Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren on Sunday met Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and staked claim to form the government, soon after leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the state unanimously elected him as the legislature party leader.
The unlikely power sharing agreement between the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress had fizzled out in June following large-scale dissidence in the Sena ranks.
The first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Karnataka will be held at 5.30 pm on Sunday, according to All India Congress Committee in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala.
"It has been decided that there shall be no change in the leadership and Sushil Kumar Modi, Deputy Chief Minister will continue as leader of the legislature party," party spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad told PTI shortly after Modi won the 'head count' of legislators. BJP leadership had decided to go for a 'secret ballot' to assess the view of legislators as a way out to address the demand by some of them that Modi should be removed from the two posts.
BJP president Amit Shah will not attend the meeting of the newly-elected BJP MLAs to pick the legislature party leader.
Call it a charismatic show by the power couple -- Hemant Soren and Kalpana Soren -- whom the Bharatiya Janata Party had dubbed as 'Bunty aur Babli', Jharkhand's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is on track to secure a second consecutive term as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will hold a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Legislature Party in Jaipur on Wednesday, to chalk out the strategy for the upcoming state assembly session.According to sources, the issue of electing a new Leader of Opposition as per the direction of the party's high command is not likely to figure in the meeting. Raje has been asked by the BJP's central leadership to resign.
Home Minister P Chidambaram made a special request to the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership and its legislature party in Jammu and Kashmir to attend the prime minister's meeting convened to discuss the situation in the state.
While Opposition MLAs in other states are dumping their parties to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, Tripura is seeing a reverse trend.
'Entire process of meeting individual legislators of Congress party has been completed with great bohemia.'
In Sikkim, the BJP had not won a single seat in the recent assembly polls.
Earlier, deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the state party chief, also had separate meetings with Parameshwara and Jarkiholi.
Hours after Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar president Sharad Pawar said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies can not demand that a Leader of Opposition must be appointed as they do not have the required numbers, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Bhaskar Jadhav on Saturday claimed there is no provision in the law which talks about the appointment of the LoP in legislature merely on the strength of the party.
Omar Abdullah will have to negotiate at every step with the lieutenant governor's office and the Modi government at the Centre.
Outgoing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who returned to Mumbai from New Delhi on Friday morning, is travelling to his native village in Satara district amid continuing suspense over his successor a week after the assembly poll results. Shinde had told reporters in New Delhi on late Thursday night that the next meeting of the Mahayuti alliance on government formation will be held in Mumbai on Friday. However, the caretaker CM, who heads the Shiv Sena, is travelling to his native village Dare in Satara district in western Maharashtra and the meeting is now expected to take place on Sunday, the sources said. The Shiv Sena leader has repeatedly said he would not be an obstacle in the government formation and abide by the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the next chief minister. Different viewpoints are emerging in the Shiv Sena over Shinde's place in the next government to be headed by the BJP, the biggest constituent in the Mahayuti, which posted a thumping win in the just-held assembly polls. Many leaders in the Shiv Sena are asking Shinde to accept deputy CM's post if offered by the BJP. However, another section feels it wouldn't be right for him to accept No. 2 position after serving as CM for more than two-and-a-half years, the sources said. "The government formation process will start after the BJP announces its legislature party leader," they said. During his Delhi trip, Shinde had met Shah and discussed formation of the next government in the state. His deputies in the outgoing state cabinet Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) had also met the senior BJP leader. Talking to reporters in the national capital, Shinde called the discussion good and positive. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar had also met BJP president J P Nadda.
The Left parties hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre on Monday over a religious ceremony performed at an event to unveil a cast of the national emblem on the new Parliament building premises, saying such installations should not be linked to religion.
Raut said there is always give and take in an alliance and they gave Ramtek and Kolhapur seats to the Congress. He said Sena-UBT has also given Amravati to the Congress.
The post, accompanied by Chouhan's picture with his palms brought together, sparked off speculation as "Ram Ram" is used both as a greeting as well as a parting message.
The Congress candidates were announced on a day former party chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in Aizawl on a two-day campaign visit.
As Bharatiya Janata Party prepared to elect the leader of its legislature party on Tuesday who will be the party's first chief minister of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena appeared resigned to backing it in government formation but there was no clarity yet on whether it will join the ministry.
BJP leader and caretaker chief minister Pramod Sawant is the clear favourite for the post of the CM but faces some opposition.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday appointed Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M K Stalin as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and invited him to form the government after he staked claim, submitting a letter on his election as legislature party leader.
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.
According to sources, Fadnavis, who hails from Nagpur, has started hunting for a new house in Mumbai as he and his family members will continue to reside in the metropolis.
Anil Vij on Tuesday skipped Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini's swearing-in ceremony where, he would also have been inducted in the cabinet.
A meeting of the Congress legislature party (CLP) on Thursday formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader and the next chief minister of Karnataka.
A surge in violent crimes, including targeted killings, has raised concerns about law and order in Bihar. Police attribute the rise to the widespread availability of illegal firearms and ammunition.
This is the first time both the leaders met after Pilot openly rebelled against Gehlot a month back.
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
The timeline of the Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in Maharashtra.
BJP leader Diya Kumari, who was elected deputy chief minister of Rajasthan along with Prem Chand Bairwa, is a member of erstwhile Jaipur royal family and a two-time MLA.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a 'performance audit' of ministers during their tenure.
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has issued a whip to all MLAs asking them to remain present for a key meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, while the rival group headed by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has also called a separate meeting of party legislators in Mumbai.
Granting SCS to the state has been a long-pending demand of the JD-U supremo and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose Bihar cabinet had even passed a resolution last year requesting the Centre to grant SCS to the state.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asserted that the NDA government, led by him, put an end to frequent Hindu-Muslim clashes in the state by taking measures such as fencing graveyards and bringing to justice those involved in communal riots. He also criticized the opposition, particularly Tejashwi Yadav, accusing them of lacking understanding and experience. Kumar's claims were met with anger and walkout by the opposition members.
Desai's comments came amidst speculation doing the rounds in the political circles that Sawant will again be the chief minister of Goa.
The party's CM choice came as a surprise for many as the low-profile, first-time legislator was not seen to be among the top contenders for the post.
Speaking to reporters in Panaji, the BJP's Goa desk in-charge C T Ravi said there was no discontent among the eight MLAs who joined the party earlier this year.
Hemant Soren staked claim to form the government and the swearing-in ceremony is likely to be held soon. If sworn in, Hemant Soren will be the 13th chief minister of Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000.
Porbander Member of Legislative Assembly Arjun Bhai Modhwadia was on Tuesday appointed the new president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee after his predecessor Siddharth Patel resigned from the post.The appointment of Modhwadia, a former Congress legislature party chief, comes after prolonged deliberations by the party leadership to finalise the candidate for the post, who will command the party in the state ruled by BJP Chief Minister Narendra Modi.