The actress, who is a Bharatiya Janta Party state executive member, alleged that a temple official prevented her from having darshan and demanded proof of being a Hindu.
The BJP has fielded as many as 10 turncoats, including those who joined the party from the JJP in recent weeks.
Maha-Gujarat Janta party president Gordhan Zadafia on Wednesday announced merger of his outfit with Keshubhai Patel's newly-formed Gujarat Parivartan Party in Ahmedabad.
Ahead of the crucial floor test of the newly elected Nayan Singh Saini-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has issued a whip to its MLAs to remain 'absent' from the state assembly at the time of voting on Wednesday.
'It is evident that the BJP govt in Haryana no longer commands a majority,' former Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala said in his letter to the governor on Wednesday.
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal conducts his first Janata Darbar.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
Nadda enjoys warm relations with Modi, who was for a long time in charge of the party's affairs in Himachal Pradesh.
Saini, who is an MP from Kurukshetra, was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP legislature group and will be sworn in later in the day, party MLAs Subhash Sudha and J P Dalal told reporters.
"I have no interest left in contesting the elections," said the former Lok Sabha member.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday dropped hints that the Mahagathbandhan helmed by his party might bring on board former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, whom the National Democratic Alliance has sidelined in favour of estranged nephew Chirag Paswan.
The prime minister thanked the people but said it was the start of a long battle, as he urged them to follow social distancing to stop the chain of transmission of Coronavirus which has infected 360 people and claimed seven lives in India.
Former chief minister ML Khattar also indicated the BJP government was not averse to a floor test and that six Jannayak Janta Party MLAs are with it.
Veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
He served as the Union health minister in Modi's first term from November 9, 2014 to May 30, 2019.
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free electricity in the National Democratic Alliance-ruled states before the Delhi assembly elections, promising to campaign for the saffron party if he fulfills this demand.
The police on Saturday arrested a man after he allegedly tried to manhandle Union minister Giriraj Singh in Bihar's Begusarai, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's Lok Sabha constituency.
Since it was formed 58 years ago, Haryana has had Jat chief ministers for 33 of those.
Months after winning the Lok Sabha polls from Sirsa, the former Union minister and the Congress' prominent Dalit face also indicated her desire to contest the upcoming assembly elections and said she wishes to work in the state but the high command will take a final call on the matter.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids on the premises of Rajasthan Congress leader and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Punjab AAP MLA Kulwant Singh as part of a money laundering probe linked to the Rs 48,000-crore PACL Ponzi scam. Khachariyawas, who served as a minister in the Ashok Gehlot government, claimed the ED action was politically motivated due to his criticism of the government. Singh, a real estate promoter, is reported to be Punjab's richest MLA with assets worth Rs 1,000 crore. The ED has been investigating the PACL scam since 2015, alleging that the company defrauded investors of Rs 48,000 crore through fraudulent investment schemes.
Haryana is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this time, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party facing anti-incumbency and a resurgent Congress.
Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala on Thursday said his party is ready to support the Congress in the Rajya Sabha election and ruled out any alliance with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana before or after the next assembly polls.
Singh, who got bail in the alleged excise policy scam from the Supreme Court on Tuesday, also asked the BJP if the prime minister will join the probe if police from the opposition-ruled Bengal, Punjab and Tamil Nadu knocked at his doors.
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday, seeking answers to five questions on the Bharatiya Janata Party's politics and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's actions.
Former Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan on Sunday asserted that every party wants him to be on its side, indicating he could tilt towards the one that offered a better bargain.
Kejriwal wanted to know if the RSS agreed with the BJP's politics of using central agencies to break up parties and topple opposition governments, and inducting "corrupt" leaders into its fold.
Notably, amid rumours that he is cosying up with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Ajit Pawar on Friday said he would '100 per cent like to be the chief minister' of Maharashtra and that the NCP can stake a claim to the post of the CM 'now also' instead of waiting for 2024 when assembly polls are due in the state.
BIf you know this BJP, it will now go forward to Jharkhand and Maharashtra as if June 2024 never happened, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Voting for by-elections to seven assembly constituencies of six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, started on Tuesday at 7 am.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
As leaders in both the BJP and Congress concede, neither has within their parties a leader to match Arvind Kejriwal's charisma in Delhi.
Jannayak Janta Party chief Ajay Singh Chautala on Wednesday said his party worked with full honesty to fulfil the 'gathbandhan dharma' over the last four and half years of the alliance and his party was never power hungry.
"There will be one in Delhi and the other in the state," Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, said without elaborating.
The three MLAs -- Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Gollen and Dharampal Gonder -- also said that they have decided to extend support to the Congress during the elections.
Rediff.com's Priyanka narrates the different moods at the Bharatiya Janta Party's headquarters in New Delhi on election verdict day.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra in a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
Saini, 54, a low profile OBC leader, rose through the ranks in the party and was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP's legislature group at a meeting held in Chandigarh on Tuesday.
The former Madhya Pradesh CM was addressing a public rally in Niwari, where he said "acha hisab liya jaaega" within eight months as elections are approaching.
