Devendra Fadnavis, BJP legislature party leader, will be sworn-in as the new chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening at a grand ceremony in Mumbai. NCP head Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde are also expected to take oath as deputy chief ministers. This is for the third time that Fadnavis will be sworn-in as the CM of Maharashtra. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, where elaborate security arrangements have been made. The formation of the government under Fadnavis comes after two weeks of intense negotiations following the November 20 state assembly polls. Fadnavis, joined by Shinde and Pawar, met with state Governor CP Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form the government. Following this meeting, the governor extended an invitation for Fadnavis to lead the new government. The swearing-in ceremony will be a grand affair with nearly 42,000 attendees, including PM Modi, several Union ministers, and chief ministers and deputy CMs of various states.
Former Union minister and Congress' Lok Sabha candidate from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, Kantilal Bhuria, who has courted a controversy with his 'two wives' remark, has clarified that he passed the comment sarcastically in response to a tribal man's query.
Her statement came after a controversy broke out that TMC MP Yusuf Pathan was forced to opt out of the multi-party diplomatic delegation.
'Whether I turn 75 or 85, I will remain active in politics and contest the next election. I like politics very much'
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam deputy general secretary Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan on Tuesday announced her decision to quit her post and the party.
Barring dissident MLC Rameshwar Mahto, who has an axe to grind against some ministers close to the CM, legislators and office bearers of the party chose to give the session a wide berth.
He joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Piyush Goyal and lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for providing a "strong government".
The changes in the Cabinet and in the BJP are part of the process to revamp the party, he said.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 percent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
As many as 28 legislators, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were on Monday inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had called Patkar to hear her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday condemned the violence in West Bengal's Murshidabad district following the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, accusing the opposition of instigating the violence. He also criticized the opposition for their alleged silence over the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and emphasized the BJP's commitment to protecting Hindus.
The strong message from the prime minister is of continuity of policies he considers right with strong emphasis on execution, points out T N C Rajagopalan.
For the past one week, Modi has been holding in-person meetings with Union ministers apparently to take stock of the work done by the government in the last two years and to discuss various issues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on July 3, officials said on Thursday.
Biju Janata Dal founding member and six-time Cuttack Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahtab joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi on Thursday, dealing a big blow to the Odisha's ruling party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
'CM face ko lekar NDA mein koi confusion nahi hai, Nitish Kumar hi NDA ke CM face hai'.
BJP president JP Nadda said on Sunday that the party does not seek to control the Waqf Board but wants to ensure that those managing it operate within the bounds of law and adhere to established rules. He said the properties and funds of the Waqf Board should be dedicated to promoting education, providing healthcare and employment opportunities for the Muslim community. Nadda also highlighted the BJP's growth and achievements, emphasizing its commitment to national unity and cultural heritage.
In their letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Congress leaders said during a discussion on the functioning of the ministry of agriculture and farmers' welfare on August 2, "misleading and incorrect assertions" were made by the minister.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jayant Sinha on Saturday said he has requested the party president J P Nadda to relieve him from direct electoral duties, joining the list of party leaders not contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an NDA member, announced it will contest 153 seats in the upcoming Bihar elections after not being allocated any seats by the NDA. The party claims the BJP's Bihar unit provided a negative report regarding their strength.
'... Rahul Gandhi's name came to my mind at that time.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's energy, dynamism and willingness to engage remains a 'prime asset' for India on the global stage but deserves greater backing, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Monday, in remarks that are likely to irk his party and widen the growing cracks in his ties with its leadership.
The family members of Border Security Force constable Purnam Kumar Shaw, who was released by Pakistan from its custody on Wednesday, expressed immense relief and gratitude to the central government and BSF authorities for securing his return.
Earlier this month, there were speculations that Nath might switch over to the BJP, but he refuted such reports as "creation of media."
The Rajasthan government has ordered an inquiry into the Tuesday incident in which Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit A Shah had a narrow escape when his rath came in contact with an electricity wire in Nagaur.
What may work for the BJP is the growing resentment against V K Pandian, a bureaucrat-turned-politician who Jay Panda alleges has hijacked the Odisha government.
Lalu's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, however, sought to downplay the remarks made by his father, in an interview to a local news channel, claiming that the RJD supremo had merely tried to satisfy the curiosity of the prying media.
Bansuri Swaraj is banking on Narendra Modi's popularity, and the fact that the New Delhi electorate is known to vote on national rather than local issues for the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP sources said the party has sought a reply from the South Delhi MP for his use of unparliamentary words.
The BJP regime, which is unable to take on the DMK, the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu is involved in a "cultural invasion," Siva, a Rajya Sabha MP, alleged.
Saini, who is an MP from Kurukshetra, was unanimously elected as the leader of the state BJP legislature group and will be sworn in later in the day, party MLAs Subhash Sudha and J P Dalal told reporters.
'As we read and assess what is going on around us in the India of 2025, it is instructive to do this through the lens of 75 years ago and the events that led to the formation of the BJP as we know it,' recalls Aakar Patel.
Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh was arrested on Saturday for a social media post questioning the status of cases registered against three senior BJP leaders, including a former state chief and two serving MLAs. The arrest came after a complaint by the wife of BJP MLA Manab Deka, who was mentioned in Singh's post. Singh's arrest was met with criticism from the Congress, with Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi alleging that Singh was "brutally dragged away" by police.
They are learnt to have taken stock of the prevailing political situation following the exit polls predicting a big win for the BJP-led alliance, and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s series of meetings rejecting the forecast and sticking to its claim that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is on its way out.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, state BJP president C P Joshi and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav welcomed them into the party at its state headquarters in Jaipur.
The Janata Dal-United state unit in Manipur has withdrawn support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Biren Singh government and the party has informed its decision to governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was arrested Friday by a police party in Leh, two days after violent protests by supporters of the movement for statehood and extension of Sixth Schedule of Constitution left four persons dead and 90 others injured, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been holding in-person meetings with Union ministers in different groups apparently to take stock of the work done by them in the past two years, sources said.
A BJP leader from Palakkad, Kerala, has filed a complaint against popular rapper Vedan, accusing him of defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and promoting caste-based division through his music. The complaint, filed with the Union Home Ministry and NIA, alleges that one of Vedan's songs contains defamatory remarks about the Prime Minister and inflammatory language aimed at dividing the Hindu community along caste lines. The complaint also highlights Vedan's past legal issues, including his arrest on April 28 in connection with a drug case. Vedan has denied the allegations, claiming that the criticism is part of a broader attempt to portray him as an extremist.
