Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde was on Thursday made a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body of the party.
With the Congress top brass in New Delhi likely to take a final call on Friday on the vexed Telangana issue, the development has sparked a flurry of activities in the Andhra Pradesh capital.
With Eranna Bhimappa Kadadi and Ashok Jasti -- one Lingayat and one from the OBC -- named as BJP's candidates for the upper house, bypassing the recommendation of the state unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, as well as the core committee of the state, BJP leaders in Karnataka say the move is calculated to diminish the stature of the CM and create conditions for him to be eased out.
With the Congress all set to accept the long-pending demand for a separate state of Telangana, the matter is slated for discussion at the party's working committee meeting to be convened before the monsoon session commences on August 5
'Let me reveal for the first time that around August 2019 Congress President Sonia Gandhi told the Congress leadership and CWC members to form a consensus over the name of a non-Gandhi leader.'
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiormani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
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.
Priyanka Gandhi gets into rigorous damage control mode in wake of her party's eroding popularity ahead of the polls, reports Renu Mittal
Opposition Congress claimed that the accused was linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ruling party, however, denied the allegation.
The Sena received a boost on Friday with 3 Independent corporators joining the party, raising its total tally in the BMC to 87.
A decision on the vexed issue of Telangana is expected before Monsoon session of Parliament which is likely to start after August 15.
'If you look at the average age of all our candidates, you will notice that their average age is between 35 and 40. It is a kind of revolution that the MNS is bringing in Maharashtra.'
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
India received consular access on at least three occasions to Nikhil Gupta, who is detained in a Czech prison following charges by the United States relating to a foiled assassination attempt on a Sikh extremist.
The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
The Congress appears to be veering round to taking a call on the contentious Telangana statehood issue with party leader in charge of Andhra Pradesh saying consultation process is over and time for a decision has come.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday discussed the strategy to be adopted in the monsoon session of the Parliament on issues such as Telangana and proposed amendments in the Right to Information Act.
Sources said the issue was discussed at the core committee meeting held last week where it was decided that Rahul would hoist the flag if he is back in New Delhi before the August 15. Sonia is expected to return after another 2 weeks at a conservative estimate.
Kumar's support to the NDA candidate will be a major setback for opposition parties.
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
Friday is a major day for the Telangana movement with the core committee expected to take a decision on the issue. A Member of Parliament from the region told Rediff.com that a decision to go ahead and form a separate state with 10 districts will be taken by the Congress on Friday.
The party, however, did not announce as whether it would merge with any other party or become part of some other alliance.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday elevated her nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee as the party's all-India general secretary, the second-most important post in the organisation, a senior leader in Kolkata said.
The Congress, which is the single-largest party with 16 MLAs, has already staked claim to form the government in the coastal state.
Stepping in to defuse the Telangana crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said he understands the separate statehood demand and gave an assurance that the Centre will make all efforts to find a solution to the contentious issue soon.
Yechury briefed the prime minister about the deliberations of the CPI-M's central committee and the position taken by the party.
The National Food Security Bill, 2011, considered to be the world's largest experiment in ensuring food security to poor, has been a key project of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The winter session will begin on December 7 and will last until December 29.
The parties agreed to the demand of tribal bodies and civil society groups to resolve the Naga political problem first.
The BJP's core committee will meet on Sunday and decide the future course of action, party leader Chandrakant Patil said.
The Congress's strategy is to get the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha and then try its luck in the Lok Sabha, where it is unsure of the Bharatiya Janata party's support for it. This, say sources, is the GoM's face-saver plan, as the Rajya Sabha's okay will keep the Bill alive for the 16th Lok Sabha.
Finance Minister and Congress trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday took command of the consultations with Andhra Pradesh leaders to prepare the ground for the creation of Telangana, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided against imposing President's rule in the troubled state after holding talks with Governor E S L Narasimhan. Assisting Mukherjee in the consultations are Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy and members of a core committee.
The move could hurt the BJP as the JCC, according to political analysts, might have eaten into the Congress' votes in at least four of the 11 parliamentary constituencies in the state. R Krishna Das reports.
Keen to prevent a downgrade of India's sovereign rating by Standard & Poor's (S&P), which could trigger an exodus of foreign investors, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told the Congress party there is no option but to raise diesel prices by at least Rs 5 a litre after the Presidential election. The current diesel subsidy is Rs 9.13 per litre sold.
Defending Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit over her indictment in the recently published report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India on irregularities observed in Commonwealth Games, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has said the party has decided not to take any action against her.
Team Anna's core committee met in Monday at Ghaziabad amidst suggestions that the anti-corruption movement should not target a single political party in the future.
After six years of probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the closure report before a special court last week as it could not find enough evidence in the case to proceed with prosecution, the officials said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are expected to meet on Friday evening in the backdrop of opposition demand for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee into the Indian Premier League controversy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set for an unprecedented third five-year term as he was 'elected' to the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday while several top leaders including Premier Li Keqiang have been left out in the major shake-up at the top.
Parrikar will stay at his private residence in Panaji,
