In a significant move, the Centre on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be part of the next population census, with the inclusion of caste details for the first time since independence hailed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as a historic step to help design truly equitable and focused policies.
The present strength of the electoral college is 781 as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. This puts the majority mark at 391. The NDA has 425 MPs, while the opposition camp has the backing of 324.
The Telangana High Court upheld a trial court's verdict handing out death penalty to five senior operatives of banned terror outfit, Indian Mujahideen, involved in a bomb blast that left 18 people killed in 2013. The court dismissed the criminal revision appeal filed by the IM operatives while upholding the NIA court's judgment. The five members, including IM co-founder Mohd Ahmed Sidibapa alias Yasin Bhatkal, Pakistani national Zia-ur-Rahman alias Waqas, Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Tahaseen Akhtar alias Monu and Ajaz Shaikh, were convicted in 2016. The special court for NIA cases here awarded capital punishment to five convicts treating it as a rarest of the rare case. The high court, after conducting a detailed hearing in the appeals filed by the convicts, confirmed the death sentence of the five IM operatives.
As the triangular political contest in Telangana intensifies, many believe that for the regional major BRS, it is a battle for survival after being routed in the assembly polls held late last year. What is haunting the party this time is the scams, the 10-year anti-incumbency factor, and family dominance in the party.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti has pinned hopes on the development work his government undertook during the past ten years, while opposition Congress and BJP bank on anti-incumbency and the alleged failures of the incumbent.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has nominated Maharashta Governor Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan as their candidate for Vice-President of India. The announcement was made by BJP President J P Nadda, highlighting Radhakrishnan's extensive public service and cross-party respect.
With the Congress in power in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapping at its heels, the BRS is now fighting an existential battle.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Telangana T Raja Singh has been booked for allegedly delivering a hate speech at a rally in Mumbai on January 29, a police official said on Thursday.
The stage is set for a direct contest between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy for the September 9 vice-presidential election. Nominations have been scrutinized and accepted.
The Rajya Sabha MP said the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test has prevented access to medical education for so many children and the strength to change that rule of exam could emerge only from education.
Shivakumar said, "Mahayuti leaders should visit my state to see how Congress' welfare guarantees are benefiting people."
'Mr Modi has the power and pre-eminence in the BJP-RSS to choose how long he wants to serve, and he is definitely going to want to contest in 2029.' 'He will only be 79, as old as Donald Trump now, and fitter,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Former Supreme Court judge B Sudhershan Reddy is the joint candidate of the Opposition parties for the Vice-Presidential polls, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge announced.
Despite the towering image of BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, along with the party's extensive grassroots network and welfare programmes, the perceived inaccessibility of its leaders contributed to the growing anti-incumbency sentiments.
When asked about the claim that Dhankar being under "house arrest", Shah said the interpretation of truth and lies should not rely solely on opposition statements and warned against making a fuss over the former VP's resignation.
The principal judicial magistrate court in Hanamkonda district granted bail to Kumar on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 20,000 with two sureties.
As Telangana voters queued up to exercise their franchise in the assembly polls on Thursday, they were pleasantly surprised by finding some of the well-known actors and politicians around them.
The BJP has incorporated caste as a significant component of its politics.
He said Gujarat wants to move forward but is unable to see the way ahead, and the Congress is unable to show it the way.
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Indian Youth Congress has filed police complaints in multiple states alleging a "coordinated and defamatory" digital campaign targeting Rahul Gandhi and undermining the dignity of women, following a row over his image on sanitary pad packets to be distributed in Bihar.
The newly-elected MLAs of Telangana would take oath during the first session of the Legislative Assembly scheduled to be held on Saturday.
Sources in the Special Cell said that now arrests are likely to follow across the country.
I learnt that Yogi was deeply unhappy with the BJP's choice of Lok Sabha candidates. He had proposed a list of names, but hardly any of his suggestions were accepted.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that some Congress leaders pressured individuals to donate funds to the Young Indian and Associated Journals Limited (AJL) on instructions from senior party functionaries. The ED's chargesheet in the National Herald case claims that these individuals made payments to the company "under the influence" from senior leaders who promised them "certain favours" in party politics. The chargesheet, filed on April 9 before a local court, names Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as accused, along with five others, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency alleges that these donations were not made voluntarily but in expectation of political benefits. The ED also found that YI and AJL received funds from various entities through "quid pro quo" arrangements, where individuals were asked to make payments for advertisements in the National Herald in exchange for past favours from Congress leaders.
Hyderabad police have imposed restrictions on Holi celebrations, prohibiting group vehicle movement and throwing colors on unwilling individuals. BJP MLA Raja Singh criticized the notification, calling it a "Tughlaq farman " and accusing the Congress government of favoring a particular community. He questioned the lack of similar restrictions during Ramzan and alleged that the Congress government is anti-Hindu.
Just eight months after its good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) seems to be running out of steam with internal bickering and conflicting ambitions resulting in diminishing electoral returns that have once again put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the driver's seat in national politics.
The only occasion when the BJP had 100 seats in the Upper House was in 2022.
'Earlier, we used to talk about a deficit economy. There is a deficit in democracy' 'If you read superficially Gandhi and Ambedkar and Nehru, some misconceptions and misunderstanding come to mind, as if they were at loggerheads and they differed radically in their views' 'India is one nation. There is only one citizenship. No citizenship for South India and no citizenship for North India and another for the Northeast'
It will be clear whether the voters preferred the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led regime for a third term or the "six guarantees" by the Congress worked any miracles or the BJP's BC chief minister 'mantra' wooed the electors or if there will be a fractured verdict, by tomorrow evening.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi has fielded 114 crorepati candidates followed by the Congress (111), the Bharatiya Janata Party (93) and 30 by the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Promising "Rajanna Rajyam", a state envisaged by her father and former Chief Minister of AP late Rajasekhara Reddy, in Telangana, she said the YSR Telangana Party's main agenda would be on three issues -- welfare, self-prosperity and equality.
According to some observers, the Congress gained ground by attracting votes from Telugu Desam Party sympathisers after the TDP opted out of the race due to its own reasons.
Extending its winning run in the south, the Congress on Sunday won 64 assembly seats to form government in the Bharat Rashtra Samiti-dominated Telangana, with the southern solace coming in the midst of a saffron sweep of the Hindi heartland where the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested two states from the grand old party and retained one.
A special CBI court in Hyderabad convicted former Karnataka minister and MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy and three others in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case after a prolonged trial spanning nearly 14 years. The court sentenced them to seven years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each. Reddy was named accused number two. The court imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company. The CBI took Reddy and others into custody soon after the judgment.
Kanugolu had also made forays in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh following a directive from the party's central leadership but regional satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath reportedly were not on the same page as the poll strategist.
The BJP appointed Sunil Bansal, one of the party's key election managers, as its national general secretary and in charge of three opposition-ruled states -- West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana -- in run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday cited Delhi's alleged 'liquor scam' to accuse Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of being under 'remote control' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'It will split people and create caste clashes. Unity of people will be affected for the time being.'
The incident occurred at around 5.30 AM today when the car she was travelling in hit a metal crash barrier on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) resulting in her death, police said.
