The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan at 11 am, sources said.
Congress veteran P Chidambaram held a meeting with the Goa assembly poll candidates of his party and those of ally Goa Forward Party on Wednesday night, where it was decided that the alliance will name its leader immediately after the election results are out and stake claim for government formation, sources said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was given a warm welcome by the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and other legislators in the wee hours of Friday when he returned to a luxury hotel near Panaji, where they are staying, after taking oath for the top post.
The recent move by a group of eight Congress MLAs in Goa to merge with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was as per constitutional norms, state assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.
No business could be transacted in the Lok Sabha and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had to adjourn the House for the day.
The BJP is certain that the TMC will divide the Opposition votes, leaving it free to cruise through the polls.
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.
This will be the first political delegation Pratibha would be receiving after taking over as the head of state from her predecessor A P J Abdul Kalam.
Left with just three MLAs, the Congress does not have the required one tenth of the legislative strength in the 40-member House to claim the Cabinet minister-level post.
However, the action is not going to have any impact as the arithmetic still favours the Congress, which has 17 MLAs in a House of 34. The BJP has 16.
The Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday decided to forge a pre-poll alliance for the next month's assembly elections in Goa, saying that the Congress didn't respond to their proposal for a joint contest.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced a list of 22 candidates for the forthcoming Goa polls. The list, which was announced on Sunday night, includes names of its prominent leaders except its Member of Parliament Sripad Naik, who has refused to contest. The party's central election committee, which met in Delhi on Sunday night with party national president Nitin Gadkari, finalised the list.
Many of the Congress stalwarts including four from Churchill Alemao family and state party chief Subhas Shirodkar bit the dust as the Bharatiya Janata Party-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party alliance on Tuesday managed to bag majority of seats in Goa assembly elections.
Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar told the state legislative assembly on Monday that the government is considering Playboy's proposal to set up a club at Candolim beach, while responding to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Michael Lobo on the floor of the House.
The widely expected development underlines the party's preference for continuity as it gears up for the all-important Lok Sabha polls next year, expected in April-May.
He was appointed military governor of Goa following the surrender of Portuguese forces on December 19, 1961.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
"I was not happy in Congress. The Congress state leadership has failed completely," Madkaikar said.
Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President Uma Bharti will not attend the National Executive meet in Goa this weekend.
The "guests from Goa", BJP sources said, have been shifted to a private farm house on the Jaipur-Ajmer road, about 20 km from Jaipur.
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
A Goa court on Wednesday acquitted 40 accused, including senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, in the first ever case of communal riots in the state, which had occurred in the twin towns of Curchorem-Sanvordem in 2006. The sessions court at Margao acquitted 40 accused including BJP general secretary Satish Dhond and senior leader Sharmad Raiturcar. The accused had been charged with unlawful assembly, mischief and criminal trespass.
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."
Rane, 87, who has served as the chief minister of the coastal state for six times, had won from the Poriem assembly constituency as many as 11 consecutive times.
The death of the former defence minister, who represented the Panaji assembly seat, will also necessitate a fourth bypoll in Goa.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Goa assembly election results and merged it with 2014 Lok sabha election results to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
Cashing-in on the anti-incumbency factor in a big way, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party combine on Wednesday rode to power in Goa, ousting the Congress and securing majority in a House of 40 members, nearly half of whom will be new faces.
The numbers game seems weighed against Pratapsinh Rane.
Reverend Filipe Neri Ferrao, has urged the central government to "immediately and unconditionally revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act" and stop quashing the "right to dissent".
The Congress has accused the two MLAs of hobnobbing with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to bring about a split in the opposition party.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Parrikar is all set to become the chief minister of Goa for the third time after the BJP-MGP combine on Wednesday staked its claim to form the government with the support of 26 legislators and the swearing -in will be held on Friday.
The brother of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sonali Phogat has filed a formal complaint with the Goa Police, claiming that she was murdered by two of her associates.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Goa had recorded an impressive 81.8 per cent voting.
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