Narendra Modi and the father-son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah were on Monday engaged in bitter sparring, with the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate alleging that the biggest blow to secularism in the country was delivered in Kashmir from where Kashmiri Pandits were forced out due to their religion.
In order to address public outrage and anger over the alleged rape and murder of two young women in Shopian town of south Kashmir, state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday evening reiterated his government's commitment to 'dig out the truth'.
Responding to Shagh, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the country was suffering from too much "ODOMOS- overdose of only Modi only Shah".
"I am free... Hope others political leaders would be released soon. Thank all parliamentarians who fought for my freedom. Will be able to take decision on future only after other leaders are released," Abdullah, the Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, told reporters from the terrace of his residence in Srinagar.
In the aftermath of the killing of an innocent youth in North Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday pulled up the army for violating the Standard operating Procedure which led to his death.
Those who believe in Kashmiriyat, insaniyat and jamhooriyat are welcome to talk, he said.
In a major security lapse, a 'depressed' BSF jawan posted outside the residence of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar fired around 12 rounds in the air on Monday morning, triggering panic in the high security area.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah sprang a surprise by opting to keep his uncle Sheikh Mustafa Kamal out of the Cabinet. While this was a clever image-building exercise by the CM, several other stalwarts were left complaining about not being included in the Cabinet.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday charged the Jammu and Kashmir government with playing politics on the Kishtwar riots and cautioned that this was another Pakistan design in which separatist forces were involved.
'We put the seed of BJP's ideology in Jammu, watered it, nurtured it for four decades and when it was time to reap the fruits of those efforts, the fruits are being sold out to the very same people who worked hard to uproot this tree.' 'Shockingly, our own people are letting this happen and nobody from Delhi bothers to even listen to us.'
The repoll will be held on April 13.
Pakistan military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry told a hurriedly called press conference in Islamabad at around 4 am that th Pakistan air force's Nur Khan (Chaklala, Rawalpindi), Murid (Chakwal) and Rafiqui (Shorkot in Jhang district) airbases were targeted.
An Army-run school in Baramulla district has stoked a controversy by asking its staff to avoid wearing the hijab during school hours, prompting criticism from Jammu and Kashmir's mainstream political parties.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Leaders across the political spectrum, actors and many others have condemned the Amarnath Yatra terror attack, in which terrorists killed seven and injured 19 others.
The alliance adopted a resolution to this effect and said its theme for the elections will be "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India, (India will unite, India will win)".
Congress on Wednesday downplayed reports of a possible split in its alliance with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir even as NC president Farooq Abdullah said that his son and state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would take the final decision on the ties between the two parties.
The L-G will take decisions on police, officers of all-India services such as the IAS and the IPS, and giving sanction for prosecution in various cases.
A day after stoking a controversy by making certain comments on Article 370, Union Minister Jitendra Singh dodged all the questions related to the issue.
'The government can do many things to improve the situation in Kashmir.'
Arvind Kejriwal warned the media that "very big forces" would try and break the INDIA alliance by showing that there was a lot of acrimony among them.
If Jammu and Kashmir comes under Governor's rule, it will be for the eighth time in four decades.
Although it saw a veritable who's who of the Oppostion leadership, the Samajwadi Party stayed away from the Iftar dinner hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
'We repent our decision today as we feel we betrayed our (Congress) party, while the DAP betrayed us'
As the second phase of polling commenced on Thursday amid heightened security, bigwigs came out to cast their votes for constituting the 17th Lok Sabha. Among those who took to their respective polling booths were former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth, BJP candidate from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya, and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, among others.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years to sweep away the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority on the back of a hyper localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'AAP-da'(disaster) blitzkrieg.
The Shiromani Akali Dal skipped the meeting, besides the Aam Aadmi Party, the TRS and the BJD.
Nine people including three women were killed and 33 injured as a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi plunged into a deep gorge after an ambush by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday evening, police said, as political leaders cutting across party lines strongly condemn the dastardly attack.
A PDP-BJP alliance would have been formed on the evening of December 28 had the BJP agreed to let Mufti Mohammad Sayeed become chief minister for the first three years and allow the BJP to nominate its chief minister for the next three years.
First reactions from Indian politicians and public figures over release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
The Opposition National Conference and Congress lawmakers on Friday disrupted proceedings in both houses of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature, accusing the government of misleading people on the issue of transfer of power projects to the state, and created ruckus in the assembly as Speaker directed marshalling out of some members.
Modi said the wave in favour of the BJP was stronger this time than in 2014.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, was interrupted twice by Governor Ram Nath Kovind and asked to repeat after he misspelled a part of the oath.
A basic outline and roadmap for Opposition unity are likely to be deliberated upon with the contentious issue of seat sharing and leadership questions to be avoided for now.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also called up Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and discussed the situation with her.
Slamming Narendra Modi over his call for a debate on the special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Farooq Abdullah has said that if the Bharatiya Janata Party leader becomes the prime minister even for "ten terms", he will not be able to repeal Article 370 of the Constitution.
'It is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab'
Ten days after Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani was eliminated by the armed forces, Kashmir continues to see massive unrest, with the violence claiming over 40 lives.
Leaders from across the political spectrum said they are praying for the safety of the Indian Air Force pilot who is "missing in action" after India foiled Pakistan's attempts to target military installations by using its air force in response to India's counter-terrorism operations. Even as the Pakistani army released a 46-second video showing a blindfolded man and claimed he is the pilot of IAF's shot down aircraft, India said it is "ascertaining the facts". This is what some of our leaders had to say.
A senior police officer said the terrorists, allegedly dressed in army fatigues, ambushed a Srinagar-bound convoy of the BSF.
