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.
Pilot, who was the deputy chief minister in Rajasthan and was removed from the post after a fallout with Gehlot, said he and the former chief minister have discussed the issues that were there, and they did not affect the election.
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.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid a buzz of a likely meeting with the party high command that is grappling with the high political drama in the state.
Amid the ongoing political turmoil in the Congress in Rajasthan, the party's chief whip in the state, Mahesh Joshi, on Tuesday said a meeting of the MLAs loyal to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was not called to mount pressure on the party high command.
Embroiled in a battle for survival, Left parties marginally improved their performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leading in eight to 10 seats according to vote counting trends.
All the 200 seats in Rajasthan will vote on Friday, November 25, 2023.
Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday.
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.
Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday to elect members of a new assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party aiming to unseat the ruling Congress, which is fighting hard to change the trend of alternate governments in the state.
In a major organisational revamp, the Congress on Friday appointed former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as general secretary in-charge of Punjab and Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain as general secretary for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
'Gehlot made it a Modi versus Gehlot contest. It was for the first time in a northern Indian state where the prime minister had to confront a chief minister.'
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
Hours after, however, firing from the Pakistani side was reported in Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir. Drones were also seen in the Pir Panjal area.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha MP and candidate from Sawai Madhopur Kirodi Lal Meena Friday said two Bengaluru resorts have been booked for winning candidates of the Congress to camp there after the results of the Rajasthan Assembly polls are announced.
Upset over an open rebellion in Rajasthan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday sought a written report on it from party observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken as the chances of Ashok Gehlot becoming the party chief receded and other names cropped up for the post.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the BJP of rigging the Maharashtra assembly elections and called for a return to ballot paper voting. He also criticized the Modi government for selling off public assets, undermining democratic institutions, and promoting communal polarization. Kharge's remarks come as the Congress prepares for its AICC session in Ahmedabad, where it will present its political and economic views.
'Jitni umar likhi hai, utni likhi hai. Bas yahin hai.'
Congress candidates Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari were elected to the Rajya Sabha, according to a tweet by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
The Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in Rajasthan on Sunday, winning 115 seats out of the 199 where assembly elections were held last week.
Union Minister of State Kailash Chaudhary was among the first to cast his vote, exercising his franchise in Balotra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has already 'accepted defeat' by requesting him not to stop schemes initiated by the Congress in Rajasthan, and gave a guarantee that the Bharatiya Janata Party will not stop any scheme but only try to improve it.
Infighting between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot has been out in the open throughout the Congress term.
Pilot said rules and discipline of the party apply to all, adding that he hoped Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would take a decision in the matter soon.
'But unlike Punjab, the rebels have an alternative -- the BJP'
In the last six assembly elections, the state voted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress to power alternately.
Banerjee said she will protect the minority people and their property.
Here are the main factors that impact the November 23 elections in the state.
Since 1993, when the BJP came to power after a stint of President's rule, the state has alternated between the Congress and the BJP.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
The Congress on Saturday named 22 more candidates for the Rajasthan assembly polls and denied ticket to Public Health Engineering Department Minister Mahesh Joshi from his Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur.
A BJP spokesperson said the party is going to hold a training camp at the resort.
'We bow to the Janta Janardan. The results in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan indicate that the people of India are firmly with politics of good governance and development'
Launching a strong campaign over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks against its manifesto, the Congress said on Monday that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has sought an appointment with Narendra Modi to "educate him" about its poll promise document.
Seventeen of the 25 ministers in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan, including Govind Ram Meghwal, who also led the party's campaign committee, lost in the assembly elections.
'This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics'
Amid reports of a crisis in the Rajasthan Congress government, senior party leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday expressed concerns over the direction in which the party is heading.
On the eve of the counting of votes in Rajasthan, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have started reaching out to independent candidates, including rebels, and smaller parties.
It will try to exploit the infighting in the state's ruling Congress while it manages factionalism within its own ranks
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
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