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 yet another jolt the Congress ahead of the Goa Assembly polls, the party's state working president, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, resigned as member of the legislative assembly on Monday, reducing the party's strength to two in the 40-member House.
Attacking the BJP, he said that the saffron party has remained a complete failure in the areas of COVID-19 management, livelihood, tourism.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
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 Association of Democratic Reforms said Goa has set a unique record, which is "unparalleled" in the history of Indian democracy.
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.
Their flight landed at the Mumbai airport around 8 pm nearly 50 minutes after it took off from Dabolim airport in Goa.
With the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress in the poll arena, the election is expected to be a multi-cornered one this time.
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.
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.
Five Goa Congress MLAs, who went incommunicado a day before, attended the state assembly proceedings on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday, and claimed there was 'nothing wrong' in the opposition party.
Shinde had retained most of the sitting MLAs, who chose to be with him when he led the rebellion two years ago. They delivered for him on Saturday when votes for the state polls were counted.
The four-day old Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government will face the floor test on July 4 during the special two-day session of the Legislative Assembly beginning on Mumbai Sunday.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Friday held that a person employed with the government cannot work as state election commissioners (SECs) and came down on the Goa government for giving its law secretary the additional charge of the SEC.
Deviya Rane said it is historic that no legislator (in Goa) has won consecutively so many times from the same seat.
If pandemic (mis)management threatened to dominate Goa's electoral discourse, the BJP is up against a deeper structural issue in its organisation, created by the fact that a majority of the legislature party and the ministerial council is made up of Congress defectors, disparagingly referred to by the Opposition as "imports". Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to appear before it on February 26 for questioning in the excise policy linked money laundering case, official sources said Thursday.
The TMC, which is keen to leave a mark in its outing in Goa, had suggested a broad alliance but not much has moved on the proposal due to competing interests and apparent lack of faith between the opposition parties.
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
Former chief minister of Goa and Congress veteran Luizinho Faleiro, resigned as an MLA and a primary member of the party on Monday claiming the state party unit is run by a 'coterie' of leaders even as he praised Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee saying the country needs a leader like her to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in a money laundering case linked with the alleged excise scam, cannot claim "immunity" from arrest on the ground of upcoming elections as law is applied equally to him and an aam aadmi.
'BJP central observers have come to Goa and are scheming to merge smaller parties within their party to run the government.'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has expressed his displeasure over the way a section of MLAs from his group danced in Goa following the announcement of his name for the top post.
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.
'Why don't you contest the election for PM's post. You are media, you can also contest'
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.
"Farmers' organisations in western UP have expressed their willingness to support the Shiv Sena and we may ally with smaller parties. In Goa, efforts are on to explore a formula like MVA. Let's see if we succeed," Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said.
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.
Senior Aam Admi Party leader Manish Sisodia on Thursday said they would project a person from the Bhandari community as their chief ministerial face during the Goa assembly elections due early next year.
Justifying his arrest, the ED said Kejriwal had been arrested bona fide and not for any mala fide or extraneous reasons.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has managed to contain dissent in most areas in the run-up to the Goa assembly polls scheduled for February 14, but four seats, including the prestigious Panaji constituency, continue to be a cause for worry.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the assembly polls on Thursday has put the party on a stronger wicket for the election for the post of President expected later this year.
Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would be present at the function, a government spokesperson said.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja at the Rouse Avenue court said Kejriwal will be produced before the court on March 28 at 2 pm.
The 11th edition of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Car Rally in Mumbai on Sunday featured headturners that left the audience gasping in awe. Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com presents a ringside view.
While Karnataka Congress chief D K Sivakumar will be special observer in Goa, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik and Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo besides Vincent Pala have been deputed in Manipur for post-poll management, the sources said.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday appointed Chandra as 24th CEC on Monday.
The election expenditure limit for candidates has been hiked to Rs 95 lakh from Rs 70 lakh for Lok Sabha elections and to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 28 lakh for assembly polls, the Election Commission said on Thursday citing a law ministry notification.
