On the Opposition's poll promise of statehood restoration, Shah said, "I want to ask Farooq Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi, who is going to restore the statehood. You cannot give it back. Why are you misleading the public?"
The suspense over whether Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest the polls from Amethi and Raebareli respectively continued.
The party also nominated six others, including former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, an influential Kushwaha leader who recently quit Congress and returned to the Samajwadi Party, and realtor Sanjay Seth for the biennial polls scheduled next month.
Chhattisgarh Congress expelled party MLA Amit Jogi and passed a resolution seeking party high command's nod for termination of the membership of his father and state's former CM Ajit Jogi over the Antagarh assembly by poll audio tape row.
While praising the internship scheme announced in the Budget, India Inc wants clarity on how it will be implemented. The scheme is expected to help companies address the skill gap in employment. Dheeraj Hinduja, chairman, auto major Ashok Leyland, said: "We had started an internship programme at our plant in Pantnagar, which we established in 2010 with colleges there.
Following the party's sweep of assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states against the odds, the BJP's brain trust is now busy game-planning as to how it can improve on its 2019 Lok Sabha election tally of 303 seats.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav in Delhi accused the Raman Singh government of paying $1.57 million (Rs 10 crore) as 'commission' to a company registered in tax-haven British Virginia Islands to procure the chopper.
A section of state leaders are reportedly miffed with Rawat's leadership and are of the view that the party's electoral prospects under him may not be very bright.
The Congress on Sunday named Baghel, a five-time MLA from Patan, to head the state Congress Legislature Party. Baghel, who took charge as Congress state president Congress after the 2013 assembly polls, was credited for the massive victory of the party in the recent assembly polls where Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member House.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party received over Rs 785 crore in contributions from individuals, electoral trusts and corporates in 2019-20, which is over five times more than what the Congress received during the same period.
BJP national president Amit Shah asserted that the last 15 years rule of the BJP is a model of an ideal state. "Raman Singh government has successfully tried to contain the Naxal and made the state an education hub. This manifesto is for Naya Chhattisgarh.
A Chhattisgarh government employee allegedly drained out 41 lakh litres of water from a weir after his mobile phone fell into it in the state's Kanker district, an official said on Friday.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has alleged that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh won the last two assembly elections by using money received from Naxalites.
It's a single phase polling in Mizoram while first phase of assembly elections is underway in Chhattisgarh.
Erstwhile Team Anna will gherao the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Sunday on the coal block allocation issue even as prominent member Kiran Bedi voiced her disagreement over targeting the main opposition party.
Ruling out any dialogue with naxalites, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said that fight against Left wing extremists will be intensified in the coming days.
Amid controversy over a recent Naxal encounter in Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday urged political parties not to politicise the issue. "The Bijapur encounter was not a planned encounter. Such issues should not be politicised," Singh told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Till now, the maximum Bharat Ratnas were awarded in 1999 when four recipients were given the coveted award.
Opposing the setting up of anti-terror body National Counter Terrorism Centre in its present form, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday said it violates the federal structure of the Constitution. The chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state said that the NCTC should be ratified by Parliament to make it responsible and answerable to people.
Polls suggest it's a tight contest and Raman Singh and the BJP are going to fight hard to win a coveted third term, facing down the usual challenge of anti-incumbency bias. Rupa Subramanya reports
Polls suggest it's a tight contest and Raman Singh and the BJP are going to fight hard to win a coveted third term, facing down the usual challenge of anti-incumbency bias. Rupa Subramanya reports
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Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday vowed to take "revenge" for Tuesday's Naxal ambush in which 15 security personnel and a civilian were killed in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, saying the attack could be an attempt to disrupt the Lok Sabha polls.
A Vishva Hindu Parishad district head and three others were arrested in Moradabad, UP, for allegedly paying a man to slaughter a cow in a bid to create communal tension in the area and defame a local police officer, the police said on Thursday.
Kaur continued with the bulletin and broke down once the cameras were off.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday urged Maoists to shun violence and come to the negotiation table. "We have not stopped the process of dialogue with Naxals. It should go forward because the issue can be resolved only through dialogue and not by getting involved in an arms ace," he told reporters.
After an all-party meeting boycotted by the Congress, Chhattishgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday said his government is working on a comprehensive short and medium-term plan to deal with Naxalism and asked the state's main opposition to help the administration in the task.
Ruling out the role of the army in fighting Naxal violence in the state, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday admitted "security lapses" that led to the killing of key Congress leaders last weekend.
In the wake of the 12-day hostage crises that ended after the release of Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday sought a national policy to deal with such situations. "There has to be a national policy to deal with hostage crises. I will ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in tomorrow's meeting to call all chief ministers to discuss it. There is a need to discuss it briefly," Singh told reporters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched 35 crop varieties with special traits -- developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) -- to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition. The new crop varieties were dedicated to the nation through a video conference organised at all ICAR institutes, state and central agricultural universities and Krishi Vighyan Kendra. According to the PMO, 35 crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient-content have been developed in 2021.
Hitting back at Digvijay Singh for his 'buck stops with the chief minister' remark following the massacre of security forces in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday described the Congress general secretary as 'intellectually dishonest' and blamed him for the rise in Maoist menace in the state.I have no hesitation in saying that Digvijay Singh is intellectually dishonest for a deliberate, motivated and deceitful article, Raman Singh said in a statement.
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
Favouring a coordinated strategy at the national level, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that terrorism and naxalism have to be dealt with tough hands.
Ashok Chand, deputy comssioner, Crime Branch, told rediff.com on Saturday evening that Reoti Raman Singh, another senior leader of Samajvadi party would be questioned by sleuths at Chanakyapuri Police station.
Saradha scam accused Matang Sinh, who was recently arrested by the CBI, too will continue to enjoy Z-plus security.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
The final rites of Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh, who were killed in the Naxal attack on Saturday, were performed with state honours at their native village Nandeli in Raigarh district on Monday.
The government on Wednesday approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.
He accused Naxalites of using tribal villagers as a shield.
