The two tribal dominated divisions of Surguja and Bastar having 26 assembly seats that contributed hugely to the Congress' landslide victory in Chhattisgarh in 2018 have swung to the Bharatiya Janata Party this time.
The visits come against the backdrop of complaints from the Khan camp that Akhilesh Yadav has been 'ignoring' the party veteran and the Muslim community, though it backed the SP in the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
With six children of Karnataka ministers in the Lok Sabha poll arena, the campaign scene is getting spiced up in the high-stakes elections for the ruling Congress in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named its candidates for assembly bypolls in several states, fielding six disqualified MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh assembly in the state days after they joined the party after leaving the Congress.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole claimed Thackeray had selected a candidate finalised by Congress for the Nashik Teachers' constituency without consulting coalition partners.
After much flip-flop, the Congress decided to form an alliance with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and the two parties fielded their joint candidate -- Rajkumar Roat. However, the Congress candidate, Arvind Damor, whose name was announced before the stitching of the alliance, has refused to withdraw his nomination.
Historically, the Mandi constituency has favoured scions of erstwhile princely states, electing royals in 13 out of 19 elections, including two bypolls since 1952.
Two former MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Nasseb Singh resigned from the primary membership of the party putting the party's Lok Sabha preparations in doubt.
Security was beefed up at all BJP offices throughout the state following the violence which erupted after the candidate list was announced, official sources said.
Five Congress legislators on Wednesday threatened to resign if senior party leader and minister K H Muniyappa's son-in-law Chikka Peddanna was given a ticket to contest from Kolar in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, bringing into open the divisions in the outfit.
Amid the political uncertainty in Himachal Pradesh, state Congress chief Pratibha Singh on Friday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party's work is better than that of the grand old party.
Under attack from the Congress over the arrest of its MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a 2015 drugs case, Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said they are fighting against drugs and not against any party or a leader.
The Congress sought the imposition of President's Rule followed by fresh polls in Haryana.
The suspense over whether Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest the polls from Amethi and Raebareli respectively continued.
One more ruling Congress legislator A John Kumar, a close confidant of Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, resigned his MLA post on Tuesday, in yet another jolt to the ruling Congress dispensation ahead of the assembly polls due in few months.
He also told reporters outside the state assembly complex here that the state police will seek help from central agencies on a possible Pakistan angle in the incident.
State Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath has been fielded from his home-turf Chhindwara, from where he is currently the legislator.
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" Rahul Gandhi asked.
Former Congress MP Lakshman Singh has said Rahul Gandhi is an ordinary party worker and parliamentarian and he should not be highlighted so much.
Communal violence broke out in Nuh district on Monday as a mob tried to stop a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession by pelting stones and setting cars on fire. The violence spilled over into neighbouring Gurugram on Tuesday with mobs killing a Muslim cleric, torching an eatery, and vandalising shops.
Reddy faced the biggest challenge of his political life in 2015 when he was allegedly caught on camera trying to bribe a nominated MLA to vote in favour of the TDP in a legislative council election.
Apparently aimed at keeping the flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, all ruling Congress MLAs in Karnataka will stay put together at a hotel in Bengaluru on Monday after the budget session of the state legislature concludes and will later also travel together for voting the next day.
The returnees also included three independent MLAs, who too had landed in Panchkula on Tuesday after casting their votes in the Rajya Sabha election.
The announcement from the Congress lawmaker brought fore cracks in the party, which on Tuesday lost the sole Rajya Sabha seat to the Bharatiya Janata Party and is apparently scrambling to keep its members together to prevent the fall of its government.
The opposition Congress on Thursday stepped up the attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka and demanded the arrest of party MP Tejasvi Surya and a party MLA, alleging they were behind the scam involving blocking of hospital beds meant for COVID patients in Bengaluru.
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.
'These betrayers don't realise that their exit opens up vast new opportunities to those whose growth they have always stunted'
The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
If elected to the post, 53-year-old Khader will be the first Muslim leader to serve as Speaker of Karnataka assembly.
In the purported five-second clip, Reddy is seen addressing a poll rally in Nalgonda on Tuesday and is heard saying in Telegu 'Sonia Gandhi is going to give the CM position to me if the party comes to power. There is no one senior to me here'.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha MP and candidate from Sawai Madhopur Kirodi Lal Meena Friday said two Bengaluru resorts have been booked for winning candidates of the Congress to camp there after the results of the Rajasthan Assembly polls are announced.
After the Congress announced its second list of 88 candidates for the next month's Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, protests erupted at several places in the state on Friday through which party workers expressed disappointment over the names of some nominees and denial of tickets to others.
Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey on Sunday said that a clarification has been sought from party MP Dheeraj Sahu in connection with the recovery of huge cash from premises linked to him.
Out of the 25 seats, five seats each are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.
Rebel Himachal Pradesh Congress MLA Rajinder Rana on Saturday claimed that nine more party legislators 'feeling suffocated' due to Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's style of functioning are in touch with him as he called the chief minister 'liar number one'.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
Nakul Nath's move has added fuel to rumours swirling for the last few days that he, along with his father, are defecting to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress on Tuesday said it welcomes displaying the portrait of the Father of the Constitution in the House, but it could have been placed along with the photos of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru.
The agency has also summoned Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot for questioning in a case related to alleged contravention of the foreign exchange law, official sources said on Thursday.
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