The Rajasthan government's decision to discontinue four school textbooks has ignited a political controversy, with the Education Minister defending the move and the Congress party accusing the government of attempting to erase history.
A parliamentary committee has voiced concerns over ongoing examination irregularities despite government measures, recommending the Ministry of Education publish a time-bound roadmap for reforms. The panel also urged a nationwide blacklist of firms involved in exam processes and suggested utilising the National Testing Agency's financial surplus to enhance its capabilities.
The Jammu and Kashmir Congress staged protests against the Centre over the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam, demanding strict action against those involved in the alleged paper leak and a Supreme Court-monitored probe.
In a state known for high political literacy and ideological mobilisation, the Congress' inability to quickly settle on a leader after securing a massive mandate has fed a narrative that the party remains excessively dependent on Delhi, deeply faction-ridden and vulnerable to internal sabotage
The CBI has arrested a Pune-based lecturer for allegedly leaking the physics paper of NEET UG 2026 to a select group of aspirants. The lecturer, employed with a Pune school, is termed as another 'source' for the paper leak. The CBI investigation continues with searches and analysis of seized documents.
A Pune school principal, Manisha Sanjay Havaldar, has been arrested in connection with the NEET-UG paper leak case. The CBI alleges she shared examination-related questions and content with students for money. The investigation revealed her collusion with a botany teacher, and the use of handwritten notes containing NEET-related questions.
The Congress party has announced its seven candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawan Khera, Meenakshi Natarajan, Praveen Chakravarty, Neeraj Dangi, Mansoor Ali Khan, and Pranav Jha, representing various states like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand. The elections are set for June 18.
The Congress party's delay in naming the next Chief Minister of Kerala has drawn criticism, particularly from key ally IUML, which warns of potential political fallout from the prolonged uncertainty.
Sources said the party top brass including Gandhi and Kharge held several hours of discussions with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, apart from meeting them separately, and is likely to take a call on a possible change of guard in the state after the Rajya Sabha polls, which are due next month.
The BJP is far more prepared than the Congress as their pool of prospective candidates is much bigger, reports Prakash Bhandari.
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.
The BJP's nationwide vote share saw its steepest decline in Rajasthan, falling by 9.23% from 2019, resulting in the loss of 11 seats.
The meeting was attended by Congress in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Randhawa, CM Gehlot, RPCC president Govind Singh Dotasra and other leaders.
Congress legislators continued their sit-in protest inside the assembly while the party held protests at all district headquarters on Saturday against the suspension of six party MLAs.
The Congress high command has called senior leader Kamal Nath to Delhi and he is likely to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday, sources said.
According to the police, the bus was speeding and filled with passengers due to which the driver lost control and the vehicle rammed into the wing wall of the flyover.
A regular morning alive with the chatter of students assembling for prayers quickly turned into tragedy on Friday when a portion of their government school building collapsed, killing seven children and injuring 27, some of them critically.
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.
Apart from being the CM twice earlier, he has won a series of Lok Sabha and assembly elections from the state and headed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee four times.
The accident occurred when the car, in which Abrar Ahmed was travelling from Jaipur to Jhalawar, collided head on with a truck.
"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.
'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 Ashok Gehlot and some of his cabinet colleagues, including Shanti Dhariwal, figure in the list of 63 Congress candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls, announced by the All India Congress Committee.
Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who has been involved in a leadership tussle with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, skipped his interaction.
'The question for the TMC is not whether it can hold its bastions, but whether it can expand effectively into regions where the BJP already possesses a good ecosystem.'
The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government will have a total of 30 ministers, including 18 who had resigned earlier.
The Congress refrained from commenting on any peace formula between Gehlot and Pilot.
Miffed over the Congress central leadership nominating poet-politician Imran Pratapgarhi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, as its candidate from Maharashtra for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, party functionary Ashish Deshmukh on Tuesday resigned from the post of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary.
Rajasthan Congress leaders Jyoti Mirdha and Sawai Singh Chaudhary switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jaipur on Monday ahead of assembly elections due later this year.
After Punjab, the party high command has shifted its focus to Rajasthan, where demands for Cabinet expansion and political appointments gained momentum after reports of resentment in the camp led by former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who along with 18 MLAs had rebelled against the leadership of Gehlot last year.
State Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, who along with two other ministers had offered to resign in a letter to party's national president Sonia Gandhi, had moved a proposal in this regard at the beginning of the meeting following which all ministers resigned.
The BJP said that the decision will not have any impact on the party's prospects in western Rajasthan.
Kanugolu had also made forays in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh following a directive from the party's central leadership but regional satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath reportedly were not on the same page as the poll strategist.
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.
"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.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi met Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot separately.
Gaurav Gogoi will head the screening committee for Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot included among the ex-officio members of the panel.
BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan has been awarded the Sansad Ratna for his outstanding performance in the Lok Sabha, becoming the first actor-turned-politician to receive the honour.
