Irfan Pathan, who was travelling to Dubai from Mumbai with his family, was clearly upset with the staff at the Vistara check-in counter at the Mumbai airport.
The road ahead is not smooth for the 25 Congress defectors to the BJP. They are seeking re-election on the BJP ticket, which they campaigned against less than two years ago, and are finding it difficult to explain to the voters why they "betrayed" their parent party. If political analysts are to be believed, the results may surprise many of them, reports Sandeep Kumar.
' These youngsters don't have patience, which is a key trait in politics'
The 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh was pushed to the brink.
Sources said while the Congress units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will hold separate discussions on May 26 on their preparations and actions to be taken, the party will also hold strategy meets on Chhattisgarh on May 27.
On Thursday, he broke a record which had been held by former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh.
In both of these Hindi heartland states, the straight contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.
A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva -- all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
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.
Gandhi invoked Rule 357 which allows for "personal explanations" and also cited the example of Bharatiya Janata Party MP and then minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who invoked the Rule to give an explanation regarding comments made by Jyotiraditya Scindia in relation to him in Parliament
The Congress has a wafer-thin majority in the Madhya Pradesh assembly whose current effective strength is 228.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday claimed that contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's "false propaganda" that the population of Muslim community was increasing in the country, the number of the minority community members vis-a-vis Hindus was fast declining, and added that he could prove it.
The BJP is likely to field them in the bypolls necessitated by their resignations.
A question asked in Tamil triggered heated exchanges in Lok Sabha on Wednesday between the Opposition and Treasury benches that spilled over to the issue of ministers giving replies in Hindi.
The ruling front and the opposition members are at loggerheads over the Adani issue and the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lower House.
Party sources said United Progressive Allinace chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to reach Delhi on Wednesday from Himachal Pradesh and is expected to meet some leaders who are part of the decision-making process in Karnataka.
'Elections in Madhya Pradesh have so far largely avoided freebies.' 'But this time both the Congress and BJP are making such announcements.'
Ahead of the last Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised to implement a farm loan waiver scheme in the state if the party came to power.
Tata Group-owned Air India will buy 250 aircraft, including 40 wide-body planes, from Airbus as the airline expands its fleet and operations. This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed an aircraft order. It is also the first order placed by the carrier under the ownership of Tata Group. On Tuesday, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said Air India has signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus.
The 22 rebel Congress MLAs (who now have joined the BJP) will have to win the by-elections, which won't be easy as Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath will leave no stone unturned to secure those seats.
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.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said, 'On May 1, SpiceJet Boeing B737 aircraft operating flight SG-945 from Mumbai to Durgapur encountered severe turbulence during descent which unfortunately resulted in injuries to a few passengers.'
Speaking to reporters for the first time after arriving in Bengaluru and sending in their resignations, the 22 MLAs said they were ready to face any consequences.
Chouhan paid tributes to former Union minister and Congress leader late Madhavrao Scindia on his birth anniversary. Madhavrao was father of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is said to be at the centre at the current political drama in Madhya Pradesh.
After two and a half months of taking oath, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has many challenges before him. The first is to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected more than 10,000 people in the state. But The political challenges are even more daunting, reports Sandeep Kumar.
'The BSP does not agree with the policies of the Congress and the BJP, and therefore opposes their candidates. The party has issued a whip directing the MLAs to vote for the Independent candidate'
Modi shared the warmth of Chief Minister M K Stalin who briefly held the PM's hand and patted the back of the latter's palm while walking through the displays exhibited at the new Chennai airport terminal.
A senior official of the district administration said about eight lakh lamps were lit on the 84 ghats located on the western bank of the river.
Modi, attired in traditional dhoti and gamcha (stole), entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Mahakal temple at around 6 pm.
This is probably for the first time that the two former party colleagues-turned-opponents shared the stage after Rane's exit from the Shiv Sena, of which Thackeray is the president.
Limits imposed on domestic airfares will be removed from August 31, after a span of approximately 27 months, the Union aviation ministry said on Wednesday. "The decision to remove air fare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel (ATF). "Stabilisation has set in and we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future," Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi owns assets worth over Rs 2.23 crore, mostly as bank deposits, but has no immovable properties as he has donated his share in a piece of land in Gandhinagar, according to his latest disclosure about assets.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, the party said that while on the one hand the Bharatiya Janata Party has already started preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is in dire straits.
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister skirted the issue of whether senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia can be nominated for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state.
Sundays are generally quiet days for air travel, but this Sunday was a tad different. There was quite an excitement at Gate 28 of Mumbai airport's Terminal 1 as Akasa Air, India's newest airline, prepared to take to the skies on Day 1. With a new fuel-efficient Boeing 737 Max aircraft and soft cushioned seats equipped with USB ports, Akasa Air hopes to bring freshness to the flying experience.
'Government shouldn't be in the business of running airlines, instead it should develop the ecosystem of civil aviation.'
West Asian carriers are up against Air India and IndiGo in the battle for seats on lucrative international routes.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday flew on SpiceJet's special flight between Delhi and Gwalior using Boeing's 737 Max plane that has been allowed to return to service after two and half years. All Max planes were grounded in India by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 13, 2019, three days after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane near Addis Ababa, which had left 157 people, including four Indians, dead. Along with Scindia, SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh and Boeing India president Salil Gupte were also present on the special flight on Tuesday.
