The Gujarat police on Tuesday detained Sardar Patel Group head Lalji Patel in connection with violence during "jail bharo" agitation of Patidar community held last month.
SPG chief and quota agitation leader Lalji Patel has been arrested by Mehsana police in connection with the "jail bharo" agitation which had turned violent on April 17.
Congress, AAP, and Patidar leaders in Gujarat have criticized MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his comments about Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, demanding a ban on his entry to Gujarat and an FIR against him.
Hardik Patel and others are accused of ransacking the office of Visnagar MLA Rishikesh Patel during the protest rally of the Patidar community in July 2015.
The move comes a day a day after Patel community members living in the US announced a "boycott" of Modi's upcoming visit there.
Days after being sworn into office, Nitin Patel is yet to take charge of the portfolios allotted to him.
Hardik Patel, was one of the accused in the FIR which was filed in Mehsana district on July 23, 2015, when a rally of the Patel community seeking reservation turned violent in Visnagar, resulting in damage to property and assault on some media persons.
To mount pressure on government for reservation under OBC quota, the Patidar or Patel community members living in the US on Tuesday announced to "boycott" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's forthcoming visit there for delivering him a "strong message" on the issue.
The quota stir by Patels has led to the emergence of new leaders on the political scene of Gujarat.
The 85-year-old was admitted to the hospital on June 11 with breathing problems, fever and difficulty in urination.
'People with vested interests in the BJP don't want the Patels to get reservation.'
Curfew was clamped in Mehsana town in Gujarat and mobile internet service banned on Sunday as a massive rally of the Patel community demanding reservation.
The court of Justice SH Vora granted temporary relief to Patel, who had filed the bail modification petition on November 7 on the ground that he wanted to offer prayers at the temple of his kuldevi (local deity).
Convener of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, Hardik Patel's clarification came a day after some Patel leaders announced they were planning to contest the upcoming local body polls.
Mobile internet services have been banned in top towns of the state like Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Mehasana. The restriction will continue till midnight on Monday.
Hardik Patel, the 21-year-old politician who has been grabbing headlines as leader of the 40-day agitation by the Patel Community, addressed a massive rally in Ahmedabad on Tuesday where he demanded reservations under the Other Backward Caste quota for the community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's monogrammed bandhgala, which he wore at his meeting with United States President Barack Obama in January and which has been under auction for the last three days in Surat, has finally been sold for a whopping price of Rs 4.31 crore.
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
Bypolls to 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will be a litmus test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s unity after the group's success in the recent Lok Sabha polls when they won more than 40 seats, significantly contributing to the Bharatiya Janata Party's failure to win a simple majority in parliament.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah along with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and other party leaders were booed off stage as the members of Hardik Patel's Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti created ruckus and vanadalised furniture at a programme to felicitate Patel leaders in Surat.
Diamond merchant Lalji Patel, who bought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pinstripe monogrammed suit at Rs 4.31 crore in a high-profile auction, on Saturday took out a procession of the two-piece ensemble which was put on a mannequin resembling Modi.
'I have always said that Hardik worked for his own interest and not for the cause of the Patidars.' 'People didn't believe what I was saying then, but now the entire community believes what I have always said.'
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
Under the new reservation rule, families with income below Rs 6 lakh per annum will be eligible for quota benefit.
As lakhs of Patels gather for a rally seeking reservations, Ahmedabad has 20,000 cops ready with water cannons, drones, surveillance cameras, bomb disposal squads and quick response teams to maintain law and order, reports Prasanna Zore/ Rediff.com from Ahmedabad.
The Shiv Sena came to the defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the auction of his pinstripe monogrammed suit and said the two-piece ensemble was valued highly because of the person who wore it.
Dhankhar, 68, who was Union deputy minister of parliamentary affairs in 1990-91, quit the Congress in 2003 and became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
At present, there are 18 Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
In a series of tweets, she attacked the SP accusing it of being an expert in "narrow politics".
The swearing-in ceremony, attended by Chouhan, was kept low-key in view of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Social distancing norms were followed at the ceremony.
Escalating the war of words over Narendra Modi's background as a chaiwalla, the Congress on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, who often flaunts his past to connect with voters, was never a tea vendor.
Sukanya Verma takes a look at some of Bollywood's most playful, popular Gujarati acts in recent times.
'It's the same problem with all six of us. Behenji (Mayawati) is not to be blamed, but the coordinators have acted in a manner which has depressed us and we thought what is the use of remaining with such a party'
'Modi and BJP have fooled us enough by creating a Hindu-Muslim divide. Our anger is about jobs and farmers getting a good price, but Shah needs to be taught a lesson for betraying us.'
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced the name of Vadodara deputy mayor Ranjan Ben Bhatta as its candidate for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After resorting to quirky measures like debarring party spokespersons from news channel debates, the opposition parties are now overhauling their organisational set-ups and purging respective executives, committees and wings to weed out non-performers and deadwood. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
Hema Malini and Shaina NC have also been omitted from the group.
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was re-nominated by Congress from Chandigarh on Thursday brushing aside the "taint" argument as it released the second list of 71 candidates who include film star Nagma in Meerut and Youth Congress chief Rajeevv Satav from Hingoli.
In a sharp attack on Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party campaign centric around him, expelled party veteran Jaswant Singh on Sunday deprecated "veneration" of an individual and said world was full of graveyards of those who are considered indispensable to their nation.
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