Congress general secretary and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will flag off three Pratigya Yatras from Barabanki on Saturday to take to the people various resolutions adopted by the party ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.
The recent move by a group of eight Congress MLAs in Goa to merge with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was as per constitutional norms, state assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.
The bill, named 'Shakti' and modelled on the Disha Act in Andhra Pradesh, also provides for completion of investigation and filing of chargesheet within 15 days, and completion of trial in 30 days.
What provoked Ashok Gehlot's belligerence was Sachin Pilot's participation in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh. Gehlot was also aware that Rajasthan assembly Speaker C P Joshi had met Rahul in Maharashtra.
He will meet Governor R L Bhatia on Tuesday morning and will be sworn in later in the day, CLP sources said.
Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa and Brahm Mohindra will be two deputies to Punjab's Chief Minister-designate Charanjit Singh Channi, said party leader Pawan Kumar Bansal.
With the party bagging its first victory in the hill state without the charismatic presence of Virbhadra Singh, Sukhu's elevation makes it clear that the party is ready to move on.
Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar on Tuesday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi separately and discussed the modalities of government formation in the southern state.
Left with just three MLAs, the Congress does not have the required one tenth of the legislative strength in the 40-member House to claim the Cabinet minister-level post.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP will hold their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.
Opposition parties said it was a move to appease the party leader.
Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The assembly also witnessed a brief adjournment after the ruling alliance members pointed to remarks of Jarange and alleged there was a conspiracy to create unrest in the state.
Conveying good wishes to people of the state and all political parties for the New Year, he however wished that the Congress comes to power.
The 44 legislators, including Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who deserted the Congress party on Friday and joined the People's Party of Arunachal are set to form a new government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led North East Democratic Alliance.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday stressed that the party would fight the Rajasthan assembly polls "unitedly" and said that a decision on who would lead the next government would be taken by the high command after consultations with the newly-elected MLAs.
A renewed energy seems to have been infused into the 75-year old Congress leader Siddaramaiah's gait as he walked to address a packed press conference in Mysore on Saturday.
'These frequent visits show the BJP fears that the Congress will retain power.'
Encouraged by the unprecedented success of the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra of Narendra Modi, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has launched Vishwas Yatra.
Senior Congress leader D D Lapang was on Monday sworn in as Meghalaya chief minister by Governor S S Sidhu, who rejected the demand of the newly-formed Nationalist Congress Party-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance saying the decision was aimed at preventing horse-trading. Stung by the Governor's decision, the MPA led by former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma decided to move the Supreme Court on Tuesday against installation of the Congress government.
Sarma's name was proposed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and seconded by BJP state party president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and newly elected Haflong MLA Nandita Garlosa.
Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has reserved the Bill pertaining to four percent reservation for Muslims in government contracts for the President's assent, citing constitutional concerns. The Bill, which has been a subject of controversy in Karnataka, was passed by both houses of the state legislature amid protests from the opposition BJP. The Governor's decision to reserve the Bill highlights the ongoing debate over the constitutionality of religious-based reservations in India.
The Lok Sabha constituencies that JD-S will contest are Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Tumkur, Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru North and Vijayapura.
Azad had, on Sunday, called on the Governor to stake claim to form the new government in Jammu and Kashmir, replacing Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister.
'I was never why I was denied a ticket to contest the assembly elections.'
Political sources say Modi is 'keen' on getting the NCP (SP) over to the Mahayuti to counter Eknath Shinde's 'demands' and to act as a cushion against his present allies, Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu, 'in case their relationship became untenable'.
The governor accepted Kumar's resignation, and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed, they said.
The division bench completed the hearing of arguments and said it will pronounce its order on Friday, requesting the Speaker too to extend his deadline for accepting the MLAs replies to the notices. The notices had followed a Congress complaint that the 19 MLAs should be disqualified from the assembly for defying a party whip.
Lapang, facing revolt by at least 14 legislators, is expected to tender his resignation to Governor R S Mooshahary later on Monday after he returns from New Delhi along with 23 legislators.
The legislators landed at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi in a chartered flight and were taken to the Circuit House in the city in two buses.
Reddy, whose party stormed to power with a landslide victory in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, is likely to discuss providing outside or issue-based support to the Modi government in the meeting, sources said on Saturday.
'This has been the history of these people,' Congress leader Ahmed Patel tells Sheela Bhatt.
BIf you know this BJP, it will now go forward to Jharkhand and Maharashtra as if June 2024 never happened, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who took over the stewardship of the state amid a campaign by supporters by late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to give his son the top post, said on Saturday that a meeting of Congress Legislature Party would be held before year-end.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar MLA Jitendra Awhad arrived in handcuffs at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai on the first day of the Maharashtra legislature's budget session on Monday to highlight 'growing attack' on freedom of expression and protest the deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States.
With most exit polls predicting a tight contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls in Karnataka, leaders of the two parties seem 'jittery' over the outcome, while the Janata Dal-Secular appears to be expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation.
That YSR completed five years in power with out a whimper of dissidence and led the party single-handedly back to power speak volumes about the hold he now enjoys over the party in the state and the backing from the high command.
BJP leader and caretaker chief minister Pramod Sawant is the clear favourite for the post of the CM but faces some opposition.
