Heads rolled in the Chhattisgarh police administration on Tuesday with the government suspending Bastar Superintendent of Police Mayank Shrivasta and shunting out Bastar range Inspector General of Police Himanshu Gupta, in the wake of the Maoist attack on Congress leaders.
The 10 who put in their papers include nine Lok Sabha MPs, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel, and the one Rajya Sabha member, officials said.
Ram Naresh Yadav was on Wednesday sworn-in as the Governor of Chhattisgarh following the resignation of Shekhar Dutt. The Madhya Pradesh Governor has been given the additional charge of Chhattisgarh.
Some of the big names who decided to roll out the yoga mat
The BJP has fielded 18 MPs, including four Union ministers, for the latest round of assembly polls so far -- seven each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and four in Chhattisgarh.
Thirteen Central Reserve Police Force personnel, including two officers were killed in a Maoist attack in the Chintagufa area in Chhattisgarh's Sukhma while they were on an area domination exercise. According to reports, the attackers used locals as human shields to prevent CRPF retaliation.
A Chhattisgarh government employee allegedly drained out 41 lakh litres of water from a weir after his mobile phone fell into it in the state's Kanker district, an official said on Friday.
The results mark a defining turn in the fortunes of several regional satraps, especially in the BJP, around whom politics in their states have revolved for decades.
Four personnel were also injured in the Naxal attack and two of them were stated to be critical.
When the MPV carrying six personnel was around one km away from the camp, ultras triggered a powerful land mine blast, he said.
70 per cent voting was recorded across 18 constituencies of Bastar and Rajnandgaon till 3 pm in the first phase of assembly election in Chhattisgarh, where violence by Naxals who have called for a poll boycott left a Central Reserve Police Force jawan dead.
'Raman Singh will certainly be defeated by the alliance we have created," says Chhattisgarh's first chief minister Ajit Jogi.
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
While Chouhan has emerged as a favourite to remain at the helm in MP despite the presence of some challengers, the leadership race is wide open in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, two states where the BJP has snatched power from the Congress.
Richest Asian Gautam Adani's group on Tuesday said it will pay an additional Rs 48.65 a share to NDTV stockholders who tendered their shares in its open offer to help match what it had paid to buy out a stake of the news broadcaster's founders. Adani Enterprises in a stock exchange filing said it will pay an additional Rs 48.65 per NDTV share to investors, who had sold their shares in an open offer between November 22 and December 5, taking the payout to Rs 342.65 a share and matching what it paid to buy Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy's stake. Adani Group first acquired Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited, a little-known company that had given Rs 403 crore of an interest-free loan to RRPR Holdings - a company founded by the Roys and bore their initials in its name - in 2009-10 in exchange for warrants that allowed it to buy a stake in the newsgroup at any time.
If the corruption issue doesn't claim Mr Baghel, the Congress's chances in the assembly election later this year are good, observes Aditi Phadnis.
The party decision means that Union minister Vishnu Deo Sai and seven times Lok Sabha member and former Union minister Ramesh Bais will not be fielded in the polls.
Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
Known as a simple and down-to-earth leader, Tirath Singh Rawat takes over the rein of power in Uttarakhand at a time when the BJP is preparing for the state assembly polls due early next year.
The sterilization botch up at a state-run camp in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, which has evoked hue and cry from all corners, has claimed the lives of four more women, taking the total toll to 12.
The BJP is faced with the crucial question of who will lead the party in the four impending state polls this year: In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
The gravity of the incident which happened in Parliament should not be underestimated, the prime minister said
Chouhan, who stepped down as CM earlier this week, was also seen getting emotional and in tears as women encircled him and raised slogans in his praise while he was on his way to a famous Hanuman temple in Vidisha, around 55 km from Bhopal, on Thursday.
Populism gains momentum during election periods, and this trend is evident in at least four states: Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
During the first phase of voting on November 12 for 18 seats in the Naxal-affected areas of the state, a total of 76.42 per cent polling was recorded.
Chouhan's fate will be determined by the BJP central command's assessment of the implications of such a move ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
She quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2013 claiming the party was under a grip of power politics.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, saying he was being "arrogant" by refusing to order a probe to ascertain if negligence had led to blasts in his party's rally in Patna.
Life on the election campaign trail can be hard!
The National Investigation Agency will probe the Maoist attack on Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh after the Centre received a go-ahead from Chief Minister Raman Singh for the same. "I have spoken to Raman Singh and he has agreed for probe by NIA and he has agreed to the probe by the central agency," Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Monday.
Launching a frontal attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the state of the economy, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said though Singh is a "doctor of finance, the rupee is in hospital".
The surgeon, who conducted sterilisation surgeries on 83 women at a state-run camp which claimed the lives of 12 women in Pendari village in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, has been arrested.
Singhdeo was the main architect of the Congress party's poll manifesto, which he said was made after feedback from about 80,000 people from across the state.
With days to go before Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh go to polls, the Congress is struggling to make an impact in the two key heartland states which have been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party for two successive five-year terms.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
Rahul Gandhi also attacks Modi and RSS in Bastar.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
A police jawan and a Naxal were killed in a gun-battle between security forces and ultras in the Maoist-hit Bijapur district of southern Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad held that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has described Maoists as "biggest terrorists", responsible for the spread of Maoism in his state.
A buoyant Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday began the groundwork for government formation, with party president Rajnath Singh appointing observers to be sent to the four states where the party has emerged victorious.