On an important governance measure, there is a Nitish Kumar effect, a Naveen Patnaik effect, but no Modi effect.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said his government will not make public the report of the judicial commission, headed by former judge of Chhattisgarh high court Justice Prashant Mishra, on the May 2013 Jhiram valley Maoist attack, because it is 'incomplete.'
As the hostage crisis involving abducted Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon entered the eighth day on Saturday, mediators from the rebel side left for Tadmetla forests apparently to brief Maoists on talks they had with the Chhattisgarh government on their demands for releasing the IAS officer. N Baijendra Kumar, principal secretary to Chief Minister Raman Singh, told PTI that the mediators, who have held two rounds of talks with the government-appointed interlocutors.
The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday appealed to the Maoists for the extension of their deadline for the release of Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, who was abducted last Saturday.
The last Bharat Ratna award was conferred upon Pranab Mukherjee in 2019 and was posthumously awarded to Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika and Nanaji Deshmukh. The award was not given to anyone between 2020 and 2023.
Seeking to make inroads in Chhattisgarh, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced 10 'guarantees' for the upcoming assembly polls in the Congress-ruled state including free electricity, monthly 'samman rashi' for women and Rs 3,000 monthly allowance for the unemployed.
In an embarrassment to the ruling party, two of its sitting ministers lost and six were trailing.
All 40-odd rooms at the resort have been booked for the guests from Jharkhand for the next two days, Congress sources said.
The chief ministers of five mineral-rich states on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for local value addition in the National Mineral Policy (NMP). They also argued that foreign firms must not be allowed to grab control of prized natural resources. The team consisted of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Chhatishgarh CM Raman Singh, Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje.
Our policies on hostage crises have been marked by significant tentativeness and not surprisingly, these have been exploited by the extremists, points out Bibhu Prasad Routray
Former bureaucrat Nirmala Buch, who had mediated on behalf of Chhattisgarh government with Maoists for the release of Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, on Saturday said the Raman Singh government may free Naxalites in the coming days and has "no hidden agenda" in doing so.
Mediators on Friday failed to achieve any breakthrough to secure the release of abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon after the second round of talks even as Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh asserted that the demands of the Maoists would be considered only "within the legal framework".
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday kicked up a controversy when he blamed "girlfriends, bikes and mobile phones" for the rising cases of road accidents in the state. Speaking at a seminar on road safety at a medical institute, he expressed concern over the rising number of youth dying in road mishaps.
Replying to claims that Naxal activities gained momentum in Chhattisgarh during BJP's rule, the chief minister, without naming Congress, said Naxalism began spreading its tentacles from 70s and everyone knows who ruled the country from 70s to 2003.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Sunday said Naxalism will be eradicated from the state where there was no place for left extremism and terrorism.
An office bearer of the Chhattisgarh Youth Congress has alleged the local police had beaten him up for asking a question to Chief Minister Raman Singh at a farmers' meeting held in Raipur on October 7.
Ahead of the state assembly elections due this year-end, Baghel made as many as 15 announcements in his address during the state-level Independence Day function at the Police Parade ground in Raipur.
Bhupesh Baghel revived the Congress in Chhattisgarh after the party's frontline leadership was wiped out in a Maoist attack in 2013.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that there was some progress in the talks with Maoists for the release of abducted Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon, with both sides agreeing on some points.
With the Maoists forwarding their demands in exchange for the release of Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has reportedly convened a high-level meeting to decide on the future course of action. The Chhattisgarh government has set up a cabinet sub-committee to deal with the situation arising out of Menon's abduction by the Maoists.
The Apex court had in its order slammed the Chhattisgarh government for using tribals as Special Police Officers in its Salwa Judum counter-insurgency operation against the Maoists. It also asked the central government to ensure that its finances are not used for funding SPOs.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the Chhattisgarh government of trying to "cover-up" after he met the victims of botched sterilisation surgeries that have left 13 women dead and said corruption had a "role" in the tragedy.
Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram said on Friday that the progress of the on-going operation against the Maoists in the Naxal-hit states was "satisfactory"."The joint operation against the Naxalites is few weeks old and the progress has been satisfactory," Chidambaram told media-persons after a high-level meeting convened in Raipur to review the operation.
Security to controversial politician Matang Sinh, who was arrested by CBI in connection with Saradha scam, has been finally withdrawn.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday claimed to have gathered documentary evidence in the cash for vote scam and has submitted them before the Parliamentary committee probing the matter, its senior leader Arun Jaitley said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress remain the most dominant political forces in Chhattisgarh, though the state has several regional outfits that have pockets of influence, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a determined bid to challenge its well entrenched rivals and make a mark in polls to the 90-member House.
A day after 27 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in a Naxal ambush in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, Chief Minister Raman Singh called an emergency meeting to discuss anti-naxal strategies on Wednesday.
Ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to India in November, B Raman talks about how the US will ultimately need both China and India to maintain its economic prosperity. Yet, for now, China, not India, is a bird in hand.
Sohail Raja Hindustani, who has been summoned by the Parliamentary panel probing the "cash-for-votes" scam on August 18, is the man who got the three Bharatiya Janata Party MPs talk to Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Reoti Raman Singh before the trust vote in the Lok Sabha. He is an activist of the Bhartiya Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP. The panel wants to ascertain if he had actually masterminded the operation to trap Amar Singh.
Noted social activist Swami Agnivesh on Saturday appealed to the Chhattisgarh government to initiate talks to solve the problem of Naxalism. The tribal-dominated state is home to a large number of Naxals and is considered their bastion. The chief minister should come forward to solve this decades-old problem through dialogue, he said at a press conference in Raipur in the presence of Chief Minister Raman Singh.
A Bharatiya Janata Party leader was on Wednesday shot dead by Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and major political parties welcomed any dialogue with Naxals provided they abjure violence. Patnaik, whose state has faced Naxal attacks including on police personnel, said "Repeatedly I have said they should shun violence. Then a dialogue is possible."
"I have heard about the Supreme Court's order and the state respects it. We are consulting legal experts on this issue," Chief Minister Raman Singh told reporters in Raipur. To a query, he said the Salwa Judum was a "self-movement" and not started by the government. Home Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar too echoed Singh's sentiments and said further action cannot be taken without legal advice
Chhattisgarh government will set up an armed battalion of women to deal with the law and order situation and deploy it in the naxal-infested areas if needed.
After opposing Narendra Modi's anointment as Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, a mellowed L K Advani on Monday praised him for development in Gujarat and hoped that all good tasks undertaken by party governments in states will be rolled out across the country.
Describing the trust vote as a "suitcase victory" for the government, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday demanded a House Committee probe into allegations of a "cash-for-vote scam" against the ruling UPA.
Emphasising that Naxalism is not the concern of a single state, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday said a concerted national strategy needs to be drawn up to combat the menace. "The country must now rise above the constriction that this (Naxal problem) is the concern of any single state. We have been advocating a concerted national strategy to combat it," he said while addressing the meeting of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states.
Concerned over spurt in Naxal violence, Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai will arrive in Raipur on Monday on a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh during which he will take stock of the security situation, redeployment of paramilitary forces and visit some worst Maoist-hit areas.
At least 31 people were crushed to death when an under-construction chimney at a new power plant being constructed at Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) in Korba, 230 km from Raipur, collapsed on Wednesday afternoon. Another 40 people are feared trapped in the debris.
A guard of honour was on Wednesday given to the 26 Central Reserve Police Force jawans who were killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Naryanpur district.
