The attack, resulting in arson and vandalism, took place when Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was holding a meeting with leaders of Achik Conscious Holistically Integrated Krima (ACHIK) and Garo Hills State Movement Committee (GHSMC), who were fasting to press for their demand to make Tura the winter capital of the northeastern state. The CM, who was inside the building, was not injured in the violence.
Sources said the leaders during the meeting discussed the possible reasons for the "unexpected" results in Haryana and decided to set up the team to ascertain the reasons behind such results and also look into complaints of "discrepancies" in EVMs, as alleged by party candidates.
Opposition parties have not been given the chairmanship of any of the four key parliamentary panels including the committee on home affairs and information technology, which were with the Congress, in the latest rejig announced on Tuesday.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced that the state will become the first in independent India to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), with the date of implementation to be announced soon. The UCC, which aims to unify personal laws for all citizens, has been approved by the state cabinet and preparations for its implementation are almost complete. Dhami stated that the training process for UCC implementation is nearly finalized and the government is aiming for a swift rollout. Speculation is rife that the UCC could be implemented on Republic Day, coinciding with the conclusion of municipal elections. The UCC includes provisions related to marriage, divorce, annulment of marriage, succession, and live-in relationships. The state government has introduced a dedicated portal for online registration of related matters and has authorized Common Service Centers (CSC) to simplify access for citizens. In remote areas, CSC agents will provide door-to-door services. The Gram Panchayat Development Officer will serve as the Sub-Registrar for registration work in rural areas. The government has also implemented Aadhaar-based registration to make the process easier. Citizens can track their application status through email and SMS, and an online complaint portal has been set up. Dhami dismissed Congress allegations of divisive politics, emphasizing that the UCC provides a uniform system and law for all.
Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi, suspended from the Maharashtra assembly over his remarks praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, will be '100 per cent' put in jail, Chief Minister Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the legislative council.
Regarding Satheesan, he said that "if we see each other at the venue, then we will see".
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
However, the Congress asserted that its coalition government led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morchais "completely secure and stable'' and would complete its term.
With billionaire Gautam Adani charged in the United States with alleged bribery and fraud, the Congress on Thursday said it 'vindicates' its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various 'scams' involving his conglomerate.
The Congress said that the move is meant to keep away candidates who are not serious.
Tharoor's close aide Aalim Javeri collected the forms from the office of the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on the first day of the start of the nomination process, all but confirming an electoral face-off for the top party post with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
"I sometimes think of leaving it, but the chief minister's post doesn't leave me," Ashok Gehlot famously said earlier this year, in part as a signal to the Congress top brass not to pick someone else for the job if the party wins the assembly polls.
A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" here.
'The government does not want to be transparent or accountable. Therefore, they do not want to appoint information commissioners.'
The Goa Congress faced a spate of resignations and confusion prevailed over its alliance with like-minded parties for the upcoming polls in the coastal state as the opposition party was getting ready for a series of meetings by general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday.
'If the Congress wants to keep the ship afloat, it will have to bury the differences.'
The yatra, which is scheduled to begin on January 14, will cover 6,713 kilometres and the participants will travel on buses and foot.
The increased numbers of the Opposition bloc would mean that their MPs are likely to head several more panels than the four that they did by the end of the term of the 17th Lok Sabha.
The rival Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faced off on Wednesday evening at the party's office at the civic headquarters in south Mumbai. Tension had prevailed for an hour on the premises till police intervened.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
United States President Joe Biden on Monday issued pre-emptive pardons for General Mark Milley, Dr Anthony Fauci and members of Congress who served on the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as a shield against possible retaliatory action against them by his incoming successor, CNN reported.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also appointed Harsh Mahajan, Rajender Rana, Pawan Kajal and Vinay Kumar as the new working presidents of the Himachal Pradesh PCC.
'BJP and RSS may have differences over minor issues but their hearts long for one common aim -- that of A Hindu Rashtra.' 'And this time to prove this point the RSS has prepared to help BJP win this election with all its might.'
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after a thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
The authority said in its order that it believes that the movable assets and equity shares that were attached by the ED are proceeds of crime and linked to the offence of money laundering.
Congress leaders and workers took to the streets on Monday in Delhi and various state capitals as Rahul Gandhi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi for questioning in the National Herald case, with the opposition party accusing the Modi government of 'trampling on democracy'.
The Congress had released 'Farmers Declaration', 'SC, ST Declaration' and 'Youth Declaration', comprising its promises to the Telangana voters in the assembly polls scheduled to be held in a couple of months.
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiormani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Praveen Sood took over as the new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director on Thursday and he will be in the post for two years, officials said.
Amid the ongoing tussle between Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and party veteran Balasaheb Thorat in the wake of recent legislative council elections, both the leaders came face to face at the party's state executive committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, with both of them later claiming that everything was fine between them.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday vowed to ensure 50 per cent representation to women in the All India Congress Committee and other party wings. Gandhi made the remarks while holding his first formal interaction with newly-appointed party office bearers, the team set up by him for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll.
Rahul Gandhi exhorted local Congress workers to put up a united face to take on the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the next year's elections to the municipal corporation in Mumbai.
The Congress' central election authority on Thursday issued a notification for the All India Congress Committee president polls, setting the ball rolling for electing the successor to the longest-serving party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party MLC C T Ravi was arrested after a first information report (FIR) was registered against him, for allegedly using a derogatory word against minister Laxmi Hebbalkar in the Legislative Council on Thursday, police said.
A day after the exit polls predicted a hung assembly in Goa, hectic political activities have begun in the state with the Congress focusing on keeping its flock together and plans to shift all its candidates to a resort, a senior party leader said on Tuesday.
Voting began on Monday in the Congress presidential polls as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor face-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
The party's top leadership, which is now looking for a replacement for Gandhi, will have a new team once the new Congress chief is appointed and some more resignations are likely to pour in till then.
