"If the government is convinced that he is innocent and that he has been a victim of mistaken identity, it should move ahead to save him," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.
In India, under the anti-defection law, a three-line whip can be violated only by more than one-third of a party's strength in the legislature
high level delegation led by Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal will visit Mumbai on Tuesday to meet the members of the family of Balkar Singh, who was killed in the incident of firing allegedly by private security guards of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.
Ace Indian athlete Manjeet Kaur's preparations for the Beijing Olympics received a major boost when a New Delhi-based real estate group handed her Rs 34 lakh to train under an American coach in California. The cheque was presented to the 400 metres runner, a Punjab Police Inspector, by Rohtas Goyal, chairman of the Omaxe Group, in the presence Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal and state DGP N P S Aulakh.
Ahead of their planned protest in Chandigarh on March 5, several Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders were detained in early morning raids at their residences on Tuesday and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann denounced the agitating farmer unions, saying they have turned Punjab into a 'state of dharnas' and caused huge losses to it.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
He said he visited the holy place following requests from people there, including Ujjal Dosanjh, the Health Minister of Canada.
Close on the heels of developments in Karnataka, an uneasy relationship prevails in Punjab where the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party appear to be in sombre mood over certain contentious issues, including the recent proposed hike in power tariff by the state government.
Shiromani Akali Dal Chief Parkash Singh Badal will take oath as the chief minister of Punjab on Friday.
Ten ministers were inducted into the Mann-led cabinet on Saturday.
AAP has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Punjab
Arun Jaitley, general secretary in charge of Punjab, left by the backdoor to avoid enraged supporters of those who have denied party nominations.
A Patiala court rejected their bail pleas in the disproportionate assets case.
Punjab Director General of Police N P S Aulakh has been appointed as the new chief of the elite National Security Guards and will assume charge on March 1. Aulakh, a 1972-batch officer of the Indian Police Service, will replace J K Dutta who is retiring on Saturday, official sources said on Friday. He was appointed the Punjab DGP in March 2007 after the formation of Shiromani Akali Dal Bharatiya Janata Party combine government in the state. Aulakh is to retire in August 2010
Mann is a Lok Sabha member from Sangrur constituency in Punjab.
Notably, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu had urged Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state to announce the chief ministerial face for the polls, following which Gandhi had said that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party workers.
The Sikh high priests have also demanded that Ram Rahim tender an unqualified apology for wearing clothes similar to that of the tenth Guru Gobind Singh.
Rajnath Singh was flooded with question on the Dera controversy and he had to be careful not to say anything that would embarrass Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal.
The MPs representing various political parties offered heartfelt tributes to the building that has been the epicentre of India's democratic journey.
Chief Judicial Magistrate C L Mohal told the Punjab chief minister to appear in a Chandigarh court on September 20.
From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade.
A large crowd of party workers had gathered outside the Central Jail to greet the former chief minister.
The additional director general of police (security), however, said in an order on Friday that the security personnel were 'being withdrawn on a purely temporary basis in connection with an emergent law and order duty'.
An invitation will also be sent to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Even as Sidhu parries queries on whether he would join the AAP, dissent is brewing in Arvind Kejriwal's party.
Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, former Army chief Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chandigarh in the presence of the party leadership, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Opposition parties in India, including the Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP), have unanimously hailed the armed forces' "Operation Sindoor", a retaliatory strike against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation, which involved missile and drone strikes, was conducted in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Despite political differences, all parties expressed support for the government and the armed forces, stressing the importance of national unity and integrity in the face of terrorism. While emphasizing the need for diplomatic avenues to prevent further escalation, some parties also called for caution in attributing political credit for the strikes.
A case against Majithia under various sections of the NDPS Act was registered on the basis of a 2018 status report of probe into the drug racket in the state.
'Those who are part of the NDA, like the JDU and LJP in Bihar, should also think. Polls are approaching in Bihar, people will seek answers from them'
The complaint was about movie stars apparently seen in a 'drugged' state in the video. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa had sent the video to NCB and his complaint was marked to the agency's Mumbai zonal unit, the official said.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
As Punjab reels under unscheduled power cuts, Sidhu on Friday sought a law to nullify the power purchase agreements signed during the tenure of the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Barring 2004 and 2009 when Navjot Singh Sidhu won the Amritsar seat as a BJP MP and 1998 when Daya Singh Sodhi from BJP was elected as the MP, it has essentially a Congress bastion.
The merger was sealed on Friday during a meeting between Badal and Rahul at the latter's residence here where Singh and All India Congress Committee General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad were also present, they said.
In a blow to Punjab Congress, two of its senior leader resigned from the party and joined the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday.
Hundreds of Sikh youths, led by the Dal Khalsa, were carrying Khalistani flags and photographs of damaged Akal Takht.
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