Despite the AAP cutting into its votes, the Congress still polled 27 per cent votes and won 17 seats.
The much-awaited India-Pakistan World Twenty20 clash is in jeopardy after the Himachal Pradesh government expressed its inability to provide security for the match, leaving the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a bind with Board Secretary Anurag Thakur saying that the state should not 'play politics'.
The Maharashtra Congress has convened a meeting of its legislators on Tuesday in view of the developments in the state that saw a split in the Nationalist Congress Party and Ajit Pawar being inducted as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government.
The protesters who had gathered under the banner of the Joint Forum for Restoration of Old Pension Scheme and National Joint Council of Action said they were worried about their post-retirement future.
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
The Karnataka government can have 34 ministers. Ten of them, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, were sworn in on May 20.
During the criss-crossing of the state for electioneering, the prime minister halted his motor convoy to let an ambulance pass in Chambi, winning hearts on social media for this gesture.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Anurag Thakur, son of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and president of the Bhartiya Yuva Janata Dal, is confident that the Bharatiya Janata Party will return to power in the state with more than two-thirds majority.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel reached the national capital on Saturday and is likely to raise with the Congress leadership the issue of his differences with state minister T S Singh Deo, sources said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday ducked queries about exit polls predicting wins, in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, for his former ally Bharatiya Janata Party which he has vowed to defeat with the help of a united opposition in the next general elections.
There are over 1.36 lakh employees, including employees and pensioners under the new pension scheme.
Announcing the fifth poll 'guarantee' of the Congress ahead of the May 10 assembly polls in Karnataka, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday promised free travel for women in public transport buses, if it's voted to power in the state.
Sources said while the Congress units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will hold separate discussions on May 26 on their preparations and actions to be taken, the party will also hold strategy meets on Chhattisgarh on May 27.
All aspirants will be required to fill out a lengthy form stating their qualifications, experience, vision, whether they have any cases pending against them, and why they think they can win elections.
Congress has done well in the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat and it has won in places where party general secretary Rahul Gandhi had campaigned, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said on Thursday. "We have done well, therefore, obviously, I think if anyone has the reason to celebrate it is the Congress party," Tewari said.
Amid signs of factionalism within the state unit, Kharge is likely to instruct the party leaders to work in a united manner for ensuring victory.
Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.
After several senior Congress leaders accompanied Gandhi when he filed the appeal in the sessions court, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi asked if it was a display of his arrogance, an attempt to pressure the judiciary or the 'familiar tactic' of browbeating probe agencies.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are likely to play out during the winter session of Parliament beginning Wednesday.
It looks like he struck an instant chord with the people, with the voters rewarding the Congress with a comfortable majority of 136 seats in the 224 member Karnataka Legislative Assembly for which elections were held on May 10, and the votes counted on Saturday.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also joined Bharat Jodo Yatra in Seelampur.
The new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and watched by lakhs of people on television at their homes and in temples across the country.
Facing allegations of corruption, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday made it clear to the Congress high command that there is no truth in the charges against him.
He called it the party's attempt at trying to lock up those who worship Hanuman. He claimed that the Congress had earlier locked up Lord Rama and now it wanted to lock up those who chant 'Jai Bajrang Bali' (Hail Hanuman).
Savarkar fought for Dalit rights and went to jail for the country, said Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi .
Party sources said United Progressive Allinace chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to reach Delhi on Wednesday from Himachal Pradesh and is expected to meet some leaders who are part of the decision-making process in Karnataka.
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.
"Objectively, it is only the Congress that has a footprint, shall we say, in eight to 12 states. So to have healthy democracy in which one party does not steamroll the Opposition, the kind that India experienced from the late 1970s till 2014, to revive that, to restore it, which I believe would be very good for all of us, it would depend a lot on the Congress becoming more competitive," he claimed.
After Arunachal Pradesh slipped out of its control and Uttarakhand was placed under President's rule, the Congress president took matters into her own hands.
Under attack from BJP on corruption charges, Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh filed three defamation cases against Arun Jaitley and other party leaders, accusing them of unleashing a malicious campaign against him and his family through media to tarnish his image.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday denounced the Modi government's decision to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in defence sector by easing norms, saying the prime minister was working under pressure from the United States and his party would oppose it in Parliament.
Senior party leaders slug it out for tickets in Chandigarh, Kangra
Leaders from 26 opposition parties, in power individually or in alliance in Delhi and 10 states, are meeting in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP accused the Congress governments at the Centre and state of 'betraying' the common man by failing to check price rise and of 'divisive' vote bank politics.
Addressing party MPs at the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the central hall of Parliament, she said when facing a significant national challenge, it has been the tradition in our country to bring Parliament into confidence.
Modi-Shah can complain about the Congress playing caste politics but the fact is that in Gujarat it is threatening to return to the old normal. Caste again threatens to divide what Hindutva has kept united for 25 years, says Shekhar Gupta.
After yoga guru Baba Ramdev was banned from conducting programmes in Himachal on Monday and booked in Maharashtra and Rajasthan under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Atrocities Act for his honeymoon remarks targeting targeting Rahul Gandhi, the yoga guru said he would move the courts against the curbs.
'In Chhattisgarh, MP and Rajasthan, he is far more popular than the defeated chief ministers,' notes Karan Thapar.
In a letter addressed to Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday, Mandaviya said three MPs from Rajasthan -- P P Chaudhary, Nihal Chand and Devji Patel -- have flagged concerns and requested him that Covid protocols, including use of masks and sanitisers, be strictly followed during the march and only those who are vaccinated be allowed to participate.