'But unlike Punjab, the rebels have an alternative -- the BJP'
With all eyes on the Congress's next step in Rajasthan after Sachin Pilot's fast in Jaipur on Tuesday, AICC in-charge of state Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday said he agrees with the issue of corruption taken up by Pilot but the manner in which it was raised was not right.
'It was a disaster on his part to give an oral remark which allowed ascertainment of the religious character of places of worship.' 'This disrupted the social harmony of the country.'
It's great to win election after election on the strength of Modi's charisma and voter appeal, but the larger the Modi myth grows, the more the BJP diminishes, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The discussion between the former deputy chief minister and the Gandhi siblings comes days after the dramatic developments in Punjab where the Congress replaced Amarinder Singh as chief minister and appointed Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit leader, to the top post of the state.
What provoked Ashok Gehlot's belligerence was Sachin Pilot's participation in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh. Gehlot was also aware that Rajasthan assembly Speaker C P Joshi had met Rahul in Maharashtra.
Maheshwari, a three-time MLA from Rajsamand and also a former MP, was undergoing treatment at Medanta hospital for the past few days.
As results were declared for assembly elections in four states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana -- here are how some of the prominent candidates fared.
There is a rise in the number of women elected to the state legislatures in 2023 compared to 2018, except in Rajasthan.
The meeting was held at the chief minister's residence which lasted for nearly two and a half hours.
The Bharatiya Janata Party swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Sunday inflicting a resounding defeat on the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland, setting the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
The minister, however, said that the win or loss does not belong to a specific person and it is the decision of the public to elect a particular candidate.
The BTP chief said the party is now extending support to Gehlot after an assurance that its demands related to the development of tribal areas will be met.
Amid speculation over Congress leader Sachin Pilot's next move, sources close to him on Tuesday said he was firm on his demands, including action against alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje government, and was waiting for a definitive response from the party high command.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar appear to have got the maximum representation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new council of ministers, while assembly poll-bound Maharashtra also found a significant presence.
The meeting was called for discussing the points which were raised by Governor Kalraj Mishra on Monday.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Of the 2,67,82,371 votes cast in the state, 3,27,911 were cast in favour of NOTA while 2,72,642 were in favour of AAP. Shahnawaz Akhtar reports.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
The 14th Rajasthan Assembly may have a woman chief minister but it will see less representation from the community compared to the 2008 assembly.
Fifteen ministers took the oath in Rajasthan on Sunday in a cabinet expansion that included 12 new faces, fulfilling a key demand of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot whose rebellion last year shook the state's Congress government.
After the denial of ticket to Jaswant Singh, a member of the Rajput community and a former Union minister, BJP cadres and members of the community across Rajasthan are incensed, says Shahnawaz Akhtar
The sources said the opposition leaders would now plan joint rallies that were put on hold due to the assembly elections.
The results of bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats spread across 13 states and a union territory have been a mixed bag for the BJP as its fortunes continue to nosedive in West Bengal against the might of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while bad tidings have also come from states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Soon after assuming office, Meghwal declared that there was no confrontation with the judiciary and that his priority would be to ensure speedy justice for all.
He hoped that some of the dissident MLAs, who are led by sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, will also attend the session when it is called "very soon".
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers in Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.
'Sachin Pilot has revived the Congress.' 'What goes in favour of Ashok Gehlot is experience.'
After premium petrol, the price of normal petrol has also crossed Rs 100 per litre in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday stepped up its protest against Rahul Gandhi for his 'panauti' jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged the Election Commission to take action against the Congress leader.
"We would like to hold a discussion on the farm bills in the assembly and see what rights the state has. "We are examining possibilities. Soon, people will come to know what benefit the government can provide," Gehlot said.
"The Congress is "going to (fight) the election with unity" and it will win the polls," Sharma said after the meeting at Pilot's Civil Lines residence that lasted for nearly half an hour.
After much flip-flop, the Congress decided to form an alliance with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and the two parties fielded their joint candidate -- Rajkumar Roat. However, the Congress candidate, Arvind Damor, whose name was announced before the stitching of the alliance, has refused to withdraw his nomination.
A group photo taken at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Jaipur ahead of Tuesday's legislature party meeting showed Bhajan Lal Sharma in the very last row.
Telangana and Rajasthan are the last states to go to the polls in the current round of assembly elections, which also covered Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.
Gehlot also alleged that some other Union ministers, including Dharmendra Pradhan, are involved in the "conspiracy" against his government.
The 17th Lok Sabha, which was dissolved on June 5, did not have a deputy speaker for its full term, and it was the second consecutive term of the lower house without an LoP.
The decision was taken in a BJP legislature party meeting held here on Thursday. After the meeting, Kataria told reporters that the motion of no confidence will be moved in the assembly session beginning Friday. He said the proposal was being finalised.
