'If you weed out corruption, you will bring glory to Goa.'
'We do not oppose any parent admitting his child to any English school.' 'We are opposed to the government grants that are to be given to such institutions.' 'If local languages are to be kept alive, at least they have to be taught at the primary level.'
Having failed its litmus test, the Bengal's ruling party is back to square one, trying to draw up a fresh strategy ahead of the polls in Meghalaya and Tripura.
In both the states where the Bharatiya Janata Party came second is trying to turn the tables on the Congress to form the government.
The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP.
The restaurant, 'Curlies', located on Goa's famous Anjuna beach, was in news recently after Phogat was found partying at the outlet hours before her death.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday trained her guns on the Congress, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become more powerful as the grand old party is not serious about politics, and alleged that the country is suffering because that party does not take decisions.
The Congress on Sunday removed Michael Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition in Goa legislative assembly, accusing him and former chief minister Digambar Kamat of "conspiring" against the party and "hobnobbing with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to ensure a split".
It was crucial for the BJP to bag the two seats as it does not enjoy a majority on its own in the 40-member assembly.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
The Congress has accused the two MLAs of hobnobbing with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to bring about a split in the opposition party.
The resignation of Kandolkar and two other leaders, who had contested on the TMC symbol, came as another setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led party which is struggling to retain its flock in Goa since the poll debacle.
In keeping with the trend seen elsewhere in the country so far, an all-time-high 76.82 percent of the voters exercised the franchise in the two Lok Sabha constituencies of Goa on Saturday.
Sawant told reporters that the Goa police is investigating the case in the right direction.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
They said this was preliminary voter turnout and the final figure may cross 80 per cent as electoral fate of 301 candidates were locked in EVMs which will be opened on March 10 for counting.
Didi said her party doesn't divide people on religious lines even if they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress by asking it to safeguard its newly elected Karnataka MLAs from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party as was allegedly done by the saffron party in Goa amidst the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The Association of Democratic Reforms said Goa has set a unique record, which is "unparalleled" in the history of Indian democracy.
'Since we defeated their evil designs on July 10, their poaching approach became more aggressive with using blackmail and money power as tools to finish off the political opposition in Goa.'
Sawant, who took over as chief minister for the first time in March 2019, brought the BJP tantalizingly close to the simple majority mark of 21, defying pre-poll predictions of a hung assembly.
A US plane carrying 119 illegal Indian immigrants is expected to land at Amritsar airport on February 15, the second such batch of Indians deported by the Trump administration as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. The plane is expected to land around 10 pm on Saturday. The 119 deportees include 67 from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Another US plane carrying deportees is also expected to land on February 16. This development comes days after a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed at the Amritsar airport last week. Most of the deportees hailing from Punjab said they wanted to migrate to the US for a better life for their families. However, their dreams were shattered when they were caught at the US border and brought back in shackles. The Trump administration has launched a crackdown against illegal immigrants since taking office, leading to the deportation of many people who entered the US through illegal means. Several political leaders in Punjab have questioned the landing of US aircraft in Amritsar, with Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema alleging that the BJP-led Central government wants to defame Punjab. The Punjab government has formed a special investigation team to probe the issue of illegal human trafficking following the deportation of Indian citizens domiciled in Punjab from the US. The SIT has so far registered 10 FIRs against fraudulent immigration consultants based on statements from deportees.
In the 2017 state assembly polls, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats.
Technocrat-turned-politician Manohar Parrikar is all set to become chief minister of Goa for the third time after the Bharatiya Janata Party- Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party combine lapped up 24 seats to rule the 40-member house.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also hit out at the Trinamool Congress for its barbs at the Congress for not forging an alliance with it, saying the party continued to poach Congress leaders, despite making an offer of a tie-up.
The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the Centre should step in with a financial package to ease the impending crisis in Goa due to halting of the mining industry.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
Led by Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado, the legislators Glenn Ticlo, Carlos Almeida and Benjamin Silva were originally scheduled to travel on a state-sponsored junket to Brazil, but agreed to foot their own bill after receiving flak from across the country. They haven't till date.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has criticized the Centre over the landing of US planes carrying illegal Indian immigrants at Amritsar airport, calling it a "deport centre." He stated that the holy city is known for its religious sites and should not be used for deportations. Mann has also questioned the choice of Amritsar as the landing site, suggesting that other airports in the country could have been used instead. The second US flight carrying 119 illegal Indian immigrants is slated to land in Amritsar on Saturday night. The Punjab government has made arrangements to take the residents of Punjab from among the second batch of deportees to their hometowns.
According to sources, the Goa Congress unit has not held a single meeting after it failed to reach the majority mark of 21 in the 40-member assembly.
The opposition party termed the defection by eight out of its 11 MLAs in Goa only seven months after the assembly elections as the "height of betrayal and shamelessness."
The Goa bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the Goa assembly speaker's order dismissing two petitions seeking the disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
The Congress on Saturday issued a show-cause notice to its leader Vijai Bhike after his statement blaming the ally Goa Forward Party for the poor performance in the last month's Goa assembly elections drew a sharp response from the latter.
The Delhi BJP, however, rubbished the allegation and challenged AAP to name the MLAs and the people who contacted them with the offer.
BJP leaders and allies, who met Parrikar separately, ruled out any change in leadership in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
The swearing-in ceremony of Pramod Sawant as Goa's chief minister will be held on March 28 and prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the event.
Whether AAP bounces back or fades into political oblivion will depend on its strategy in the coming months.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
