Companies, so far, were constrained by the provisions of Articles 370 and 35A, which restricted the purchase of land and hiring manpower.
Inarguably the biggest gainer in the Grand Alliance, the CPI-ML, often working in the margins of mainstream politics, had 19 candidates in the fray, most of them students and youth leaders.
However, a majority in the Council of States will continue to elude the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Influential Patel community leader Parshottam Rupala, minister in the first Narendra Modi government Mansukh Mandaviya and three-time MP Darshana Jardosh, all from Gujarat, were among those inducted in the Union cabinet on Wednesday.
Later on while speaking to the reporters, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the BJP legislators were forced to stage protest as there was no mention of post-poll violence in the speech copy circulated among the MLAs.
"We are feeling quite uncomfortable over some of your actions and undesirable utterances especially which hurt patriotic sentiments," read a letter to Mufti signed by three leaders.
The meeting is expected to start at 11 am at the hotel on the city outskirts where Congress legislators in support of the Ashok Gehlot government are camping.
Devanik Saha wonders if saffronisation of India is on the rise
According to him, the temple issue did 'more harm than good' to the BJP as the matter was being used by the opposition 'to terrorise minorities and polarise votes'.
Congress will fight against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and not BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections as the Sangh is now in control of the saffron party, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.
Congress leader Manish Tewari on Saturday mocked Bharatiya Janata Party's camp for newly-elected party MPs to train them about conduct in parliament, saying the new lawmakers should not learn from the saffron party's behaviour in the last Lok Sabha.
'The BJP's solo aim in Mumbai and Maharashtra is to finish off the Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country needs to focus on imparting skills to its young population in order to compete with China, apart from bringing revolutionary changes in agriculture and energy sectors.
Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said in a sarcastic way that personnel of security forces such as the CRPF, BSF, CISF and the Army are present at convoys of every BJP leader visiting West Bengal.
The BJP's strong showing came as a surprise for many as the party did not even have a councillor in Tripura.
NDA partners will meet on Monday in the backdrop of the controversy generated over the BJP's attempts to revive the Hindutva issue.
None of them had anything to do with the violence at Bhima Koregaon, where they were not even present, points out Aakar Patel.
Reacting to the development, Naidu said such crises were not new to the party.
The report, released on June 21, alleged that some senior leaders of the BJP "made inflammatory speeches against minority communities".
The Congress-led grouping has some reasons to feel emboldened over recent political developments.
RPI leader Ramsad Athavale said the party could consider such an alliance only if the Sena adopted a secular approach.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as potential kingmaker in Jammu and Kashmir, party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday did not rule out joining hands with either the People's Democratic Party or the National Conference saying "all options are open".
Modi had promised during his election campaign that a decision on loan waiver would be taken at the first cabinet meeting of the BJP government in the state.
While Congress criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for being "insensitive", saying yoga, a great discipline of ancient India, does not belong to the saffron party, Janata Dal-United termed it as yet another attempt to "impose the communal agenda" on Indian masses.
"We have not accepted any new condition from the PDP," said Madhav, the party's pointsman in the state.
Regarding alliance with the Congress, the Sena's political rival till recently, Raut said leaders of the country's oldest party have contributed to freedom struggle as well as development of Maharashtra.
'Neither Modi nor the BJP have lost control over the minds and votes of their original supporters due to their tremendous political ability to play upon baser communal instincts.' 'But this buoyant support will melt away if the economic scenario remains depressing.' 'That makes 2020 an interesting year to watch out for,' notes Sheela Bhatt.
'Winning this election will take us a step closer to realising our dreams'
The LDF was also leading in 10 out of the 14 district panchayats and 108 block panchayats of the total of 152, according to the State Election Commission figures.
The Parli assembly seat in Beed district will again see his daughter Pankaja Munde and nephew Dhananjay Munde lock horns for supremacy.
While the assembly elections are being seen as largely a contest between the NDA and the Grand Alliance, the state has been witness to mushrooming of "morchas" (fronts) which may queer the pitch for the lead players in a tight contest.
The saffron party's IT cell had realised the power of WhatsApp early in the day and wielded it to devastating effect in the Bengal elections.
Congress says RSS was working for "Dalit-mukt Bharat" which was "sponsored" by BJP to polarise communities ahead of next year's Gujarat polls.
The base camps of Pamba and Nilackal witnessed intensified protests as the Lord Ayyappa temple opens for the five-day monthly pooja on Wednesday evening, for the first time after the landmark top court verdict.
Breaking her silence on the series of allegations levelled by her former ally, the BJP, Mehbooba said it was sad to see the saffron party disown its own initiative and label it a "soft approach".
Bypolls to 28 assembly constituencies in the state will be held on November 3. In order to return to power in the state, the Congress has to win all 28 seats, while the ruling BJP only needs nine seats to reach the majority mark of 116 in the 230-member House.
The Hindu Yuva Vahini, floated by its firebrand leader and Lok Sabha member Yogi Adityanath, has fielded candidates against the saffron party in six assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The fifth-term Lok Sabha member is the mascot of the party's Hindutva-wrapped agenda of development as the BJP makes a final push in its bid to capture power in the state
Flanked by the Trinamool Congress chief, Naidu attacked the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre alleging that institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department, Reserve Bank of India and Comptroller Auditor General are under "severe pressure".
Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party's stand on Article 370 is "very clear", Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the saffron party is going to polls in Jammu and Kashmir to get rid of "misgovernance and corruption" from the state.
