The Congress continued its losing spree on Saturday posting its worst-ever show in Maharashtra and ending up a distant junior partner to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand, further diminishing its role in the opposition bloc as other allies perform better.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday said he will attend the inauguration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in January if he is invited to the programme.
West Bengal CID claimed that two of its teams in New Delhi and Guwahati were restrained on Wednesday morning by the local police in the respective places from carrying out investigations into the cash seizure from three Jharkhand MLAs.
Claiming that the case was the handiwork of the Maoists, he said it was likely to be cracked soon.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
Gandhi claimed that Dalits, tribals, and Other Backward Classes were made bonded labourers and their participation was lacking in big companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and courts.
Once a close aide to JMM supremo Shibu Soren, Champai is now seen as crucial for the saffron party's efforts to establish a foothold in the tribal belt of Jharkhand, where Scheduled Tribes make up about 26 per cent of the electorate.
India's Parliament is set to begin its Budget session on Friday, with opposition parties poised to demand a discussion on the alleged mismanagement of the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, where 30 pilgrims died in a stampede. The opposition also accused the government of politicising parliamentary committees and pushing its agenda through its majority. The session will start with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both houses of Parliament. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Saturday for the eighth consecutive time.
He asserted that it was time to "throw such forces out" to protect "mati, beti, roti" (land, daughter, bread).
Soren, addressing a rally in Bhognadih on the occasion of 'Hul Diwas', also claimed that the saffron party has turned 'jittery' after his release from jail and its leaders are 'conspiring' against him again.
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party faced defeat in the Jharkhand assembly polls because it took people for granted. It said Union Home Minister Amit Shah felt that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act would increase the Hindu voter percentage, but labourers and tribals in Jharkhand rejected the BJP.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have decided to raise the NEET issue in both houses of Parliament on Friday and members will give notices in this regard, sources have said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party announced on Saturday that Navya Haridas, a two-time councillor in the Kozhikode Corporation, will be the National Democratic Alliance candidate for the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election.
Shibu Soren will take oath as chief minister of Jharkand on Wednesday for the second time in three years after Governor Syed Sibtey Razi invited the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo on Monday night to form the new government and asked him to seek a trust vote on or before September one. Senior JMM legislator and former deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahato said Soren will take the oath around 1600 hours on August 27 at the Morabadi ground.
The MLAs of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition in Jharkhand on Tuesday arrived in Raipur by a chartered flight in a bid to thwart the Bharatiya Janata Party's possible attempt to poach them, and moved into a nearby luxurious resort.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
He thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his father and JMM president Shibu Soren.
The ruling MLAs took part in the meeting called by Soren with their luggage before leaving for unknown destination.
As many as 12 MLAs of the Congress have threatened to boycott the upcoming state assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced with new faces.
'They want to snatch the land and give it to their friends'
Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais is likely to send the order of disqualification of Chief Minister Hemant Soren as an MLA to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, Raj Bhavan sources said.
Even as parleys continue in both states, the grand old party is expected to contest less than 110 seats in the November 20 polls for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.
Vote bank politics cannot be above protecting the sanctity of girls and women, he said virtually launching the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha election at Chaibasa, about 150 km from in Chaibasa.
The assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday, two days after he resigned from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha citing dissatisfaction with the party's current style of functioning and 'bitter humiliation'.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren on Saturday claimed support of more than 41 MLAs -- the simple majority mark in the 81-member assembly-- to form an alternative government in Jharkhand before the term of President's Rule expires on July 18.
Congress on Friday called off its alliance with ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in poll-bound Jharkhand after sharing power for some 16 months in the tribal-dominated state.
The Congress party's decsion to cut its losses and accept the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's hand of friendship shows its dire need for partners, says Anita Katyal
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
They raised slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the central agencies.
As per a letter sent to the MLAs by the assembly secretariat, the chief minister has expressed his willingness to move a motion of confidence to prove his majority.
Many issues dog the Mahagathbandhan of the Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the most prominent of which is seat sharing.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Monday to caste their votes in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
While Hemant Soren enlisted the support of small parties and independent MLAs, the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief kept the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader waiting till the apex court gave its verdict in the fodder scam case. Anita Katyal reports
About a dozen locations in the state, including in state capital Ranchi and a premise in Rajasthan, are being raided by the central agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The fate of 237 candidates, including two ministers and a former CM, will be decided in this final phase.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren was on Sunday sworn in as the 11th chief minister of Jharkhand at Morhabadi Ground in Ranchi. Governor Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Soren, in the presence of senior political leaders and chief ministers from across states.
"I challenge BJP to prove corruption charges against me. If proved, I will resign from politics," said Hemant Soren.
The 19-year-old partnership ended after the ruling party refused to accede to the ally's demand for 17 of 81 seats.
NDA-MEETING-RESOLUTION PM Modi unanimously elected as NDA leader as he gets ready to form govt (Eds: With pics) New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) Leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance unanimously elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ruling bloc's leader on Wednesday, passing a resolution to underscore the government's commitment to serving the poor, women, youths, farmers and deprived sections of society. They met at Modi's residence here a day after the NDA won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha election, paving the way for him to take the oath for a third consecutive term, a first for any ruling alliance since 1962. TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, LJP(R) leader Chirag Paswan and NCP leader Praful Patel were among those who attended the meeting. The resolution said the NDA government will continue working to lift people's living standards for the country's all-round development while conserving its heritage. "We are all proud that the NDA fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and won. We all NDA leaders unanimously elect Narendra Modi as our leader," it added. The resolution also said that people have seen the country being developed in every sector in the last 10 years due to the pro-people policies of the NDA government under Modi. PTI KR