Katara is the third Congress MLA to resign in the last two days, after Mohansinh Rathwa and Bhagwan Barad.
In another jolt to the opposition Congress for the second day in a row ahead of the Gujarat assembly polls, senior MLA Bhagwan Barad on Wednesday resigned as a legislator and primary member and is set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Brijesh Merja is the third Congress MLA to have resigned since Wednesday and the eight since March.
A newly-elected Congress MLA on Friday passed away in a private hospital in Vadodara after suffering brain haemorrhage.
The incident took place on Saturday evening and a first information report (FIR) was registered at Khergam police station in the wee hours of Sunday in which Patel accused local BJP leader Babu Ahir, who is the district panchayat president, and his supporters of attacking him after being upset over a song sung in Patel's support at a garba event.
Modhwadia emphasised that he was not joining the BJP due to any coercion or allurement as claimed by the Congress.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel reshuffled his cabinet, inducting 19 new ministers and elevating Harsh Sanghavi to Deputy Chief Minister. The swearing-in ceremony took place on Friday, with several existing ministers continuing in their roles.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat was unable to end its 18-year jinx in Visavadar as it lost the bypolls to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party despite a strong campaign.
'The BJP will win comfortably if the Congress and AAP fight separately -- though not with 162 seats.' 'But if they form an alliance, it will become a major problem for the BJP. That's precisely why this expansion is happening now.'
Earlier, another Congress legislator, Arjun Singh Kakodiya, had called Lord Shiva and Bajrangbali, or Lord Hanuman, tribals.
'The BJP's top leadership realised that their cadres are not happy with them, so they changed the ministers and got in new faces.'
Two days after resigning from the Gujarat legislative assembly as a Congress legislator, Patidar community leader Harshad Ribadiya on Thursday joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gandhinagar.
'Now there is no fight between us (Thackerays); now the fight is with them.'
Aam Aadmi Party's Gopal Italia on Monday won from Gujarat's Visavadar assembly constituency and his party also retained Punjab's Ludhiana West seat while the Congress-led United Democratic Front wrested Nilambur from the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala, according to results of assembly bypolls in four states.
Within minutes of Gohil's announcement of the Congress' action, Der called a press conference at his residence, saying he was not aware when he was suspended by the party and announced he will join the BJP at its state headquarters 'Kamalam' in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
'What governments have been doing -- in civil service, journalism, business, everywhere -- is making it difficult to do the right thing.' 'Media now ask themselves: "Is it feasible for us to do this story? Will this make our life difficult?"' 'The government should make it easier for people to do the right thing and harder to do the wrong thing. Right now, it's the opposite.'
'You don't have to lose your identity to be part of Congress. You can be who you are, as long as you believe in the core principle of strong citizenry and nation-building through that concept'
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday detained Bahubali Shah, one of the owners of the leading Gujarati newspaper Gujarat Samachar, following a raid on their premises in Ahmedabad, sources said.
Congress workers stormed into the Gujarat party headquarters in Ahmedabad on Monday and burnt posters of senior leader Bharatsinh Solanki to protest against the party's decision to give a ticket to sitting MLA Imran Khedawala from his Jamalpur-Khadia seat in the city.
Asked about the reason behind his action, Giletwala said he was served a show-cause notice by the Congress after publicly siding with Modi and hence did not wish to continue with the Congress
The move is seen as a prelude to Chavda's joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Shinde was speaking in the presence of Union Home Minister Ami Shah at the inauguration ceremony of the 'Jairaj Sports and Convention Centre' built by the Shree Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj in Pune's Kondhwa.
An OBC leader, Thakor, who has good oratory skills, will have to take along all factions in the state unit while taking on the well-organised BJP which has been in power in the state from 1998.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has promised to revamp the party in Gujarat, vowing to defeat the BJP in the state. He acknowledged that Congress cadres are "demoralised" due to the party's long absence from power, but expressed confidence in their ability to defeat the BJP. Gandhi outlined a plan to strengthen district units, empower local leaders, and identify and remove inactive or "BJP-friendly" party members. He also emphasized the need to promote active grassroots workers and ensure a connection between the party organization and election candidates. He vowed to hold senior leaders accountable for their performance and promised to create a corpus fund for district units.
Moderate turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling across five assembly constituencies across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala where bypolls are underway on Thursday.
Eighteen people were killed and five others injured after a firecracker warehouse exploded and collapsed in Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Tuesday. The incident occurred in an industrial area near Deesa town around 9:45 a.m., killing workers from Madhya Pradesh and their family members. The warehouse was used to store firecrackers, but there is no evidence that firecrackers were being manufactured there. The Gujarat government has announced financial assistance for the victims' families.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, was passed unanimously as besides the BJP MLAs, members of the Opposition Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party extended their support to it.
The ruling BJP and opposition Congress have together fielded sons of sitting and former MLAs in at least 20 of the total 182 constituencies.
Just hours before voting in the second phase of Gujarat assembly polls on Monday, Congress sitting MLA Kanti Kharadi from Scheduled Tribes reserved Danta seat in Banaskantha district in North Gujarat has claimed that he was assaulted by the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ladhu Parghi.
Of these 14, all but three won the election on Thursday.
'The people of Gujarat understood this a long time ago and has since been rejecting the party and its programmes.'
'Who will answer for these lives crushed under their neglect?'
Gohil, speaking after the HC ruling earlier in the day, maintained that in the past the apex court has provided relief to accused in different cases.
The man who threw stones at Rahul's vehicle has been detained.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
'Victory is victory -- be it with a margin of 1 vote or 100,000 votes.'
Mevani claimed the time has come for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "retire".
Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar earlier said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday hailed the party's performance in the Gujarat and Punjab bypolls, calling them a 'semi-final to 2027' and a clear sign that voters would reject both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
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