The MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli, Umesh Jadhav, and Nagendra -- did not ascribe any reason for not attending the opening day's session.
The Congress on Saturday appointed 50-year-old Jitu Patwari, who belongs to the Other Backward Classes, as president of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit replacing veteran Kamal Nath.
Upset over an open rebellion in Rajasthan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday sought a written report on it from party observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken as the chances of Ashok Gehlot becoming the party chief receded and other names cropped up for the post.
The team, comprising Vayalar Ravi, Pranab Mukherjee and Ghulam Nabi Azad, is right now meeting party legislators at Sahyadri Guesthouse at Malabar Hills.
Electoral fortunes of 1,302 candidates, including over half a dozen ministers in the Nitish Kumar government, will be sealed on Tuesday with 3.70 crore voters eligible to exercise their franchise across 122 assembly segments in the second and final phase of the Bihar polls.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily will oversee the smooth transition of power in Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
Though the party has made no announcement, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, is being seen as the frontrunner for the key position.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal for the candidature of Yadav and Jabbar, the All India Congress Committee said in a release.
'I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting'
With the Congress emerging victorious in Himachal Pradesh, state party president Pratibha Singh is considered a key frontrunner for the chief minister's post, closely followed by former party chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and outgoing Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri.
At least five Congress MLAs did not attend a meeting of the party's lawmakers in Maharashtra on Thursday, called in the aftermath of the high-profile exit of former chief minister Ashok Chavan that has triggered speculation about more such defections.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
Vast experience in running the government and mass appeal across the state have favoured Siddaramaiah in the tightly contested race for Karnataka chief minister.
The Congress' top leadership will deliberate on the Lok Sabha election results and chalk out its future strategy at a crucial meeting of the party's working committee on Saturday.
The firing took place outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui's office.
Chief minister aspirant and Karnataka state Congress president D K Shivakumar on Monday cancelled his Delhi trip, hours after confirming he would be flying to the national capital, fuelling speculation that all is not well in the ruling camp over the CM contender issue.
Security has been tightened in Manipur's Jiribam district ahead of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's scheduled visit on Monday, with authorities imposing a ban on aerial photography using drones, officials said.
A day before counting of votes polled in the Karnataka assembly elections, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Friday went into a huddle and held strategy sessions on ways to keep their flock together.
The Election Commission has defended its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court, refuting allegations of mass deletion of genuine voters as exaggerated and politically motivated.
He also asserted that everything has gone smoothly for the party in the assembly polls and the government will be formed soon.
Devendra Fadnavis will lead the new Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. The Mahayuti coalition won the recent assembly elections by a landslide, securing 230 out of 288 seats.
Congress leader Ajay Maken has written to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, expressing his unwillingness to continue as the in-charge of Rajasthan, sources said on Wednesday.
Maharashtra's outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party will decide on the new CM and assured his full support while ruling out differences among Mahayuti allies over the government formation.
In the past the Congress had cold-shouldered overtures from the Samajwadi Party chief, leading to bad blood between the two parties.
Trinamool Congress Legislature party on Monday formally nominated party leaders Biman Banerjee and Sonali Guha for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker respectively in West Bengal assembly.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Mahayuti government in Maharashtra on December 5. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is considered the frontrunner for the chief minister's post, with the BJP having recorded its best-ever electoral performance in the state. The Mahayuti coalition includes Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.
The appointment was made by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who was authorized by a meeting of the Gujarat Congress Legislature Party in Gandhinagar on Tuesday to select the leader.
Devendra Fadnavis, BJP legislature party leader, will be sworn-in as the new chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening at a grand ceremony in Mumbai. NCP head Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde are also expected to take oath as deputy chief ministers. This is for the third time that Fadnavis will be sworn-in as the CM of Maharashtra. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, where elaborate security arrangements have been made. The formation of the government under Fadnavis comes after two weeks of intense negotiations following the November 20 state assembly polls. Fadnavis, joined by Shinde and Pawar, met with state Governor CP Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form the government. Following this meeting, the governor extended an invitation for Fadnavis to lead the new government. The swearing-in ceremony will be a grand affair with nearly 42,000 attendees, including PM Modi, several Union ministers, and chief ministers and deputy CMs of various states.
Congress Legislature Party leader and Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah said no one would leave the Congress and there was no disgruntlement either.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka had the last laugh as it won all the three Rajya Sabha seats it had contested in, out of total of four from the state that went for polls on Friday, while the Congress managed to win only one of the two seats to which it had fielded its candidates.
With all eyes on the Congress's next step in Rajasthan after Sachin Pilot's fast in Jaipur on Tuesday, AICC in-charge of state Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday said he agrees with the issue of corruption taken up by Pilot but the manner in which it was raised was not right.
After Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that the sale deed executed by his son Parth's firm for a prime land in Pune has been scrapped, officials said the company will have to cough up double the stamp duty, which comes to Rs 42 crore, to get the transaction cancelled.
Wasnik claimed some people with "bad intentions" were trying to create a rift in the Goa Congress, but the legislators scuttled it by showing they are united.
Raut said there is always give and take in an alliance and they gave Ramtek and Kolhapur seats to the Congress. He said Sena-UBT has also given Amravati to the Congress.
The notices were sent to Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was dropped as minister in the recent cabinet rejig and is said to be extremely unhappy over it, B Nagendra, Umesh Jadhav and Mahesh Kumatahalli.
Sinha said the announcement would be made on the auspicious occasion of 'Navratra'.
The behaviour and conduct of certain ministers has upset some legislators, Patil said, as he warned that their fight would continue, if it is not corrected.
'The central BJP leaders were determined to push Hindutva hard, and it failed.'
