Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion on Wednesday, several Union Ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar resigned from their posts.
An Indian delegation led by the BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad will tour key European capitals to expose Pakistan's role in cross-border terrorism and State-sponsored extremism.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor secured a significant victory in the Bankipur assembly bypoll, defeating the BJP candidate by over 19,000 votes. Kishor attributed his win to support from disgruntled members of major parties and potentially Gen Z protests, while firmly rejecting any future political alliances. He claimed the mandate was a wake-up call for the BJP-led government in Bihar and its Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, giving his party its maiden presence in the state assembly.
Charging the United Progressive Alliance government with indulging in "vindictive politics", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday alleged that investigating agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation are being misused to target BJP-ruled state governments.
Standing firmly behind Public Accounts Committee Chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi against the onslaught by Congress and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam members, the Bharatiyas Janata Party on Thursday alleged that these were "calculated, deliberate and sponsored" attacks by the ruling coalition to stall the investigation into 2G scam.
"BJP disassociates and disapproves the contents of the speech and the comments attributed to Varun Gandhi. We have not received any notice from the Election commission on the issue," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said in New Delhi as the saffron party distanced itself from the controversy.
The BJP says the government's move had serious constitutional vulnerability and sinister implications for the unity and integrity of India
Maintaining that BJP leaders accused in the Babri mosque demolition fully co-operated with the Liberhan Commission, party president Rajnath Singh today said the report has been submitted after a long delay.
"The US crisis should make the government rethink on its proposed road map, to be implemented from March 2009, which envisages conferring voting rights on foreign investors in Indian banks," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Asking the government to insulate the economy from the fallout of the US crisis, Prasad said manufacturing in India was already showing signs of distress.
Demanding a probe into fresh reports in the allocation of 142 coal blocks by United Progressive Alliance government, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it is "truly amazing" that relatives and associates of union ministers have made such gains soon after the latter occupied the high offices.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded the sacking of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in the wake of controversy over Indian Premeir League's Kochi team ownership.
Training its guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Bofors pay-offs scandal, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded that he apologise for defending Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi. "Mr PM, you tried to give a clean chit to Quattrocchi," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters, adding this has been found to be false by an income tax tribunal which said that kickbacks of Rs 41 crore were paid to Quattrocchi and Win Chaddha.
"We condemn in unequivocal terms the attack on the Biharis. Under the constitution of India, they have a right to settle down anywhere in the country and earn their livelihood," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
"It seems this is the beginning of a new victory trail which started with the MCD polls. We look at the future with a new hope," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. In Gujarat, BJP won five of the seven assembly seats, where by-polls were held.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has toned down its nationwide protest against the cancellation of allotment of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board and has termed it as an aam hartal. BJP leaders on Wednesday assured that the nation-wide hartal on Thursday would not affect essential services."We are calling it a national strike and not Bharat Bandh," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told rediff.com in New Delhi on Wednesday.
In the wake of Delhi Lieutenant Governor's Office granting sanction to CBI for prosecution of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday asked why Jagdish Tytler was being "spared" and demanded time-bound trial against the accused.
While Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj in her post on Twitter.com called Laden 'humanity's enemy number one', BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said he (Laden) was the most visible and dangerous face of global jihadi terror.
In the wake of reports that the Chinese embassy is issuing stamped visas to some Kashmiris on a separate sheet of paper and not on their passports, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday questioned the government's silence on the issue and demanded that it should be taken up with the neighbouring country.
Commenting on the Time magazine's latest article, the Home Minister said the United Progressive Alliance-II was confident that it would overcome the present economic situation.
Dubbing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the most hapless Prime Minister India has ever seen, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday slammed the United Progressive Alliance government as the most ineffective, corrupt and indifferent dispensation since Independence.
Meanwhile BJP President Rajnath Singh told newsmen that the terrorists were getting bolder. He also spoke to Modi and asked all political parties to join hands in fighting terrorism. He alleged that the country had become unsafe for common people. "5,000 sleeper modules" have come up in last few years, he alleged.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hit out at the Congress on the Lokpal Bill fiasco in Rajya Sabha, alleging it was spreading baseless and factually incorrect views about the Opposition's role in the Upper House's failure to pass the proposed legislation.
Terming the National Counter Terrorism Centre as a "constitutionally vulnerable" instrument which went against the country's federal structure, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh why the fight against terror through the Prevention Of Terrorism Act was "compromised" for vote-bank politics. "When you talk of fighting against terror with a constitutionally vulnerable instrument, BJP puts forth some questions to you," said BJP leader.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday defended Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat's remark that ''rapes occur frequently in India not in Bharat'', saying the present controversy is totally uncalled for and unnecessary.
"Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad must explain as to why Riyaz Bhatkal, an accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts, and who is allegedly involved in a series of recent blasts all over the country has not been put to narco tests," Prasad charged.
Though Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary and spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad labelled it as a 'non-issue', the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi-baiter Sanjay Joshi from the national executive and BJP president Nitin Gadkari's announcement on Thursday morning that Modi will attend the two-day meet hogged all the limelight, even as Prasad spent three-fourths of the press conference convincing the media that there was no infighting in the party
Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari's stress on unity and discipline in the party gave fodder to the media to shoot uncomfortable questions, including whether Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was the target, during the briefing of the party national executive on Thursday.
To ensure implementation of party ideology and agenda, the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership on Tuesday directed its chief ministers to maintain time-bound and better coordination with the organisation in states where the party is in power.
Differences cropped up among Bharatiya Janata Party MPs on the issue of providing reservation in promotion for SC and ST government employees a day after a bill in this regard was passed by the Rajya Sabha.
Petrol price hike will have a cascading effect and prices are going to go out of control.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hit out at the Prime Minister's Office for giving a clean chit to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in the land deals with realty major DLF in Haryana and sought to know how it arrived at this conclusion without conducting any probe. "Is it the Prime Minister's Office or a bailout office? We say this with full responsibility," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
As Narendra Modi appeared set for a hat-trick in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday parried questions on whether he will be the party's prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Rejecting Finance Minister P Chidambaram's zero-loss theory in coal allocation scam because no mining was done, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said his view was akin to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's repudiation of CAG's estimation of presumptive loss in allocation of 2G spectrum.
"The right to ask questions and seek political, Constitutional and moral accountability of the Prime Minister is indeed the constitutional and parliamentary obligation of the Opposition. And Mr Prime Minister this is not 'tu-tu main main," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday sought to wash its hands off the jail term awarded by a court in Delhi to its former president Bangaru Laxman in connection to a bribery case, saying the order is part of a legal process which does not involve the party. "This sentence is a part of the legal process. He (Laxman) will appeal against it. The liability here is personal and does not involve the party," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
In a strong reaction to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's statement on Osama bin Laden, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday asked the country to first look within on the issue of terrorism as it had been "caught with its pants-down" in the case.
Strongly objecting to Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement on right wing extremism, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said he should not compromise on the fight against terrorism just to save himself from his 'neck-deep' involvement in the 2G spectrum scam.
Lashing out at the Congress for raising the Babri Masjid demolition issue 'again and again', the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the law is taking its course in the matter and advised the ruling party against giving 'edifications'. "It has been said several times that a procedure is separately going on for December 6 (the day of Babri Mosque demolition). This is a legal action," BJP's chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday defended the electoral bonds scheme, struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, saying it had a laudable objective of bringing transparency in poll funding.
When contacted, Meena refused to say anything about his resignation. "He has sent his resignation to the chief minister," an official told rediff.com.
