The BJP is far more prepared than the Congress as their pool of prospective candidates is much bigger, reports Prakash Bhandari.
'There is ample evidence to suggest that attacks on the PM's probity and his connections with business houses do not resonate with voters.'
The government on Wednesday said gross collections under various small savings schemes of the Indian Post increased by about 9 per cent to Rs 2,74,720 crore (Rs 2,747.2 billion) in 2010-11 in comparison to the previous year.
Gehlot made the announcement in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi at a rally here on the sidelines of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra".
The Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in Rajasthan on Sunday, winning 115 seats out of the 199 where assembly elections were held last week.
An advanced jet trainer aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in a paddy field at Kudarsahi in Mayurbhanj district on Wednesday, leaving two pilots injured.
Prominent G-23 members including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari have not been included in the Congress list of star campaigners for West Bengal assembly elections.
Addressing a party rally in Rajasthan, Gandhi also flayed the BJP over the situation in ethnic strife-torn Manipur and said the ideology of the BJP has set the northeastern state on fire.
The government on Thursday ruled out setting up an ombudsman to redress complaints of poor mobile telephony services like call drops saying state-run BSNL/MTNL were taking effective steps to upgrade technology.
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.
With the import bill of telecom equipment rising, the government on Wednesday said preferential treatment would be given to its indigenous production in the New Telecom Policy, which is under formulation.
Among the candidates who were leading were Congress's Sachin Pilot in Ajmer, Jitendra Singh in Alwar, Seeshram Ola in Jhunjhunu, Namo Narayan Meena in Tonk-Sawaimadhopur, C P Joshi in Bhilwara and Girija Vyas in Chittorgarh
The Pulwama widows have been protesting since February 28, demanding a change in rules so that their relatives and not just children can get government jobs on compassionate grounds.
The meeting was held at the chief minister's residence which lasted for nearly two and a half hours.
The forum, which constitutes 40 OBC lawmakers, including Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, Dausa MP Sachin Pilot and JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, termed the creamy layer criterion put forward by the Supreme Court as a 'conspiracy'.
Gehlot expressed his sadness over the turn of affairs in the state.
The new chief minister, if from the Congress, will have little or no time for political administration, to ensure that he does not lose the voter's goodwill even before the Lok Sabha polls. He can count only on one thing. That the BJP may not want to upset him too early lest an early failure should become an added problem for the party in all the polls to follow, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Lauding Mumbai residents for expressing their support for actor Shah Rukh Khan by snubbing the threat from Shiv Sena against his film My name is Khan, Union minister Sachin Pilot on Monday said the Thackerays have made only a laughing stock of themselves by raising such issues. "The whole of Mumbai has come out and has proved that the Shiv Sena was wrong. The people have proved that we cannot tolerate such things," said Pilot.
The BTP chief said the party is now extending support to Gehlot after an assurance that its demands related to the development of tribal areas will be met.
With party observers slamming some actions of loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, sources said decision on issuing show cause notices to miffed MLAs, who have been vocal in public, will be taken after interim chief looks Sonia Gandhi into the report by the observers sent to the state.
Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi however failed to get any interim relief on his plea alleging that the high court cannot interdict the disqualification proceedings undertaken by him under 10th schedule of the Constitution.
Minister of state for communications and IT, Sachin Pilot said the IT and ITES industry has been a large generator of employment with about 2.2 million professionals directly employed by the industry, while indirect job creation is estimated at around eight million.
'Can you believe Ashok Chavan was with me in the senior leaders' meeting one day, and next day morning, he switched sides!'
State-owned BSNL has become the first telecom firm to launch mobile services at the Holy Amarnath cave, as well as on the two routes of the yatra.
From a teledensity (number of phones in use for every 100 individuals) of just 1.4 per cent in 1995, India today has reached a teledensity of over 50 per cent, with big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, etc going up to 130-140 per cent, same as in Europe and North America.
The focus will be on starting 3G services at the earliest. "By the end of this year, process for acutioning 3G spectrum (radio frequency) would be completed," he said after assuming office along with his junior ministerial colleagues Sachin Pilot and Gurdas Kamat.
The party was trounced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now left with only Himachal Pradesh in the north. It is ruling in only three states on its own and is in power in Bihar and Jharkhand as a junior partner in alliance with regional parties.
All eyes are on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as top leaders converged at her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi on Monday after a series of developments in the last 24 hours in Rajasthan, where a majority of the party MLAs have rebelled against Sachin Pilot and want Ashok Gehlot to continue as the chief minister.
'Shekhawat has no moral authority to continue as a Union minister and should resign so that the investigation is not influenced'
IOA president Suresh Kalmadi has invited Rahul Gandhi along with other young Parliamentarians to participate in the Indian leg of the Olympic torch relay at the behest of the organisers. Besdies Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and Sachin Pilot would also be invited. Kalmadi has also assured the relay, which had seen worldwide protests, would go without any hiccup in India.
The Congress on Thursday accused the central government of evading a debate on India-China border face-off and asked why the Modi government has been running away from the issue.
The Congress central leadership's decision to send former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot to work for the party in Gujarat is a strategic one, say Congress sources.
"Private players are going only in those areas where there is a big market, whereas rural areas are by and large connected by BSNL. We are adding 20 million new lines this year to cover maximum foot print," minister of state for telecom Sachin Pilot said during the Question Hour.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, she said, had openly violated the Anti-Defection law and cheated the BSP for a second time by getting its MLAs included in the Congress.
Vasundhara Raje may have had her faults but she is an unconventional and brave leader who deserves better, observes Aditi Phadnis.
The ACB had issued notices to MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh, who have been suspended from the party for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led government, to appear for investigation, but they failed to do so.
He cited the Congress' poor performance in the 2019 general election after victories in assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the previous year to buttress his point.
The Congress MLAs who have been appointed advisers are Jitendra Singh, Rajkumar Sharma and Danish Abrar. Independent legislators Babu Lal Nagar, Sanyam Lodha and Ramkesh Meena have also been appointed advisers to Gehlot, according to a list released by the Chief Minister's Office.
Fifteen ministers took the oath in Rajasthan on Sunday in a cabinet expansion that included 12 new faces, fulfilling a key demand of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot whose rebellion last year shook the state's Congress government.
