Should the anti-defection law in India exist only to prevent democratically elected governments from being toppled?
With the Congress government in crisis in Uttarakhand after nine party members of Legislative Assembly, including a minister, joined hands with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party overnight, Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Saturday asserted that the welfare of the state was his priority and added that he would tender his resignation if he was not able to prove majority.
Modi has proven to be a past master in the art of political survival. This means that learning to navigate the choppy waters of coalition government will be an art he will not take long to master, argues Shyam Parekh.
A local Congress leader said that the alliance would not have any bearing in Delhi or in the coming election to the assembly in the north eastern state.
Two other Rajasthan ministers Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena were also sacked from the state cabinet after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, its second in the last two days. The meeting was billed as a 'second chance' for Pilot, who had turned down appeals from the party's top leadership -- including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi -- to return to the fold.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla on Thursday joined the Congress and slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying his promise of serving the country is nothing but "plain dishonesty".
The assembly session comes days after the top leadership of the Congress announced the return of Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs to the party-fold. Referring to Pilot's open rebellion while addressing the legislators, the CM asked them to 'forget what has happened'.
The current crisis began Friday night when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government.
Nine of the turncoats were fielded by the BJP and 10 by the Samajwadi Party.
Pilot said he will be taking 'appropriate and strictest possible legal action' against the MLA who 'was made to' level these accusations. Congress MLA Giriraj Singh Malinga alleged that Pilot had offered him money to join the BJP.
In his letter to Ajit Pawar, who too is a deputy CM, Fadnavis said Malik has the right to attend the assembly as an MLA and added that "we (the BJP) do not harbour any personal animosity or grudge" against him.
If Kejriwal is arrested, it will take very little for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to summon a meeting of the assembly, direct it to elect a new leader of the House, and, if it doesn't, dissolve it and impose President's Rule, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to brief her about the political situation in the state where dissidents were demanding change of guard after the party's poor show in Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress on Sunday named Baghel, a five-time MLA from Patan, to head the state Congress Legislature Party. Baghel, who took charge as Congress state president Congress after the 2013 assembly polls, was credited for the massive victory of the party in the recent assembly polls where Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member House.
Siddaramaiah seems overwhelmed by problems coming at him from every direction, reports Aditi Phadnis.
She said that if she asked to discuss it with Rahul Gandhi, he would not come. He would not be able to stand even in front of an ordinary worker of the BJP.
In a notice issued to Congress MLAs, CLP leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah warned that absence of MLAs at Friday's meeting would be viewed 'seriously'.
The teacher was kidnapped and murdered on October 8, while her body was exhumed from a school playground on October 19. Two people, including the prime accused, were arrested.
Pilot has spoken to a senior party leader from southern India on Thursday laying conditions for his return.
It was soon after that call that Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav spoke to each other.
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, a minister in the outgoing cabinet of Amarinder Singh, is likely to be the state's new chief minister, Congress sources said on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the family, he said, as MLA of the locality, Arvind Limbavali is said to have tried to settle things.
China's new leader Xi Jinping was on Wednesday elected as the member of the nation's legislature, the National People's Congress, which was all set to choose him as the president early next month.
A video purportedly of a meeting of the Congress MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has surfaced.
The Congress refrained from commenting on any peace formula between Gehlot and Pilot.
The BJP stormed back to power in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, trouncing its main rival SP, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserting that people have buried the politics of caste and religion.
Taking a dig at the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party accusing the Rajasthan ruling party legislators of violating social distancing norms and other COVID-19 protocols which the government directs people to follow strictly but are violated when it comes to its MLAs.
'If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the state's post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
In a protests against the decision of Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to invite BJP to form the government despite falling short of the required numbers, the Congress has been demanding they be called to form the government in Goa and Manipur as it had emerged as the largest party in the 2017 assembly election.
Fearing poaching from the BJP, the MLAs were moved and expected to be lodged in five-star hotels or resorts.
'Everything else is a sham.'
In Vijayapura, Yediyurappa said neither he nor his son have made any such statements, and would not like to react to comments made by someone close to Vijayendra.
All set to take over as the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Tamil Nadu sssembly, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam scion M K Stalin on Tuesday vowed to do justice to the post and take up people's issues in a constructive way in the legislature.
BTP legislators Rajkumar Roat and Ramprasad asserted that their party's president and other leaders have agreed on extending support to the Gehlot government on the condition that demands related to development of the state are fulfilled.
Fearing political gain for the Congress from the padayatra, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is making 'frustrated attempts' to scuttle it, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday, as their march demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entered its third day.
According to sources, Sonia Gandhi took a jibe on party leaders, "You all are sitting together right but otherwise you don't even talk to each other."
The junior Abdullah would be banking heavily on Shia support as the constituency has many Shia dominated areas that include Budgam, Beerwah, Pattan, Sonawari and Bandipora, among other pockets.
A record five Indian-American lawmakers from the ruling Democrat Party, including Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal and Ami Bera have been elected to the US House of Representatives, while several others were elected in state legislatures, in one of the most polarised midterm elections in the country.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
The Congress won 17 seats in Goa, only four short of the magic figure to form the government. Soon after the results threw up a hung assembly, Independent candidate Rohan Khaunte had extended support to the party.
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