With the judgment in the Ayodhya court case just round the corner, the Bhartiya Janata Party is striving to raise the pitch on the controversial issue. This was amply demonstrated at the party's two-day long state executive meet that concluded in Lucknow on Sunday.Spelling it out in the valedictory address, amidst reverberating cries of Jai Shree Ram, former national BJP president Rajnath Singh declared, "The Ayodhya temple is bound to be a reality -- come what may."
The defence minister said: "People can say whatever they want. I did what I thought was right and I will continue to do so."
As TDP maintains a distance from the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party may get a new alliance partner in the form of Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Vicky Nanjappa reports on the changing political scenarios in the newly-formed regions of Telangana and Seema-Andhra in this election season.
The BJP, which contested more seats this time than in 2019 but is likely to fall short of the magic figure of 272, garnered 36.91 per cent of the total votes polled, a drop of around 0.39 percentage points as of 6.15 pm.
"By such pronouncements, the BJP leader was undermining the very reconciliation process pioneered by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and carried forward by Dr Manmohan Singh," Mufti said while addressing party workers in Jammu.
Amongst those who attended the meeting included former president L K Advani, current party president Rajnath Singh were prominent leaders who attended the meet.
Scenes from the National Democratic Alliance meeting at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi, July 18, 2023.
The minister asserted that India has taken major action against terrorism under the Modi government and referred to the surgical strikes carried out across the Line of Control (LoC) in 2016 and the Balakot air strike in 2019.
India today appeared to be on the brink of what might be a protracted recession, BJP president Rajnath Singh told a press conference in Bangalore.
The Karnataka state executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party held on Friday in Bangalore spent a considerable amount of time discussing the election strategy, and more importantly, the return of Karnataka Janata Paksha chief B S Yeddyurappa into the party.
Justice Khanna, who will serve as CJI for a little over six months, will demit office on May 13, 2025.
While giving a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the 2002 communal riots in that state, Bhartiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Thursday dropped a bombshell by virtually blaming former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for the anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of his mother, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will not participate in the discussion on the Liberhan Commission findings in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday following a decision by the party against fielding those indicted in the report. "We have taken a conscious decision that leaders whose names appear in the accused list will not speak during the discussions," a senior party leader said on Monday.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje finally resigned as the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly on Friday.Raje, who initially refused to resign, has been dodging the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership for over two months on the issue.However, she did not hand over her resignation letter to party president Rajnath Singh. Raje met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani in Delhi on Friday and handed over her resignation letter.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh is learnt to have sought an explanation from former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for delaying her resignation as Opposition leader in the Assembly in defiance of the party's parliamentary board decision.
Among the new entrants to the Union cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.
Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari reveal that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's name is now doing the rounds as President Kovind's likely successor.
Apart from Raje, Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw are said to be among the frontrunners for the chief minister's post in Rajasthan.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha, who is in charge of party affairs in Karnataka, briefed the top party leadership about the crisis in the state following the suspension of talks between the BJP and JD (S) abt the impending power transfer
This year, the proceedings at Kushabhau Sthal will be monitored by the leader of Opposition in Parliament L K Advani.
The crisis in Bharatiya Janata Party over a defiant Vasundhara Raje's refusal to resign as Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan assembly appeared to be showing signs of easing, after she made a conciliatory statement but the party insisted she should quit, for which no deadline was set.
The suspense over the possible composition of the National Democratic Alliance cabinet seems to be nearing climax as sources informed that a list of names is being finalised to be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee on the sidelines of Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
Sixteen Bharatiya Janata Party corporators of Pune civic body have sent their resignations to party president Rajnath Singh to express solidarity with party general secretary Gopinath Munde, who resigned from all organisational posts. The corporators, who met late on Sunday night to discuss Munde's resignation, said their loyalties would remain with the BJP leader and they would follow the "path" shown by him in future.
President Pranab Mukherjee hosted the season's first big Iftar party at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday evening, but conspicuously absent was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the event was in turn attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minorities Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah with Union Minister and Lok Janashakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan. Renu Mittal reports
The names of Minister for Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Pant and Health Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal are doing the rounds as possible front-runners to replace Khanduri.
Strong demands for accountability for the Lok Sabha debacle were voiced on Saturday at the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive meeting in which party President Rajnath Singh acknowledged a qualified responsibility on his part and announced a Committee to go into the defeat.
'He has remained the leader of our course all through 40 years, not allowing his energy and enthusiasm to fade. And through all his achievements, he has remained grounded.' Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd) salutes his NDA coursemate Amar Preet Singh as he takes over as Chief of the Air Staff.
Interacting with media persons in Guwahati, BJP president Rajnath Singh expressed grave concern over reports about Royal Bhutan Army dismantling Maoist rebels camps inside Bhutan and termed it a 'grave development' just across the border.
Veteran party leader Lal Krishna Advani, who was present with a score of senior leaders in the party headquarters to greet Gadkari, said the party will grow from strength to strength under the leadership of Nagpur-born Gadkari.
UP's representation in the government could diminish, given the BJP's decreased seat count in that state.
Talking about the SYL issue he said that it would be better for the chief minister of various states to sit down and sort out the matter.
Describing Khanduri as "able and efficient' administrator, Singh said under his leadership the government would be able to live up to the expectations of the people.
Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.
Accusing the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre of dithering in taking strong steps against terrorists, Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the National Democratic Alliance would opt for surgical strikes to demolish their camps inside Pakistan, if it came to power.The NDA would take other countries into confidence on the need for such surgical strikes if it came to power after the Lok Sabha polls, he said.
Opposition leader Lal Kishanchand Advani on Tuesday blamed the Congress for the alarming livelihood insecurity among the farmers from the model of economic development it practiced. "What can be a greater tragedy than to see that tens of thousands of distressed farmers in India have committed suicide? Has such horrible tragedy happened in any other country in the world," he asked while addressing a group of farmers gathered in New Delhi.
The letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa reports
