Many eyebrows were raised in Bihar on Monday as news broke of a meeting between Communist Party of India's rising star Kanhaiya Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, a minister and key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches against Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji and some others as part of a money laundering investigation and held multi-city searches, official sources said.
Unless it leaves the NDA, we will wait and watch the developments, the NCP said.
The Mayawati-led BSP will fight 20 of the 117 assembly seats in Punjab, while the rest will be contested by the SAD.
The Nitish Kumar government has the support of 132 MLAs.
Last week, the RSS informed the party president Rajnath Singh and other leaders that all leaders above 75 should not be given any "pad" (position), meaning just not Cabinet position but even as chairman of the National Democratic Alliance or as Lok Sabha Speaker. That put to rest claims by old and veteran leaders like L K Advani, M M Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Karia Munda, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Wednesday frowned upon the recalcitrance shown by his Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh, who belongs to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, but sought to put the ball in the court of his deputy Tejashwi Yadav, the party's de facto leader.
Having staged a successful revolt against the latter's son Chirag Paswan, the Lok Sabha MP from Hajipur in Bihar now seems poised to come into his own.
The JD-U leader said that the change in stance was prompted by country-wide agitations. He also said that the govt would with for a favourable SC verdict on CAA.
Raut told reporters in Mumbai that the BJP 'insulted' people's mandate by not abiding to the '50:50' formula which, he claimed, was decided before the Lok Sabha polls.
In the wake of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's projection in the Bharatiya Janata Party as its future leader, political parties have begun to position themselves in the run up to the next general elections, says Renu Mittal.
Hitting out at Congress leaders for the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls, Baig, a MLA from Shivajinagar, had recently held Siddaramaiah's "arrogance" and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao's "immaturity" responsible for the "flop show."
Nitish Kumar has again proven that he is a master of the art of changing governments.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Congress leaders from Maharashtra Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Balasaheb Thorat attended the meeting along with the top brass of the party, including Ahmed Patel.
Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig.
The government's top leadership was happy with Prabhu's Budget.
On the occasion of International Yoga Day, ministers from the Centre and various state cabinets came out and practised yoga to mark the third anniversary of the event.
About 2.34 crore voters, spread across 78 assembly segments of the 243-strong assembly, will decide the fates of 1,204 candidates, including the Speaker and 12 members of the state cabinet.
The new 'Mission 350+' is to focus on 150 seats where the BJP was number two or three in 2014.
Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan on Saturday alleged that political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor was 'working for' the Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of its 'conspiracies' to find a firm foothold in Bihar.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
However, the AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SC committee has limited terms of reference and 'cannot bring out the deep nexus between' the prime minister and the billionaire businessman.
Differences between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party over portfolio allocation blew over on Wednesday with Anant Geete deciding to take charge as heavy industries minister after party chief Uddhav Thackeray held "satisfactory" talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the matter.
The governor accepted the resignation and asked Kumar to continue as the caretaker chief minister till the new National Democratic Alliance government is sworn in.
Paras, who was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister on Wednesday in the Narendra Modi-led government and made the Minister of Food Processing Industries, asked Chirag Paswan to do "self-introspection" about his mistakes.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that the party had always given paramount important to the pride of its party and Maharashtra and never sold its self respect for the sake of power.
New Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Monday said controlling the 'alarming' COVID-19 situation in the state is his first priority and his aim will be to make the state one of the top five in the country in the next five years.
Speculation is rife that Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United is likely to support the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance's choice for the upcoming Presidential poll. This ties in with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's refusal to attend the meeting of non-BJP parties called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on May 26. The meeting will discuss the presidential polls and the way ahead for the opposition to tackle the BJP.
Nitish Kumar, once seen as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance coalition on Tuesday to stake claim as head of the rival 'Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to be the chief minister of Bihar for the eighth time.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam over dynasty politics and alleged corruption, calling them "2G, 3G, 4G" parties and said the time has come in Tamil Nadu to throw away these and give the power to a "son of the soil".
JD-U national president RCP Singh reacted with a sense of vindication to the developments in the party founded by late Ram Vilas Paswan, whose son has been left cornered in a revolt led by the former's younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras and supported by four other MPs, including nephew Prince Raj.
Three BJP, two JD(U) and one NCP member are set to join the Jharkhand cabinet.
Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, saying the ruling party's 'washing machine' has resumed its operation to clean tainted leaders and it was an 'ED-facilitated power grab'.
Expressing her anguish over the pain of farmers, Badal, leader of the ruling BJP's erstwhile ally, said, "It is strange that farmers are spending nights in open during the chilling winters and even then their demands are falling on deaf ears."
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
'Why don't you resign from the Lok Sabha? Why does the Akali Dal party not withdraw support from the Modi government?'
The bill rules out any provision for an anticipatory bail for a person accused of atrocities against SC/STs, notwithstanding any court order.
While politicians and pundits speculate a strong possibility of their coming together, the two young leaders, however, told prying journalists their meeting was a result of "family relations" that went back to ties shared by their fathers.
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