In a populist move, the Congress government in Haryana on Friday announced to waive off Rs 1600 crore outstanding power arrears of farmers and rural consumers.
Appealing non-BJP outfits to join hands with the Congress, Hooda assured them that they would be given due respect.
Conceding defeat in Haryana, the Congress party on Sunday expressed their hope that the new dispensation will continue the growth momentum that the state witnessed during its decade long rule.
The situation on Monday was tense but under control in Rohtak's Karontha village where three persons were killed and about 100 others in a clash between two groups over an ashram even as Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda ordered a magisterial probe into the violence.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several of his ministers and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Phool Chand Mullana figure in the list of 68 Congress candidates for the October 13 assembly polls, which was released by the party on Wednesday. While Hooda will contest from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat, Mullana has been re-nominated from Mulana. Randeep Singh Surjewala, a minister, has been shifted to Kaithal from Narwana that has become a reserved seat.
'This was all conspired to gain a hold on the Wrestling Federation of India and to attack the BJP and its ideology...This team of Rahul, the Congress keeps doing these things.'
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
Himani Narwal's body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Rohtak on Saturday after which the Haryana Police set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the murder.
The Congress top brass headed by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge held a review meeting on Thursday on the party's shock defeat in the Haryana assembly polls and discussed the possible reasons for the 'unexpected' results.
Instead of harvesting the wrath against the BJP and using it to their advantage by opting for a collective form of leadership, the Congress decided once again to bestow their trust in the Hooda family who were given a free hand in the distribution of tickets. This turned out to be the biggest blunder and this faulty selection was the single over riding factor in the Congress defeat, explains Rashme Sehgal.
The Congress on Wednesday demanded a thorough probe into 'discrepancies' found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes of the Haryana assembly polls and demanded that such EVMs should be sealed and secured pending the inquiry.
Sirsa MP Kumari Selja will campaign for the Congress and address a public meeting in Narwana this week, party general secretary Randeep Surjewala said on Monday after the Bharatiya Janata Party targeted the grand old party over alleged infighting amid reports that she was sulking.
Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda is down with a severe backache and his dad, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has a new headache.
The BJP registered emphatic victories in seven municipal corporations in Haryana, while its nominees were leading in two other civic bodies in the recently held elections. The Congress, which was hoping to improve its electoral fortunes after a defeat in the 2024 Assembly polls, suffered another setback. The BJP candidates won with large margins in Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Sonipat, and Ambala. The BJP was also leading in Yamunanagar and Panipat. In Manesar, an Independent candidate, Inderjeet Yadav, won the mayoral election. The results are seen as a major setback for the Congress, which has been facing internal turmoil and factionalism.
Opposition parties in Haryana on Monday asked Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to drop Home Minister Gopal Kanda from his cabinet.On Sunday, Kanda allegedly ordered his security men to open fire on agitating Indian National Lok Dal activists, who had stopped his convoy at Sirsa. Kunda was caught on camera by a private news channel while issuing the order.The INLD had called for a shutdown and its activists had organised a sit-down demonstration.
Congress has pushed Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to counter the development theory of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
Four days after he was sworn in as the Haryana Chief Minister for the second straight term, Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday won the vote of confidence in the state assembly. Hooda, chosen by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for the top job despite a sizeable decline in the party's strength in the assembly, won the trust motion with 47 members voting in the government's favour in the 90-member House.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was on Tuesday left red faced as a hostile crowd hooted him at a function in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence, following which the angry Congress leader said he would boycott such events with PM.
Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
As per the latest trends, the BJP and Congress is neck-and-neck with 35 seats. The fledgling JJP, which fought its maiden assembly polls, is also ahead in 10 seats.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, provided evasive responses during questioning regarding a 2008 land deal in Haryana. The ED claims Vadra placed blame on deceased associates and exerted undue influence on government officials.
The BJP has fielded as many as 10 turncoats, including those who joined the party from the JJP in recent weeks.
Indian National Lok Dal president and five-time Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala died in Gurugram on Friday at the age of 89.
A blame game began in the Congress on Tuesday as it failed in its bid to come back to power in Haryana after 10 years, with senior party leader Kumari Selja saying the party high command should assess all reasons that led to the disappointing result and identify the people responsible.
Their joining is likely to come as a big boost to the BJP in Haryana with a few months remaining for the polls.
The Congress on Thursday declared 12 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including party general secretary K C Venugopal, Deepender Hooda and senior Supreme Court advocate K T S Tulsi.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday said he does not think boxer Vijender Singh has any involvement with the drug haul case in Punjab, stressing that law would take its own course.
Amid severe cold and fog, the march resumed in the morning from Dodwa in Karnal's Nilokheri region and entered the Kurukshetra district later in the day.
Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar on Monday got engaged to Savi, daughter of his coach Satpal Singh, at a private ceremony in New Delhi attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Another MoU was signed in Berlin with the Osram Group
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
Wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia on Friday met Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who assured them of support in every way in their fight for justice.
After his party lost power in Haryana in the 2014 polls, the 72-year-old satrap had nothing going in his favour.
Speaking at a roundtable with senior journalists in New Delhi, Suzuki said: "Haryana is my first home and Gujarat is my second. I have conveyed this to the two chief ministers."
Haryana Governor Jaganath Pahadia has directed Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was sworn in as the state Chief Minister for his second successive term, to prove his majority on the floor of the state assembly within a week.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday questioned former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in connection with alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 industrial plots at Panchkula, by Haryana Urban Development Authority.
The party has fielded sitting MLA Rajendra Singh Joon from the Bahadurgarh seat.
The many colours of India came alive as the famous Surajkund crafts fair began near Delhi on Tuesday with ethnic wares from all over the country on display and Department of Posts releasing a commemorative cover and stamp to mark the event's 25th anniversary.
With Team Anna asking people not to back their party in Hisar Lok Sabha bypolls, chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states and senior leaders on Monday hit back at the Jan Lokpal Bill champions, dubbing them as agents of Opposition "trying to grind their own axe in the guise of fighting graft".
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