Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday resigned as the state legislature party head, a day after his letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over apparent friction with state unit chief Nana Patole came out, party sources said.
Sources in the Raje camp said she would be meeting the party high command on Thursday.
The Congress Legislature Party in Goa will meet on Monday to decide on its leader.
A broad consensus has emerged among top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and other Mahayuti allies to drop ministers facing serious allegations of corruption in the new government, a Shiv Sena leader said on Tuesday.
'Let's see how this love story shapes up in the run up to the municipal corporation election.'
The ruling Mahayuti members in both houses of the Maharashtra legislature condemned state Congress head Harshvardhan Sapkal's remarks comparing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and demanded strict action against him. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the remarks will be verified and action will be taken accordingly as per the law. The state legislative council witnessed an uproar after the ruling Mahayuti members raised the issue of Sapkal's remarks, and the proceedings were suspended for 10 minutes. BJP group leader Pravin Darekar said comparing the chief minister to Aurangzeb is a highly condemnable act and an insult to Maharashtra. He also demanded that a case be filed against Sapkal and strict action be taken to set an example.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid a buzz of a likely meeting with the party high command that is grappling with the high political drama in the state.
One hundred years ago, a group of 10 revolutionaries carried out an operation that shook the British Empire. Utkarsh Mishra revisits the 'Kakori Conspiracy Case', a turning point in the armed struggle for independence.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP national general Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, BJP state unit president B Y Vijayendra, and former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai were among those present at the legislature party meeting, where R Ashoka was picked as its leader.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday invited National Conference leader Omar Abdullah to take oath as first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16.
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Tuesday didn't discuss the issue of the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and has decided to take a 'wait and watch' approach amid political developments in the state, a senior leader said.
They will, however, remain in the Congress, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh said.
With Sonia Gandhi putting her seal of approval on his name, Harish Rawat was elected on Saturday the Congress Legislature Party leader in Uttarakhand, paving the way for Haridwar MP's swearing in as new chief minister of the hill state.
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.
Amid speculation about the number of MLAs supporting him and senior party colleague Siddaramaiah for the post of Karnataka chief minister, state Congress president D K Shivakumar on Monday said his strength is 135, as under his presidency, the party won the said number of seats in the assembly polls.
Robert Vadra indicated that he will also join politics and said there is an atmosphere of change in the country. His entire family is working diligently on this, he added.
Congress in-charge for Rajasthan Ajay Maken on Monday slammed the MLAs loyal to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for setting conditions for a party resolution, terming it a "conflict of interest", and said their decision to hold a parallel meeting amounted to indiscipline.
KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were made deputy chief ministers of the state, he said.
Amid the ongoing political turmoil in the Congress in Rajasthan, the party's chief whip in the state, Mahesh Joshi, on Tuesday said a meeting of the MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was not called to mount pressure on the party high command.
Curfew was relaxed in three Imphal Valley districts on Tuesday and the suspension on broadband internet lifted with conditions, even as Chief Minister N Biren Singh blamed the Congress for the present crisis in Manipur and NDA MLAs called for a "mass operation" against militants responsible for the killing of six women and children. Peaceful rallies were also staged across the state, with hundreds taking to the streets with empty coffins in Churachandpur district, demanding justice for those killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Jiribam, and members of various civil society organisations bringing out a procession in Imphal West district to protest the reimposition of AFSPA in parts of the state.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha executive president Hemant Soren is set to return as chief minister of Jharkhand for the third time following consensus among legislators of the party-led alliance in the state, sources said on Wednesday.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday picked first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister, ending days of speculation that followed its victory in the assembly polls.
Rathore, however, said he was a "true soldier" of the Congress party and it was in the public domain who had damaged the party.
Shinde was reportedly not happy as he had to cede the top post to the ally BJP, and was reluctant to take the deputy CM post.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress legislature committee unanimously passed a resolution on Friday, requesting the Congress president Sonia Gandhi to choose the Congress Legislature Party leader. The resolution moved by Kadapa member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy was supported by 150 MLAs and 49 members of legislative council.
Speaking to reporters in Panaji, the BJP's Goa desk in-charge C T Ravi said there was no discontent among the eight MLAs who joined the party earlier this year.
By getting Jagdeep Dhankhar to resign at short notice, Narendra Modi has sent a message to his own ideological clan that he brooks no one trying to get too big for their boots, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Both of them said, the legislature party meeting has been called, most probably on Thursday, as part of a routine exercise to discuss various programmes and policies of the government, and to ensure coordination between government and party MLAs.
Gohil, speaking after the HC ruling earlier in the day, maintained that in the past the apex court has provided relief to accused in different cases.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has assured the public that the government's flagship 'Ladki Bahin' scheme, which provides financial assistance to women, will continue. This scheme, which is believed to have been a significant factor in the ruling Mahayuti's victory in the state polls last year, provides women with Rs 1,500 every month. Pawar, who is also the state's finance minister, clarified that there is no question of scrapping the scheme and that budgetary allocation has been made for its implementation. Earlier, state Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare also clarified that there has been no change in the amount of assistance provided under the scheme. The only adjustment made is that women already receiving Rs 1,000 under another scheme are being paid the difference of Rs 500, ensuring that they receive the full Rs 1,500. Tatkare addressed media reports claiming the aid under the scheme had been reduced, stating that this was not the case and that no eligible woman had been excluded from the scheme.
Congress leaders and workers from Kolar have been exerting pressure on the Congress legislature party leader to contest from there.
BJP members, including the Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma, opposed the resolution, saying it was not part of the listed business.
In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
Siddaramaiah will be the next CM of Karnataka and D K Shivakumar his deputy, Congress sources in Delhi said on Thursday after the party arrived at a consensus on government formation in the state following hectic parleys.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that he, his deputies Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, will work in shifts to ensure round-the-clock governance. Fadnavis will work from 12 noon to midnight, Ajit Pawar, known for his early rising habits, will be on duty in the morning, and Shinde, known for his late-night work ethic, will handle the night shift. This arrangement comes after Ajit Pawar's controversial return to the BJP-led government following a split from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The NCP, under Sharad Pawar's leadership, is now a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT). The recent assembly elections saw the Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's NCP faction, securing a comfortable majority.
Along with Sharma, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, who were named as deputy chief ministers in the recently held Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party meeting, will take oath.
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren on Sunday met Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and staked claim to form the government, soon after leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the state unanimously elected him as the legislature party leader.
According to party sources, the Congress Legislature Party meeting lasted for about an hour and a half.