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.
'Can you believe Ashok Chavan was with me in the senior leaders' meeting one day, and next day morning, he switched sides!'
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram suffered a fracture in his left rib after he was pushed away by Delhi Police during the party's protest in support of Rahul Gandhi who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the National Herald case, said the party on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held the core group meeting of five states on Saturday at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
What are the political equations, the challenges, and the threats?
'Every Indian who is concerned about the unity, integrity and the map of India should be worried about this growing divide.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party will ensure the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chhattisgarh cabinet under Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday will be a 'historic' event which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP leaders and chief ministers, state chief Arun Sao said.
In the wake of several Congress leaders quitting the party and its Punjab unit in turmoil, Sibal demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.
Many states are open to the idea of petrol and diesel being brought under the goods and services tax (GST) regime - contrary to the perception that they are averse to it - but they want a concrete proposal, including a compensation mechanism, from the Centre. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra says while the issue can be discussed, the Centre may not be keen to bring the change because it earns "much more" from taxes on petrol and diesel. "(The peak rate of) GST is 28 per cent. Under the regime, the Centre would only get 14 per cent. "So, definitely, the Union government does not want GST on fuel. It is all lies. Currently, they are in a very cozy place," Mitra said.
Let's take a look at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new team:
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress remain the most dominant political forces in Chhattisgarh, though the state has several regional outfits that have pockets of influence, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a determined bid to challenge its well entrenched rivals and make a mark in polls to the 90-member House.
Responding to a query, Mathur said there is no "formula" for electing the chief minister.
The Election Commission of India has set up more than 200 polling stations within housing societies in the urban areas of Uttar Pradesh to increase the voter turnout in the politically crucial state.
The gravity of the incident which happened in Parliament should not be underestimated, the prime minister said
The two main factions in Karnataka's Congress party -- one led by Siddaramaiah and the other by D K Shivakumar -- are both contenders for the chief ministership. Both groups have fought hard to get their choice of MLAs the party ticket, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The finance ministry has set up two committees of state finance ministers which would rework rate slabs, review GST exempt items and identify potential evasion sources. Four years after the roll out of the national Goods and Services Tax (GST), which replaced the complex indirect tax structure, the centre and states have started work on moving towards a "simpler rate structure in GST" by reviewing the current rate slabs, including special rates and merger of rate slabs. The Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation would also review items under inverted duty structure to help minimise refund payout, and review the supply of goods and services exempt under GST with an objective to expand the tax base and eliminate breaking of input tax credit (ITC) chain.
The BJP has played the social engineering card in Rajasthan with an eye on the Lok Sabha election where the party will try and retain all the 25 seats that it had won in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Other decisions piled up include rationalisation of GST rate slabs, correction of inverted duty on certain items and inclusion of petroleum products.
This is one of the biggest burglaries reported in the national capital.
PT Usha set to get elected as IOA chief, first woman occupant of top job
The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
The Chhattisgarh police has arrested two people in connection with a Rs 20-crore burglary from a jewellery store in Delhi earlier this week and recovered around 18.5 kg of gold and diamond ornaments from them, a senior official said on Friday, even as the probe suggested involvement of only one person in the incident.
'Modi is imposing himself as the face of Gujarat to send a message that people should not forget that a Gujarati is prime minister.'
Raising the issue of setting afire of a rape survivor in Uttar Praesh's Unnao during Zero Hour, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said while on the one hand plans are afoot to build a Ram temple (in Ayodhya), on the other hand Sita is being burnt.
Congress leaders are now in a "wait and watch" mode over the possible ripple effect of Punjab developments in faction-ridden Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states other than Punjab where the party is in power on its own.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday picked first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister, ending days of speculation that followed its victory in the assembly polls.
The announcement came on a day that marks the third anniversary of the Naveen Patnaik-led government's fifth tenure in the state.
'Sanction serves the salutary object of providing safeguard to the accused from unwarranted prosecution and the agony and trauma of trial, and in the context of the stringent provisions of the UAPA, is an integral facet of due process of law.' If the report to the sanctioning officer for the first five accused in the case lacked the qualities required under the law, then for Professor Saibaba, the sanction came much after his trial had started!
BJP president J P Nadda also appointed former Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill its national spokesperson.
'Adivasi seats will sound the bugle of the end of the BJP regime in Gujarat.'
The old Parliament building will now be known as 'Samvidhan Sadan', Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Tuesday as the functioning of Parliament shifted to its new building in New Delhi.
Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jharkhand accused the Centre of meting out "step-motherly" treatment to them, and urged the Union government to provide them free vaccine doses to vaccinate all adults.
The scam-ridden Congress government in Chhattisgarh has become a model of misrule and people have decided to root it out in the upcoming assembly elections, he said.
In its report, the committee is understood to have suggested that the money trail could be probed by an investigating agency like CBI or the Income Tax Department. The 600-page report carries evidence given by witnesses and verbatim transcriptions of sittings as also the 'dissent' notes by BJP's V K Malhotra, Mohd Salim (CPI-M) and Ramgopal Yadav (SP).
Ranveer goes casual... Kunal announces Abhay 3... What's Gurmeet doing in Nepal?
Hooda and Azad were reported to have discussed concrete proposals to strengthen the Congress and ensure collective leadership and decision making as demanded by the grouping which met on Wednesday and signed a joint statement.
Revenge he will exact from a party he had led with great aplomb until the Gandhi siblings stepped in and, in order to show who was the boss, flung him aside, observes Virendra Kapoor.
