Kharge alleged that Dhankhar is working as a government spokesperson and acting like a school headmaster, often sermonising experienced opposition leaders and preventing them from speaking in the House.
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
In a major reshuffle in Rajasthan, 32 Indian Police Service officers including Inspector General (IG) and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Udaipur, where a tailor was brutally killed, have been transferred, according to the state department of personnel.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are taking place today, with the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance seeking to retain power and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) hoping for a comeback. The campaign saw prominent leaders like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra crisscrossing the state to garner votes. The Mahayuti is banking on popular schemes while the MVA focuses on issues like caste-based census and social justice. The elections have also seen a significant rise in the number of candidates and voters.
The end of the process to withdraw nominations for Maharashtra assembly polls on Monday left the Congress in despair in Kolhapur North seat after its candidate Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati withdrew, while the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to convince Gopal Shetty to opt out from Mumbai's Borivali.
For Yogi Adityanath the successful management of the fair is a crucial part of building 'Brand UP' and making the state a $1 trillion economy.
Police registered a case against more than 200 persons from Markadwadi village and nearby areas in Maharashtra's Solapur for allegedly trying to conduct a 're-election' using ballot papers on Tuesday in an unauthorised manner, officials said.
In contrast to the inertia in the SP camp, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party showed no complacency in the run-up to the polls this month.
Even before the first votes are counted in Maharashtra, fissures have emerged within the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on who will head the next government. Both camps are claiming the chief minister's post, with constituents in both camps laying claim over the chief minister's post. The MVA, consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), and the Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, have expressed confidence that their respective alliance will form the next government after votes are counted on Saturday. While a majority of exit polls have predicted that Mahayuti will retain power, a few have favored the MVA.
The Congress party in India has alleged "serious and grave inconsistencies" in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections. The party has sought an in-person hearing from the Election Commission to present evidence of alleged discrepancies, including the arbitrary deletion and addition of voters and inexplicable increases in voting percentages. The Congress leaders claim these irregularities benefited the ruling BJP-led alliance, which won a decisive victory in the polls.
The BJP, which won the Samajwadi Party strongholds of Rampur and Azamgarh in 2022 bypolls, hopes to wrest Mainpuri too.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday blamed Congress leaders in Maharashtra for the delay in Maha Vikas Aghadi's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming assembly elections.
The cause of the woman's death is yet to be ascertained.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which secured a landslide victory in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, is set to form the new government in the state. Outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to finalize a power-sharing agreement. The alliance partners, BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, will decide on ministerial berths at the meeting with Shah. Political circles are abuzz about the social equations in Maharashtra influencing the choice of the next Chief Minister.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday stressed that all are equal stakeholders in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, his comment coming after a Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar leader quoted party supremo Sharad Pawar as saying that although his outfit contested fewer Lok Sabha seats, the situation would be different in the Maharashtra assembly polls.
The ruling BJP-led coalition ended Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's over four-decade dominance in Rampur with its ally Apna Dal-Sonelal winning the Suar assembly by-election by a margin of 8,724 votes.
Election fever has reached its peak in Baramati in the last phase of the campaign for the Maharashtra assembly polls with the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar leaving no stone unturned.
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said people of the country want change of power, but evaded a direct reply on whether his party would join an opposition alliance to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Newly elected Samajwadi Party MP RK Chaudhary, one of the founders of the Bahujan Samaj Party, has claimed BSP chief Mayawati has been ignoring the Bahujan movement which has led to her party's rout in these Lok Sabha polls.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with the five other Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh will visit violence-hit Sambhal on Wednesday, party's state unit chief Ajay Rai said.
The Congress continued its losing spree on Saturday posting its worst-ever show in Maharashtra and ending up a distant junior partner to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand, further diminishing its role in the opposition bloc as other allies perform better.
"If she wins by using my name, it means I am a great man. At least my name has enough power to help her sail through," he said.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has opted not to grant tickets to eight MLAs, followed by Congress which replaced five MLAs.
In a veiled attack on CM Shinde, Thackeray said the 'Kansa Mama', a reference to a character in Mahabharat, is busy getting rakhis tied on his wrists and asked when he will get justice for the nieces.
A first information report (FIR) was registered in Mumbai on Friday against Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Arvind Sawant for referring to Shaina N C, an assembly elections candidate of the rival Shiv Sena, as 'imported maal'.
Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) legislator Amar Singh Chaudhary also joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav.
Shinde rubbished reports that he was disappointed for not getting a second term as CM despite the ruling Mahayuti alliance winning a thumping victory under his leadership.
The ruling Mahayuti is poised to retain power in Maharashtra with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) also putting up a strong show in assembly polls, most exit polls predicted on Wednesday after conclusion of polling on 288 seats in the state. Jharkhand is likely to see a change of government with BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coming to power in the state, three exit polls said on Wednesday with one poll giving majority to the ruling JMM-led alliance.
Senior Indian Police Service officer Manoj Kumar Verma was appointed the new Kolkata Police commissioner, replacing Vineet Goyal, on Tuesday, a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with agitating junior doctors and agreed to their demands in a bid to resolve the more than a month-long impasse over the RG Kar hospital incident.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
The massive victory of Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti in Maharashtra indicates a tactical course correction post the Lok Sabha debacle, with factors like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's active role in the poll campaign, Ladki Bahin scheme, rise in women voting, and subtle message of Hindutva playing a crucial role.
Over 50 people have been arrested after the communal violence in Maharajgaj town, officials said on Tuesday, as markets remained shut and people stayed indoors for a second day in a row amid heavy deployment of police and other security personnel.
More than two decades after deserting their village due to Maoists, around 25 tribal families are planning to return to their native place in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district.
Incidents of violence rocked Assam's Samaguri assembly constituency where by-elections will be held on November 13 with both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress alleging that gunshots were fired targeting each other's supporters over the last 24 hours, police said on Sunday.
Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar stood up when he came face to face with his estranged nephew and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar at an official meeting in Pune on Saturday.
Kharge also hit back at the BJP for criticising his party colleague Rahul Gandhi over a copy of the Constitution with a red cover. He showed a picture of PM Modi gifting a similar copy to former president Ramnath Kovind.
Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were disrupted on Monday as the treasury benches accused top Congress leaders of colluding with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country, triggering protests from opposition members.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called for tough decisions and unity within the party after the Congress suffered electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana. In a meeting with top party leaders, Kharge highlighted the need to strengthen the organization from the grassroots, fix accountability, and address internal bickering. He also urged leaders to remain united and avoid public criticism of each other. The Congress chief expressed concern over the party's performance in state elections despite a strong showing in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He acknowledged the need to learn from the setbacks and improve the party's strategy and communication to counter its rivals' propaganda.
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