Seeking to make inroads in Chhattisgarh, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced 10 'guarantees' for the upcoming assembly polls in the Congress-ruled state including free electricity, monthly 'samman rashi' for women and Rs 3,000 monthly allowance for the unemployed.
The ruling Congress is seeking to retain power in Chhattisgarh by banking on the welfare schemes of the Bhupesh Baghel government, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to corner it on the issues of alleged corruption, religious conversions and unfulfilled poll promises.
Chhattisgarh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan on Sunday evening invited Bharatiya Janata Party legislative party leader Vishnu Deo Sai to form a government in the state and handed him a letter pertaining to his appointment as the chief minister.
Wary of the possibility of cross-voting during the polling for two Rajya Sabha seats, the Congress is likely to take its Haryana MLAs to the party-ruled Chhattisgarh to protect them from poaching.
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.
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
The development comes days after the party's humiliating defeat in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, where the Congress, led by Nath, failed to replace the BJP government.
Mizoram will be voting for total 40 seats in a single phase while polls in Chhattisgarh (90 seats) will be conducted in two phases on November 7 (20 seats) and remaining 70 seats on November 17.
Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal face of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chhattisgarh, will be state chief minister after he was elected as leader of Bharatiya Janata Party's legislative party during a meeting of 54 newly-elected MLAs in Raipur on Sunday.
Responding to a query, Mathur said there is no "formula" for electing the chief minister.
A string of populist promises, including extension of the free ration scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Mahadev betting app issue and the Hindutva card are among key factors that have catapulted the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Chhattisgarh after five years.
The Baghel government had earlier said it fulfilled the 2018 promise and waived agriculture loans worth Rs 9,270 crore of 18.82 lakh farmers in the state.
With the assembly election results throwing up surprises, most exit polls got the outcome in Chhattisgarh and the scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party's win in Madhya Pradesh wrong.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will ensure the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chhattisgarh cabinet under Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday will be a 'historic' event which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP leaders and chief ministers, state chief Arun Sao said.
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
The MLAs of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight in a bid to thwart the Bharatiya Janata Party's possible attempt to poach them, and moved into a nearby luxurious resort.
According to a party statement issued here, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the proposal for the appointment of Singh Deo as the deputy chief minister in Chhattisgarh.
The analysis of five candidates could not be completed as their affidavits are either badly scanned or complete affidavits are not uploaded on the Election Commission of India website, they said.
Most of them said 'everything is fine' in the state Congress after landing at the airport in Raipur in a special aircraft.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
"The Congress government and the chief minister should tell the people of Chhattisgarh what link they have with the accused in this scam sitting in Dubai," he said.
Sources in the state Congress said that several party MLAs and ministers, who are close to Baghel, already reached Delhi on Thursday, while many legislators, ministers and senior leaders went to the national capital this morning.
The ruling Congress, voted to office in 2018 after 15 years in opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the main contenders for power in the state, where the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and some regional outfits are also in the fray.
Vijay Baghel and Jogi accuse the chief minister of prompting liquor vends across the state.
In Telangana, the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi has been in power since 10 years and in Mizoram, the MNF is in government.
Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi.
The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party against the Congress government in Chhattisgarh where assembly polls are due next year, was defeated by voice vote in the state Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
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".
With the second list, the total number of candidates declared by the Congress went up to 83 out of the total of 90.
The accused, a contractor by profession, was absconding since the murder of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar came to light on January 3, he said.
Here is the timeline of major Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh.
In an embarrassment to the ruling party, two of its sitting ministers lost and six were trailing.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted raids at over a dozen locations in Chhattisgarh including at premises linked to state Congress leaders as part of an ongoing probe into the alleged coal levy scam, officials said.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Baghel led from the front to take on the BJP, led by Raman Singh, after being entrusted the task to revive the Congress' fortunes in Chhattisgarh following the third consecutive defeat in the 2013 assembly polls.
Kharge's remarks came after Modi on Friday said the Congress stands "badly exposed" in front of people for promising to them what the party knows it will never be able to deliver.
If the Congress reached 90, it would have a pretty good chance of holding the BJP below the 272 mark. A hundred seats will rock national politics, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Acting on a specific input, the Raipur police apprehended the seer from a rented room near Bageshwar Dham, located around 25 km from Khajuraho town in MP, Raipur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal said.
The no-confidence motion was defeated by voice vote in the state assembly shortly after 1 am following a 13-hour debate.
He also predicted the Congress was likely to bag another resounding mandate in the 90-member assembly, saying some are projecting 75-plus seats for his party but his estimate is anywhere between 60 to 75-plus.
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