Congress members staged a walkout after Singh said that "a boat is bound to sink if it has a hole".
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
Facing heat from dissidents, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin on Monday tendered his resignation to the governor, paving the way for a new incumbent for the post. A new Congress Legislature Party leader is likely to be elected on Tuesday by All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and will be subsequently sworn in as the new chief minister, party sources said.
Days before the first vote for the Lok Sabha polls is cast, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by party founder Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to abide by its directions on the use of symbols, party names and disclaimers in publicity material for the elections.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet and routinely protests visits by Indian leaders, foreign officials as well as the Dalai Lama to the area.
Terming the state "pride" of the country, Modi said it is the gateway of the nation as it guards the frontier. It is the duty of the government to develop the state at any cost, he said.
Dissident leader Nabam Tuki was on Tuesday chosen as the new Congress Legislature Party leader in Arunachal Pradesh, signaling the end of the political drama that culminated in the resignation of Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin. The decision to choose Tuki was taken by the Congress high command. The swearing-in of Tuki, who led the revolt against Gamlin's leadership for his alleged 'authoritarian rule', as the new chief minister is likely to take place later in the day.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The apex court's verdict came as a shot in the arm for the Congress, paving the way for the return of its dismissed government headed by Nabam Tuki.
At the border personnel meeting, China also accused the Indian side of damaging its road building equipment when a road laying party left its gear in Tuting in December last year following a protest by India.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
'The Opposition will continue to be attacked through misuse of agencies, civil society will be force-marched towards extinction and India's plummeting on global indices will continue.' 'Minorities and especially Muslims will continue to have open season declared on them. Institutions will continue their decline,' predicts Aakar Patel.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said when the elections are over, people will only remember him as the PM who indulged in 'divisive and communal speeches filled with lies' to avoid an inevitable defeat.
Though the Chinese find it necessary to oppose the visits of Indian leaders to Arunachal Pradesh, they want to keep the objections at a moderate level lest it cast a shadow on Narendra Modi's visit to China in May, says D S Rajan.
The Delhi BJP, however, rubbished the allegation and challenged AAP to name the MLAs and the people who contacted them with the offer.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday appointed election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories in view of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
Congress candidates were leading over their Nationalist Congress Party rivals in two assembly constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh.
The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
Ahead of this election, the alliance between the BJP and the SKM had broken down. One reason is the fear that like Article 370, Article 371F might also be changed.
Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday took a shot at his party once again by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 'hurry' to impose President's rule in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Naxals are trying to set up organisational bases in the Northeast to forge ties with other insurgent groups to meet their military needs and the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border has emerged as another theatre of Maoist activities, the government said on Wednesday.
'Rather than criticising the kind of candidates fielded by political parties from our living rooms, NOTA in a sense implores the electorate to say this by turning up in person at a polling booth to ensure their protest is registered.'
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
'The real issue between India and China is that the Chinese have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control at multiple points.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Arunachal Pradesh has urged the union home affairs ministry to pay special attention and expedite 'action-oriented' measures to build defence infrastructure in the state.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
In a fast-paced development, the Peoples' Party of Arunachal late Thursday night suspended Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and five other party legislators from the primary membership of the party temporarily with immediate effect for alleged anti-party activities.
Rebia seeks review of a portion of the judgement dealing with the power of the speaker.
Disengagement from the LAC will remain a chimera because China has given enough indications that the PLA will not move back any more. China has even deployed drones to monitor and deny any patrolling by Indian troops even in the buffer zones which are all in Indian Territory, explains Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
Dorjee Khandu, who led the Congress to an absolute majority in the assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, was on Saturday elected the Congress Legislature Party leader, paving the way for his second stint as chief minister. Khandu's election was announced by central observer V Narayanasamy after all the 42 Members of Legislative Assembly, in a resolution, authorised Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take a decision on the leadership.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and submitted a detailed report on the recent political developments in the wake of Governor J P Rajkhowa advancing the assembly session.
Voting will be held in a single phase in all these states.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, popular TV-star-turned-politician Smriti Irani, actor-turned-politician Shatrughna Sinha and senior leader Venkaiah Naidu will campaign for the party in Arunachal Pradesh, which goes to polls on October 13.While Irani has already addressed a series of election meetings in Itanagar, Sinha is scheduled to address a poll meeting at Along in Pasighat on Wednesday. Singh will hit the campaign trail on October 2.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The invitation to the "Dalai Lama for activity in the disputed areas between China and India will only damage peace stability of the border areas as well as the bilateral relationship between China and India", Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to pass an interim order on a fervent plea of the Congress against "illegal" swearing-in of its rebel leader Kalikho Pul-led government in Arunachal Pradesh.
