Saini's elevation as Haryana chief minister fits in with a pattern that has gathered pace in the BJP after the Congress and its allies like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar began making an aggressive bid to woo the largest group of communities and politically most significant, especially in Hindi-speaking states, by pushing for a caste census.
The BJP retained power in MP in the November 17 polls emphatically winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly, leaving the Congress a distant second with 66 seats.
Eleven more patients admitted at Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district hospital have died due to various ailments on Monday, taking the death toll to 68 in five days, officials said.
"This is all about distraction, basic issue is of caste census and participation, in whose hands is the money of the country going. They (BJP) don't want to discuss this issue, they are afraid of it and run away from it," Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on Monday meet chief ministers and state finance ministers to discuss measures to attract private investments to help boost the economy. Finance secretary T V Somanathan said the meeting comes in the backdrop of strong economic recovery post the two COVID waves, and the central government has made a big push in Capex. The focus of this interaction will be on state-level issues, opportunities and challenges, which will enable us to go to a higher trajectory of investment and growth, he said.
Various constituents of the INDIA bloc condemned Kejriwal's arrest and claimed that the BJP is scared of the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and acting out of panic to create problems for the opposition.
Sudhakar Badgujar, the leader in question, denied the allegations while speaking at a news conference in Nashik.
The Karnataka-Maharashta border row escalated into violence after vehicles from both states were attacked and damaged in Belgaon and Pune.
In his remarks at the meeting, the prime minister underlined the importance of vaccination and the need to further accelerate the 'Har Ghar Dastak' programme to achieve 100 per cent vaccination coverage.
'Gorkhas are terrific soldiers. They are known the world over for their fighting qualities.'
With the strategy working in its favour, the BJP could be encouraged to undertake similar steps in states, including Karnataka, where elections are due next year, to counter factors that might work against it.
The disclosure by Chhagan Bhujbal that he resigned as a minister last November has put a focus on the Maratha quota tightrope the Eknath Shinde-led government is walking amid restlessness in OBCs, with Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray claiming Bhujbal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are hand in glove.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of tax cuts on petroleum products, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said people were aware of the fact behind the issue and pointed out at his government effecting a Rs 3 a litre cut on petrol earlier.
The gravity of the incident which happened in Parliament should not be underestimated, the prime minister said
The state assembly on Tuesday passed two bills to skirt the Supreme Court directive for their eviction within two months.
The youth leadership taking the reigns of the states was a rare event in the last century as very few broke the glass ceilings.
The meeting, which lasted for over four hours, was attended by chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of 18 states.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said he replaced India with Bharat in his Twitter bio to reflect his 'journey' from the Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party, in a dig at the opposition coalition.
The governor accepted Kumar's resignation, and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed, they said.
'He's (Modi) asked CMs of different states to work together as 'Team India'. He even made an appeal to Vote India!'
'My passion remains pushing for probity in public life and I shall continue my fight,' S N Shukla tells Virendra Singh Rawat.
The city has been witnessing heavy rains since Tuesday night, resulting in water logging in many areas.
'If you fight you win, if you don't fight, how will you win?'
While Singh slammed Khattar for stopping farmers from moving towards the national capital, terming it as 'totally undemocratic and unconstitutional', the latter told the Punjab chief minister to stop 'inciting innocent farmers'.
The modalities of COVID-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were discussed during the meeting.
The Nationalist Congress Party leader did not name Borwankar, but said some allegations had been levelled against him by "a retired IPS officer who had served in Pune as commissioner of police."
At a meeting convened by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on a range of issues ahead of Monsoon Session of Parliament, the seven chief ministers unanimously agreed to the need for filing a review petition urging the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent order rejecting the postponement of the competitive exams.
Taking cognizance of the matter, action against the medical officer in-charge of the emergency medical room, the doctor and other medical personnel posted there has been initiated by serving notices seeking their immediate clarification, the CMS said.
The top court had on May 7 held that former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh cannot retain government accommodation after demitting office.
As many as 28 legislators, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were on Monday inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
I think Sharad Pawar invited Ajit Pawar for the INDIA bloc meeting, Raut said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Wednesday that he along with Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma will meet Union home minister Amit Shah to submit the recommendation of the two Northeastern states for resolving the boundary dispute in six areas.
Fresh curbs have been imposed in various parts of the country to check the spread of the highly transmissible virus.
The ceremony on Friday will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and chief ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stressed the need to ensure adequate health infrastructure at the district level and asked officials to maintain coordination regarding this with the states, in view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation.
Members from the Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal too were part of the group, their participation seen as another indication that the party is all set to switch sides from the SP to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
At the core of Nitish Kumar's decision was a cold political calculation. He assessed that the RJD's support base was unlikely to vote for JD-U candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. He was unsure of winning even half a dozen if he stayed with the RJD and the Congress.
The minister of state for youth welfare and sports is fine and left for Lucknow in the morning, they said.
The buzz about the "health" of Shinde, who was at his native village in Satara, grew louder after his supporter and MLA Sanjay Shirsat recently claimed the CM has fallen sick as he works for 24 hours.
A video released on Monday, the second in two days, shows the two leaders presenting a united front in the polls and exchanging notes on the Congress campaign.
