Sources said that the ministers were unanimous in seeking a robust counter to the campaign of the Congress which has attributed political motive behind the case.
Former Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu on Sunday formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party before being sworn in as Cabinet Minister in the first expansion of the Narendra Modi government.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has held a series of meetings with MPs and Union ministers from Punjab and Haryana and surrounding states, and virtual interactions with state agricultural ministers of all BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ruled states where he briefed them about the merits of the two bills, the sources said.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma retained the key departments for his National Peoples Party, and gave the lesser politically significant ones to alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party, Hill State Peoples Democratic Party and United Democratic Party as he allocated portfolios on Thursday.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
A team worked together. Today, there is no such team, said Sinha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he had been 'absent' during the elections while his senior Cabinet colleagues were confined to addressing press conferences using 'angry and impolite' language against Narendra Modi.
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, Chirag Paswan on Sunday cast aside his ambivalence and announced that he will campaign for the saffron party in bypolls to two assembly segments in the state.
Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
The RSS wants three nominees inducted: Tejaswi Surya, the young BJP MP from Bengaluru South, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, a Rajya Sabha member, and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said his government will undertake a "socio-economic survey of all castes and communities" in the state, following the Centre's reluctance to conduct a caste census nationally.
Terms of the two dozen seats had expired last year though elections were deferred because of a delay in Panchayat polls which could not be held in time on account of the COVID 19 pandemic.
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.
In a historic transition, the Parliament moved into a swanky new complex on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging MPs to forget all past bitterness and start a new chapter and the introduction of the women's reservation bill taking centre stage.
The Shiromani Akali Dal chief said the passage of the Bills marks a 'sad day' for the 'country's millions and for democracy'.
The 17 related ministries have been combined into seven different groups, including some infrastructure departments, in a bid to ensure synergy and better results.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include only those who perform well as parliamentarians.
Tabled by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, the legislation will reverse the effect of the Supreme Court verdict in May that gave the Delhi government power over administrative services.
Govt expects to save Rs 10,000 crore through this move.
A senior state BJP leader had said earlier in the day that Sawant would induct BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly Michael Lobo, and three of the ten MLAs who have switched over from the Congress.
The final phase of polling on Saturday will cover 78 constituencies spread across 19 north Bihar districts.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
Naidu, a former BJP ally, said he will meet non-BJP political leader and convince them about the need to fight collectively against the BJP.
Vikhe Patil, who was leader of opposition in the state assembly, resigned from the Congress recently.
"All your queries would be answered at an appropriate time," he told journalists.
'The government has been anti our civilisational values.' 'My fear would be that they erode that some more to have their way and to consolidate their power.'
Of the 288 assembly seats, the Shiv Sena will contest 124 and the BJP 150. Other seats will go to smaller NDA parties.
The government on Wednesday rejected the Congress demand for resignation of Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani over 'Lalitgate' and 'fake degree' controversies, saying "our ministers do not do all that their (the United Progress Alliance) ministers used to do".
Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who was a minister himself in the previous National Democratic Alliance government, was visibly shaken at the disdain shown towards the Chair by Samrat Chaudhary who holds the Panchayati Raj portfolio.
Tejashwi, who has been chosen by the anti-National Democratic Alliance grouping as its chief ministerial candidate, is seeking re-election from Raghopur seat he won on his maiden outing in electoral politics in 2015.
The parliamentary election result was also to prove that the Maldivians want "autonomy in choosing their future, without foreign coercion," President Muizzu said, without naming any country, according to the Sun.mv news portal.
'He is a BJP man among Dalits, not a Dalit man in the BJP.'
Irani's deputy in the I&B ministry Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been given the charge of the key portfolio.
The Union home minister recalled that the BJP had won far greater number of seats in the last assembly polls than the JD(U) but Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept up his promise to back Kumar for another term in office.
'The whole Kashmiri population is seemed to be a suspect community. This status is not good.'
The 60-member Meghalaya assembly had 30 Congress MLAs. Friday's resignation comes days after another Congress MLA, P N Syiem, resigned from the party.
The National Democratic Alliance, led by strong man Narendra Modi secured a whopping 352 of 542 seats, making it evident that his message of muscular nationalism, security and Hindu pride had worked wonders.
As opposition leaders like the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Janata Dal-United supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed solidarity with Kejriwal on Saturday and renewed calls to speed up opposition unity efforts to take on the BJP, officials said the CBI may ask the AAP chief about the policy formulation process, especially of the "untraceable" file which was earlier slated to be put before the Delhi Council of Ministers.
'Hurt' at the Bharatiya Janata Party's silence while he battles challenges from within his party, Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan said on Tuesday his relations with the saffron party cannot remain 'one-sided' and he will consider all possibilities about his future political steps if attempts to corner him continue.
The probe into selections for banks such as Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank followed the arrest of Syndicate Bank CMD S K Jain for alleged graft.
