Vasundhara Raje, who led the Bharatiya Janata Paty to a landslide victory in the Rajasthan assembly polls, was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister for the second time, in the presence of Narendra Modi and other top party leaders.
Ashok Gehlot, who led the Congress to victory in the Rajasthan election, has emerged as the frontrunner for the chief minister's post. The Congress is the single largest party with 96 seats, five short of the 101 needed for a simple majority. But there are other aspirants for the chief minister's post. State party president C P Joshi, who lost the Nathdwara constituency by a single vote, is one. He said the party need not necessarily nominate a winning candidate.
The INDIA bloc in Bihar has announced Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate, signaling a united front after weeks of internal disagreements. The move aims to challenge the incumbent NDA government, with both sides engaging in political maneuvering and accusations.
'The move to appoint a person with a profile, markedly lower than the leader Nitin Nabin will replace, has the potential to put the brakes on the careers of several others in the party and government in the positions they currently hold,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje addresses investors at the Indian Consulate in New York on Tuesday.
'He has become a new hope for Indian cricket.'
With the Gujjar community threatening to revive the agitation for quota, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday invited their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla for talks, saying his government had, in principle, agreed to five per cent reservation for the community and other castes. His offer came a day after the Gujjar leader gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to clarify its stand on the reservation bill passed under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Accusing Vasundhara Raje of 'propping up' Lalit Modi as the Rajasthan Cricket Association president during her rule, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party leader should clarify whether any state funds were pumped into the Indian Premier League. "Whatever I had alleged during the campaign in the last assembly elections -- that Modi has acted as an extra-constitutional power during the Raje regime -- has proved to be true,"Gehlot said
'Most pollution boards across the country have unused funds. There is practically no reason why pollution should not be a political priority.'
With the Bharatiya Janata Party a clear winner in the Delhi assembly elections, meet the BJP aspirants for the chief minister's post.
"I sometimes think of leaving it, but the chief minister's post doesn't leave me," Ashok Gehlot famously said earlier this year, in part as a signal to the Congress top brass not to pick someone else for the job if the party wins the assembly polls.
Rajasthan's controversial minister Mahipal Maderna, who is suspected to be involved in the case of mysterious disappearance of nurse Bhanwari Devi, was on Sunday sacked by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
As the race for Maharashtra chief minister enters the last lap, Hemant Waje looks at several scenarios which can play out.
The controversy followed after another Madhya Pradesh minister, Vijay Shah, came under fire for remarks about Col Sofiya Qureshi who conducted media briefings on Operation Sindoor along with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.
The PIL has alleged that large scale violence last month over the Gujjar's demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category was a fallout of the 'infighting' within the state Bharatiya Janata Party.
Internal discord within the INDIA bloc has led to alliance partners contesting against each other in at least eight assembly seats in Bihar. The Congress, RJD, and Left parties are facing challenges in seat-sharing arrangements for the upcoming elections.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhanjanlal Sharma on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, met the Rajasthan Royals players and management and congratulated them on their unbeaten run in IPL 2024.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon from northwest India around September 15. This year's monsoon covered the country earlier than usual, resulting in surplus rainfall and extreme weather events.
'If the BJP had its way, it would sideline him in favour of someone else. But that's not feasible. There is no vote catcher in Bihar for the BJP.'
Zubeen Garg's manager Siddhartha Sharma and festival chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested from Delhi on Wednesday in connection with the singer's death in Singapore last month, the Assam Police said.
Following a devastating fire at a Jaipur hospital that killed six, an official claims he warned authorities about safety issues prior to the incident, but no action was taken. Relatives allege negligence and abandonment by hospital staff during the fire.
Facing pressure from the media and other political parties, the Rajasthan government on Wednesday asked a special wing of the police to trace and arrest a former Indian Police Service officer, who is absconding after being accused of raping a tribal woman 13 years ago. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told reporters in Jaipur that this was a 'serious incident' and the Special Operations Group of the state police has been asked to arrest former DIG Madhukar Tandon.
BJP leader Diya Kumari, who was elected deputy chief minister of Rajasthan along with Prem Chand Bairwa, is a member of erstwhile Jaipur royal family and a two-time MLA.
A special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in Madhya Pradesh to investigate the deaths of 14 children in Chhindwara, suspected to be linked to a toxic cough syrup. The investigation includes arrests, exhumations, and a ban on the implicated cough syrup.
In seniority in the BJP leadership team, V K Malhotra, who passed into the ages this week, was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, notes Sudhir Bisht.
Saini's elevation as Haryana chief minister fits in with a pattern that has gathered pace in the BJP after the Congress and its allies like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar began making an aggressive bid to woo the largest group of communities and politically most significant, especially in Hindi-speaking states, by pushing for a caste census.
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
'They wanted to prove that the BJP was behind all this, which was not the case. Then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot even said that no one was listening to them even when they wanted to tell their side of the story, so they all got together and reached the party's high command'
The development comes after Congress cracked down on Sachin Pilot, stripping the dissident leader of the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit president, and sacking two loyalists from the state Cabinet.
Heavy rains across India have led to widespread flooding, causing damage to infrastructure, displacement of residents, and disruption of normal life. Rescue efforts are underway in affected areas.
Standing firmly behind Vasundhara Raje the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday reiterated that she will stay as the Rajasthan chief minister.
Kirodi Lal Meena has resigned as a minister in the Rajasthan government following the Bharatiya Janata Party's underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
'The BJP will win comfortably if the Congress and AAP fight separately -- though not with 162 seats.' 'But if they form an alliance, it will become a major problem for the BJP. That's precisely why this expansion is happening now.'
To questions whether there will be action against Swaraj or Raje, he said, "The question is imaginary There is no technical and legal base that you can say there is any point of impropriety."
Rekha Gupta had the support of the RSS, which actively participated in the Delhi assembly poll campaign to help the BJP win.
Heavy rains in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri and Guna districts have led to a flood-like situation, stranding people including school children. The Army has been called in for rescue and relief operations. Other districts are also affected, and the IMD has issued a heavy rain alert.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claims a Bengali-speaking woman and her child were threatened in Delhi after an alleged assault. She urges Bengali migrant workers in BJP-ruled states to return to Bengal if harassed and questions the absence of central commissions in BJP-ruled states when atrocities occur.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the proposed scheme would be a game-changer as it will provide comprehensive health coverage to families, covering medical expenses for critical illnesses, hospitalisations, and treatments.
However, the BCCI, in its bid to stay more vigilant in times of brutal power-hitting, has allowed the match officials to check any piece of willow if they deem required, even during a live game.
