Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda will not attend the G20 dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for world leaders on Saturday due to 'health reasons'.
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Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders, including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, waved at the large crowd as the procession wound its way through Varanasi's roads.
As the rape and murder of two cousins in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun sparked a nationwide outrage, Chhattisgarh Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra has waded into a controversy by saying that rape happens "by mistake".
iyush Goel, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Biseswar Tudu are the 5 Union minsters.
Against predictions by most exit polls that the ruling Congress had an edge in the state, the BJP banked heavily on the charisma of the PM.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra left for Lakhimpur Kheri Wednesday evening from a PAC guest house in Sitapur where she was kept in detention since Monday morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
As trends indicated a comfortable win for the grand old party in Himachal Pradesh, Shukla said the party was happy that it is getting an opportunity to form the government in the state and asserted that the party will do everything to fulfill the 10 guarantees made to the people of the state and would provide better governance to people.
The minister walked out of the House after being upset over what he termed as the government's 'limited' statement on the issue, following which members of the opposition BJP claimed such an incident had 'never happened where a minister expressed dissatisfaction over his own government's reply'.
The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
The development comes nearly a month after Chief Minister Baghel said that his government was ready to hold talks with the rebels if they expressed faith in the Constitution.
'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Naxals in Chhattisgarh, in which 22 security personnel were killed, was 'incompetently' executed and 'poorly designed'.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested the special secretary of the Chhattisgarh excise department in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Rs 2,000 crore liquor syndicate scam in the state.
The development is being viewed by many as a show of strength but sources in the Baghel camp insisted that the MLAs were reaching Delhi on their own accord and there was no show of strength going on.
Modi made the remarks at a meeting, held via video conferencing, with district magistrates of over 40 districts having low vaccination coverage.
Ahead of the state assembly elections due this year-end, Baghel made as many as 15 announcements in his address during the state-level Independence Day function at the Police Parade ground in Raipur.
In a suspected case of food poisoning, 26 personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police fell ill with after consuming meal at their camp in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, officials said on Friday.
Chief ministers of 3 Congress-ruled states, other national and state party leaders are also likely to accompany Rahul to the court.
The mortal remains of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh were consigned to flames at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday amid the chanting of religious hymns. The funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel headed state government has written to the Union home ministry and the ministry of rersonnel asking them to direct the CBI not to register fresh cases in the state, the officials said citing an official statement.
Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended the swearing in ceremony, while former AICC President Sonia Gandhi was absent. Chief Ministers of Congress ruled states Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh) and several top party leaders were also in attendance.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
'The right to vote is the supreme right of democracy which is being executed through EVMs. No nationally or internally recognized institutions or governments have certified the EVMs as a cent per cent accurate. Despite this fact, by conducting polling using the machines in India, which is the biggest democracy in the world, the constitutional right of my vote is being violated. There is no guarantee whether my vote is cast in favour of whom I pressed the button through the EVM machine,' he said.
Congress leaders and workers were also detained on Wednesday after they staged protests outside the ED office and the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Senior party leader P Chidambaram, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed support to Priyanka, who has alleged that no notice or first information report (FIR) has been given to her even after her 38-hour detention and was not allowed to meet her legal counsel.
Security agencies are working to ascertain a claim made by Naxals that they abducted a CoBRA commando after the ambush in Chhattisgarh on Saturday that left at least 22 security personnel dead, official sources said
Prominent G-23 members including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari have not been included in the Congress list of star campaigners for West Bengal assembly elections.
The Enforcement Directorate may also file a fresh chargesheet in this multi-crore money laundering case soon, they said.
Gaurav Gogoi will head the screening committee for Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot included among the ex-officio members of the panel.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said his party would conduct a "caste census" if elected to power as only such an exercise would ensure the "participation of OBCs, Dalits, tribals and women".
Raut also said that all the opposition parties will discuss whether a delegation should be sent to Lakhimpur Kheri.
Four new-born babies died in the special neonatal care unit (SNCU) of a government hospital in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district on Monday, prompting the state government to order a probe, an official said.
While Karnataka Congress chief D K Sivakumar will be special observer in Goa, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik and Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo besides Vincent Pala have been deputed in Manipur for post-poll management, the sources said.
Kharge also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the people should not believe Modi's "guarantees".
A Chhattisgarh legislator from the Bharatiya Janata Party has suggested that use of bhang and cannabis be encouraged as alternatives to liquor, claiming that people addicted to these substances hardly commit crimes like rape, murder and dacoity.
Cong leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, former Prez Pranab Mukherjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav as well as CMs of six states to be present at the occasion.
States are planning to pass resolutions in their legislative assemblies; however, such tactics will be used as the last resort if the Centre continues to stall allocations.
The prime minister also called for more RT-PCR tests.