A day after the exit polls predicted a hung assembly in Goa, hectic political activities have begun in the state with the Congress focusing on keeping its flock together and plans to shift all its candidates to a resort, a senior party leader said on Tuesday.
By 10 am, Rakshit N Jagdale is already deep into the rhythm of the day, which promises to be a carousel of meetings, calls, and strategic decisions. As managing director of Amrut Distilleries, he balances ritual and ambition, tradition and transformation, like many other legacy players in India's alcoholic beverages sector who are staring at a rosy future.
In Tamil Nadu a steamed, spicy delicacy, looking like a modak, is made for Vinayak Chaturthi.
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.
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.
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 BJP has nominated sitting MLA Dayanand Sopte from Mandrem assembly segment, which Parsekar had represented between 2002 and 2017.
'The way our President was greeted, that itself shows how far India has come.' 'People were aware of who she is, people know who our prime minister is.' 'Everybody knows India now and everybody respects India.'
The West Bengal chief minister is in Goa and expected to interact with party workers and the fishermen community.
In the 2017 state assembly polls, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats.
Hit hard by defections in the last five years, the Congress in Goa on Friday made its candidates sign affidavits and take an oath of loyalty to the party in the presence of its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Congress MLA Nana Patole was suspended from the Maharashtra assembly for a day on Tuesday after he climbed the speaker's podium, demanding action against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Babanrao Lonikar and Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate for allegedly 'insulting' farmers.
With the BJP's strength in the 40-member Goa assembly increasing to 27 with two-thirds of Congress legislators joining it, the Sawant government does not need allies' support any longer.
The 49-year-old entrepreneur oversees the media and real estate arm of Dempo Industries as its executive director.
'His dismissal could backfire -- not just as a PR problem, but as a crack in the BJP's coalition of castes and communities.'
Despite his apology, the Bajrang Dal sought his arrest, while Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said action would be taken against him as per law.
The court noted the submissions made by the ED's counsel, who said that Joshi played a vital role in laundering of the proceeds of crime.
Attacking the BJP, he said that the saffron party has remained a complete failure in the areas of COVID-19 management, livelihood, tourism.
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.
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.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was 'party to the criminal conspiracy' of the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy since the beginning, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged in its latest supplementary charge sheet in the case.
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.
VF 7 and VF 6, as the models are called, will go on sale in August after the inauguration of VinFast's plant in Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, and deliveries will follow later.
Both Sawant and Rane are being seen as top contenders for the post of chief minister in the state.
The lowest victory margin of 76 was recorded in St Andre constituency in North Goa, where Revolutionary Goans Party, a new political outfit in the state, made its debut by defeating BJP candidate and sitting MLA Francis Silveira. RGP candidate Viresh Borkar won the contest.
Whether AAP bounces back or fades into political oblivion will depend on its strategy in the coming months.
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 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 district police said they were apprehended from Goa in a joint operation by the Haryana Police and the Delhi Police.
Both the BJP and the Congress said they will seek support of the MGP in case they fall short of the majority mark of 21.
Following are the successful candidates who were declared elected from their respective constituencies after Tuesday's counting of votes for elections to the 40-member Goa assembly.
The suspected drug peddler, Dattaprasad Gaonkar, was detained from Anjuna after the accused duo "confessed" in their statement that they had procured drugs from him.
Sawant took the oath in Konkani language.
Giving a new poll slogan of 'Khel Zatlo' in Goa, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said an anti-BJP alliance has already taken shape in the coastal state under the banner of her party TMC and now it is for the Congress to decide whether it wants to join the grouping ahead of elections to take on the saffron outfit.
Watch this space to see what happens in the politically volatile state.
Nearly three months after joining the Trinamool Congress, former Goa legislator Lavoo Mamlatdar on Friday resigned from the party, accusing it of being communal and trying to create a divide between Hindus and Christians for votes ahead of the state Assembly polls.
Besides 11 members from BJP, three each from the Goa Forward Party, the MGP and independents supported Sawant during the head count conducted in the House.
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.
The death of the former defence minister, who represented the Panaji assembly seat, will also necessitate a fourth bypoll in Goa.
The Congress, which is not very keen on having an alliance with the TMC, called it 'an untrustworthy ally', which is trying to grow at its expense.
