The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named its candidates for assembly bypolls in several states, fielding six disqualified MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh assembly in the state days after they joined the party after leaving the Congress.
High drama was witnessed during the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet meeting on Saturday with ministers Jagat Negi and Rohit Thakur leaving midway following a 'heated debate' over policy decisions, sources said.
Six Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs who voted against party nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha elections, along with three Independent lawmakers, have shifted to a hotel in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttarakhand amid an ongoing rebellion against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
A notification in this regard was issued on Thursday evening which further said that these six MLAs ceased to be members of Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly with effect from February 29.
The political crisis arose in Himachal Pradesh during the recently held polling for the Rajya Sabha elections as nine MLAs, including six Congress rebels and three independents, voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan.
The team has shifted base from NIS Patiala, which is cold at the peak of winter, to the Odisha capital, which will be comparatively warmer.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met more than 20 party leaders, including ministers, MLAs and MPs at his farmhouse in Mohali's Siswan, sources said. Sidhu, who may be declared the state party chief, met four ministers and at least six MLAs at the residence of Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa in Chandigarh, they said.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
A meeting of the Punjab Congress Legislative Party, which was slated for 11 am on Sunday, has been deferred, with party sources saying that a consensus is yet to be made on the name of the new CLP leader.
Though Sukhu has been putting up a brave face and there appears to be no immediate threat to his government, the BJP is looking to bring down his dispensation with bypoll wins amid a view that it may draw more legislators of the ruling party into its fold.
The returnees also included three independent MLAs, who too had landed in Panchkula on Tuesday after casting their votes in the Rajya Sabha election.
Mann said he took the decision after learning that the minister was allegedly demanding one percent commission for tenders.
The BJP in Himachal has its own problems. But it is not a party that sits around twiddling its thumbs.
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
"I am proud of my husband. He laid down his life for the country," says Mandeep Kaur, wife of Naik Mandeep Singh, who was among the five soldiers killed in a fierce gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Monday.
Rajinder has been a key behind-the-scenes figure at Wave Inc, while Ponty was the face of the group.
Veteran social activist Anna Hazare on Saturday stated that his movement had not been disrupted because of the split with India Against Corruption chief Arvind Kejriwal.
These Congress rebels, who had voted in favour of the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls, later abstained from voting on the Budget, defying a party whip.
Six rebel Congress MLAs, including Rana, who were disqualified for defying the party whip asking them to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the state government during cut motions and the budget, moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday against their disqualification.
The police custody of sacked Uttarakhand minority panel chief Sukhdev Singh Namdhari, booked on charges of murder in slain liquor baron Ponty Chadha shootout case, was extended on Wednesday by a Delhi court till December 7.
Some selectors and a top functionary are threatening to quit if coach Rajinder Singh is not shown the door immediately.
A police constable on Thursday allegedly molested a college girl inside a moving bus in Samba district, triggering protests by locals who also blocked a highway demanding action against him.
While Intelligence Bureau is relying on David Headley's testimony, the CBI is seeking clarification from the NIA, which rejects the claim that Headley spoke to Ishrat Jahan. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The additional director general of police (security), however, said in an order on Friday that the security personnel were 'being withdrawn on a purely temporary basis in connection with an emergent law and order duty'.
Joginder Singh Vedanti says he was removed because he supported Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the key trust vote.
The probe in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case has drawn clear battle lines between the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Intelligence Bureau after the CBI named IB official Rajinder Singh in its charge-sheet.
'India joined a select group of countries at the global level after this finding and it will fulfil the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India)'
The bail pleas of two Zee News channel editors, arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 100 crore from a Congress MP Naveen Jindal's group firm for not telecasting reports linking it to coal block allocation scam, were dismissed on Monday by a Delhi court.
Amid the ongoing rift in the Punjab Congress unit, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has called a meeting of the state's Congress Legislative Party.
The new faces in the Channi ministry are Randeep Singh Nabha, Raj Kumar Verka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pargat Singh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli.
I don't want to hide that some questions are still being resolved, Rawat said.
Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be included in the cabinet, according to the sources.
With the Tokyo Paralympics opening on Tuesday, here's a look at all the past Indian medallists.
The message is loud and clear. The out-of-form duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have been put on notice after the selectors included Murali Vijay as reserve opener for the first two Tests against England.
The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
The party on Wednesday removed former minister Sudhir Sharma, who was among the six rebel MLAs who were later disqualified for defying party whip on the state budget, from the post of All India Congress Committee secretary with immediate effect.
Questions were raised on Sunday about the use of funds donated by the public to Team Anna with Swami Agnivesh alleging that money was deposited in the trust run by Arvind Kejriwal from which the names of major team members were missing, a claim dismissed as made "out of anger".
India plans to sign the $11 billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft deal with French Rafale by the end of August and September, a senior Indian Air Force official said on Saturday. "I find no reason why it shouldn't be signed by the end of this month or next month", said Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command, IAF, Air Marshal Rajinder Singh.
Baichung Bhutia and Kiran Bedi's refusal notwithstanding, the Olympic torch relay continues to draw celebrities, with sharpshooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Abhinav Bindra joining the April 17 run with the flame. According to a statement from Samsung, the Olympic torch relay partner, sprint queen P T Usha, powerlifter Rajinder Singh Rahelu, actor Sagarika Ghatge of Chak De! India fame and sarod player Ayaan Ali Khan will also join the run.
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