to know 'in a few days' if his Nationalist Congress Party and cabinet colleague Dhananjay Munde has any link to the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case, claimed Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Suresh Dhas on Friday.
Sule said the intra-family duel in the Lok Sabha polls will not waver her respect for Sunetra Pawar as she is her "elder brother's wife and like a mother".
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
'The BJP has started a war-like situation against farmers and the Jat community.'
The Haryana government transferred Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya after an IPS officer's suicide and allegations of caste-based discrimination.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has dismissed reports of a rift within the ruling Mahayuti alliance, stating that "everything is hunky-dory." He attributed any issues to differences that will be resolved through discussions. Shinde's comments come after reports of him complaining to Union Home Minister Amit Shah about Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). However, Pawar and BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar have denied the allegations, claiming Shinde would have directly approached them if there were any issues. The ruling alliance comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, which retained power after the state assembly polls last year. The alliance has also faced challenges with the appointment of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik, with the Shiv Sena opposing the appointments of Aditi Tatkare (NCP) and Girish Mahajan (BJP).
The BJP, which won the Samajwadi Party strongholds of Rampur and Azamgarh in 2022 bypolls, hopes to wrest Mainpuri too.
Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
The BJP state unit is banking on the party's central leadership to shore up its prospects in the May 10 assembly polls as it fights anti-incumbency.
Hectic political activities continued for the second consecutive day in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Thursday, as party's national general secretary in-charge of the State Arun Singh started meeting leaders and legislators individually, in the backdrop of speculations over replacing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
The Punjab Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution to not release any water from its share to Haryana, citing the state's water scarcity. The resolution also demanded the reorganization of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and the repeal of the Dam Safety Act of 2021. The decision comes amid a stand-off between the two states over the distribution of water from the Bhakra dam. The resolution was moved by Punjab's Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal, who accused the BJP of trying to take away Punjab's water rights. The resolution was supported by all parties, including the opposition, which termed the Dam Safety Act of 2021 as an "attack" on the rights of Punjab. The resolution also criticized the BBMB, calling it a "puppet" of the BJP-led central government. The Punjab government maintains that the state does not have surplus water to spare and needs it for the upcoming paddy sowing season. The resolution has triggered strong reactions from the BJP, which has accused the Punjab government of politicising the issue.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, state BJP president C P Joshi and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav welcomed them into the party at its state headquarters in Jaipur.
'The nuns were subjected to abusive language and all types of mental torture.'
'BJP's ultimate ambition is to control Bihar independently.'
MNS chief Raj Thackeray alleges the state government's three-language formula is a precursor to separating Mumbai from Maharashtra, speaking at a rally with Uddhav Thackeray.
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
Reacting to the results, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that in the by-elections held on 13 seats in seven states, the people of the country have given their support to the INDIA bloc.
Rana, who currently represents the Amravati Lok Sabha seat, joined the ruling BJP at the party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule's residence in Nagpur along with her supporters late Wednesday night.
The BJP councillors retaliated by raising slogans against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal as AAP members returned fire by sloganeering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Whether the age-old cry of kendrer banchana will be able to drown out pangs of Sandeshkhali, the EVM will tell.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned on Sunday, following months of ethnic violence in the state. BJP leaders have begun closed-door meetings to decide the next course of action. The opposition welcomed Singh's resignation, while the BJP hopes the move will help restore peace in the region.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Among the BJP rebels, a notable figure is Gopal Shetty, a two-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member from Mumbai. He has filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the party's official nominee, Sanjay Upadhyay, in Mumbai's Borivali assembly constituency.
In a strategic move, the BJP has welcomed prominent Christian figures like Anil K Antony, son of Congress stalwart AK Antony, and seasoned Kerala politician PC George, into its fold.
Nikam has replaced two-time MP Poonam Mahajan, who is the daughter of the late BJP stalwart Pramod Mahajan.
Out of these nine constituencies in the two districts, seven had been held by the ruling party while the Congress represented Amreli and Una seats.
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