The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has shifted its focus back to Hindutva after suffering significant losses in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. The party has been vocal about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh and has taken a stance to "protect" a Hanuman Temple in Mumbai. Observers say this move is an attempt to regain its core voter base and counter the BJP's narrative on Hindutva, ahead of the upcoming civic polls. Analysts believe the party's "secular" stand may not be effective in the BMC elections and that its return to Hindutva is a sign of frustration from electoral setbacks.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party head Ajit Pawar on Monday said discussions were underway among the Mahayuti partners to finalise a formula for the new government formation in the state.
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.
Never before has the BJP faced such a crisis over the nomination of the Chief Minister as it is facing now, discovers Prakash Bhandari, veteran observer of Rajasthan politics.
The Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra will abstain from voting in the Legislative Assembly if a minority government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party seeks trust vote.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Now, the state has an unprecedented situation where there are six major political players with three on each side.
Biju Janata Dal president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday appealed to all members of the Odisha assembly to support the National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming presidential election, describing her as the daughter of the state.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
As the second half of the assembly session began, the speaker asked BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul to read out the last two lines of the motion requesting withdrawal of the suspension order against Adhikari and four other MLAs -- Manoj Tigga, Narahari Mahato, Shankar Ghosh and Dipak Barman.
Devendra Fadnavis will lead the new Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. The Mahayuti coalition won the recent assembly elections by a landslide, securing 230 out of 288 seats.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
Singh, considered close to RJD president Lalu Prasad and his family, was charged with raising slogans against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on February 13, during a heated exchange in the House.
Members of the legislative assembly from the Bharatiya Janata Party and National Panthers Party staged a protest outside the Jammu and Kashmir assembly on Friday morning against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's remarks over the state's accession to India
Bharat Rashtra Samithi's Goshamahal in-charge Nanda Kishore Vyas is pitted against Raja Singh from Goshamahal segment.
In yet another jolt to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, the party member of Legislative Assembly from Maihar seat in Satna district has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party against the Congress government in Chhattisgarh where assembly polls are due next year, was defeated by voice vote in the state Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
The communal violence in Sambhal that claimed four lives and left over 20 people injured has now sparked a debate over a purported rivalry between the Turk and Pathan communities, with political and administrative figures weighing in on the cause of the unrest.
Vicky Nanjappa speaks to Bharatiya Janata party Member of Legislative Assembly Krishna Palemar, who was one of the ministers in the Sadananda Gowda cabinet who resigned after television clips showed him allegedly watching a porn video in the Karnataka assembly.
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Scores of Bharatiya Janata Party workers and supporters of riot-accused Member of Legislative Assembly Sangit Som burnt effigy of party president Rajnath Singh Muzaffarnagar in protest against denial of Lok Sabha ticket to the legislator.
An MLA from Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction and a legislator of the Nationalist Congress Party virtually came to blows in the Vidhan Bhavan premises in Mumbai on Wednesday after shouting slogans against each other.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Maharashtra on Thursday suspended eight rebels, including a sitting Member of Legislative Assembly, from the party for six years for contesting against official candidates in the October 13 assembly elections.
Delhi assembly on Friday passed the Janlokpal Bill, incorporating suggestions of Anna Hazare, which provides for an ombudsman with powers to act against any government functionary.
Legislators of the ruling coalition partners in Jharkhand expressed solidarity with the Hemant Soren government on Wednesday and said the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader will continue as the chief minister.
In a bid to pressurise the United Progressive Alliance government to hold early assembly elections in Jharkhand which is under President's Rule, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday announced that all its 22 Members of Legislative Assembly will submit their resignation to the governor on Wednesday.
The BJP's core committee will meet on Sunday and decide the future course of action, party leader Chandrakant Patil said.
Left with just three MLAs, the Congress does not have the required one tenth of the legislative strength in the 40-member House to claim the Cabinet minister-level post.
Soren emphasised that Jharkhand would adhere only to the Chotanagpur Tenancy and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Acts to protect tribal culture, land, and rights.
Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party's alliance with the Shiv Sena is firmly in place, senior party leader Gopinath Munde on Saturday said that the saffron combine cannot accommodate a third partner. Addressing a press conference after inducting former Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Nana Patole into the party fold, Munde who has been made in-charge of the BJP for the upcoming assembly elections, said there will be no change in the seat sharing formula.
The returnees also included three independent MLAs, who too had landed in Panchkula on Tuesday after casting their votes in the Rajya Sabha election.
Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Rajiv Shukla, Mukul Roy and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley were on Thursday elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha even as Non-resident Indian businessman Anshuman Mishra in Jharkhand and Congress leader Abdul Mannan in West Bengal withdrew from fray.
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party member of Legislative Assembly Y Sampangi became the first Karnataka legislator to be convicted in a corruption case. The Lokayukta special court sentenced the BJP MLA to three-and-a half-year rigorous imprisonment in a bribery case.
Her election to the post was a foregone conclusion as the main opposition Congress chose to stay out of contest.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's ideology is to spread "rumours and instigate riots" to meet their political ends Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday alleged and claimed that according to intelligence inputs the saffron party was conspiring to ignite riots in Uttar Pradesh.
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."
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
Several trains, including three Rajdhani Express trains, have been stranded at various places following blockade put up at Parsabad railway station in Koderma district by a Bharatiya Janata Party member of Legislative Assembly and his supporters.
