Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday met political strategist Prashant Kishor in New Delhi and will host a meeting of leaders from several parties and eminent personalities on Tuesday to discuss the current scenario in the country, his party said and asserted that the Maratha strongman is working to unite the Opposition.
The two leaders also discussed the special category status promised to the southern state.
As the deadlock over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir continued, the state unit of Congress on Thursday backed Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to lead the new dispensation to respect the people's verdict in the just-concluded assembly elections.
'This move rendered the chiefs of important investigative agencies to the status of daily wage earners. It undermined the autonomy and independence of the agencies.'
The attack took place at 1:20 pm in Hari Singh High Street market area.
Top opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday agreed to work together to prepare a common minimum programme.
The veteran politician, who has been chief minister of the erstwhile state three times as well as union minister, also said the time has come for the opposition parties to come together and fight the forces who are bent on destroying the secular fabric of the country.
Narendra Modi and the father-son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah were on Monday engaged in bitter sparring, with the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate alleging that the biggest blow to secularism in the country was delivered in Kashmir from where Kashmiri Pandits were forced out due to their religion.
"NC is not power hungry... We shunned prospects of an alliance with the BJP a year ago and the reasons for having done that remain unchanged," Omar wrote on his official Facebook page.
The Lok Sabha, chaired by Speaker Om Birla, has been working for more than its scheduled time and has sat till midnight on two occasions to complete its legislative business.
The PDP is the front-runner in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. The ruling National Conference and the Congress will be lucky to reach double figures.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past week.
'The lack of opportunities here remains the biggest worry.' 'We have seen investment summits, but if you look around, much of it is only on paper and not on the ground.'
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday asked former army chief V K Singh to name Jammu and Kashmir politicians who were allegedly paid money by the army for "stability", saying if details are given the government was ready to probe.
The prime minister has called a meeting of chiefs of all parties having representatives in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on June 19 to discuss 'one nation, one election'.
'There is a trust deficit between Delhi and Srinagar. It is there even today.'
A PAGD leader said the meeting was held at the residence of alliance chairperson and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah at the Gupkar locality of Srinagar.
The number of seats that the state parties will win will be much more than the BJP's, she further claimed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in all-party meeting on Jammu and Kashmir, on Wednesday said that his government is fully committed to the 'democratic process' in the region and holding the assembly elections is a priority, sources said.
The authorities also sealed the Lal Chowk city centre - the commercial hub of the city - by placing barricades and concertina wires on all entry and exit points leading to the area.
The weekly flea market opened in Srinagar on Sunday as several vendors put up their stalls on the TRC Chowk-Polo View axis, the officials said.
The officials said restrictions have been lifted from most areas of the valley, but security forces continued to be deployed to maintain law and order.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as ministers along with them.
Sixteen Congress secretaries drafted a letter on September 2 to be sent to party general secretaries and Congress Working Committee members, criticising senior leaders (without names, of course!) for their comments, asking the old guard to introspect about what went wrong at the general election.
'This silence is an eloquent testimony to the fact that such private armed mobs enjoy the luxury of official patronage'
Last week's heavy snowfall seems to have affected electioneering in Kashmir. South Kashmir's Anantnag and the prestigious Srinagar constituencies go to polls on April 24 and April 30 in the five phased Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Only three per cent of women candidates have been allotted tickets in Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls.
>All old signposts have been uprooted and milestones bulldozed. New ones have yet to emerge. The old order stands degraded in the new landscape whose contours are indistinct, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) leaders, including three former chief ministers, were put under house arrest on Saturday before a protest against the proposals of Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission, prompting angry reactions from political parties which said such steps will only 'incentivise and facilitate' violent agitations.
It has met 20 such delegations and members of the public from Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Kishtwar, Kathua and Doda districts.
Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Electoral Officer Hirdesh Kumar said the Union territory is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders, after the special summary revision of electoral rolls being held for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370.
The mortal remains of former Union Minister Arun Nehru, who died in News Delhi on Thursday night, were consigned to flames on Friday in the presence of his relatives, including family of his cousin Rajiv Gandhi, and a host of leaders.
The polling was slated for March 5, March 7, March 9, March 12, March 14, March 16, March 18 and March 20.
'You cannot achieve peace if your objective is not to make political accommodations,' notes Dr Nyla Ali Khan, Sheikh Abdullah's grand-daughter, Dr Farooq Abdullah's niece and Omar Abdullah's cousin.
The 68-year-old Bindroo, who ran Bindroo Medicate, was shot at by the assailants point blank at his pharmacy, a police official said, adding he was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.
The biggest electoral upset in the state was witnessed in Anantnag with National Conference candidate and former high court judge Hasnain Masoodi defeating former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
Shah admitted that the BJP may have suffered because of the statements made by some party leaders in the Delhi polls.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
