Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
With many of his close associates leaving his side, it is virtually a lone battle for Congress stalwart Kamal Nath to help his parliamentarian son Nakul Nath win from Chhindwara for a second time amid the Bharatiya Janata Party's aggressive push to wrest the seat.
The united Opposition on Wednesday checkmated yet another promise given by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to set up a central agricultural university in the Bundelkhand region, spread across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Its current majority of 22,078 votes for the purpose of the presidential elections is considered thin, particularly when BJP might not be able to predict voting behaviour of its allies like Shiv Sena.
The high commission of India in Dhaka and the assistant high commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna have been assisting in the voluntary return of Indian nationals, he said.
The tumultuous Winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday a day before schedule with proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha marred by repeated disruptions by the opposition over which the government and the Congress traded charges and the presiding officers expressed their anguish at the conduct of some MPs.
The BJP attacked Kejriwal after he refused to comment on the Maliwal "assault" matter during a press conference in Lucknow. He was flanked by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Two years after the Centre's flagship village electrification scheme Saubhagya concluded with the government claiming 99.9 per cent success, several states have added close to 1.1 million rural households that remain to be connected to the electricity grid. This new list includes earlier unwilling households that have now agreed to have a metered connection and also those built or discovered in the states' surveys since 2019. Assam and Uttar Pradesh are the states that have the majority of such new additions.
Rahul also held a 75-km long road show and a Nukkad Sabha in Haridwar.
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, IT expert Nandan Nilekani and cricketer Mohd Kaif are among 194 candidates as Congress tonight released the first list of its nominees for Lok Sabha polls that contains several new and young faces.
The Congress is hopeful of soon finalising the Lok Sabha poll seat-sharing arrangements with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, sources said on Friday, days after the principal opposition party arrived at an understanding with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
Several Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly have declared cases in which they have been charged with inciting communal tension. The Association for Democratic Reforms in a report gives details of elected representatives with such charges.
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
The bypolls are termed as a 'rehearsal' for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by CM Yogi Adityanath.
'For the convenience of Modiji this inauspicious muhurat was fixed'
The party, banking on the legacy of former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, had no MP and its lone MLA had switched to the BJP.
Shashi Tharoor said that just by giving a good speech, good days do not come as for that there is a need to do some work.
About 18 lakh employees and officers of the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday went on a flash strike boycotting work in protest against attempts at "forcible passage" of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes quota bill in Rajya Sabha, saying the stir will continue.
This time, it might start between March 5 and 12 in view of polls, government sources said, citing that counting of votes is scheduled for March 4.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
It's obvious to all that the Congress is overestimating its success and the BJP is underestimating the people's message delivered through the ballot box, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav are and 10 political leaders who were on Thursday elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
Chandrakant Patil also took a swipe at Uddhav for accusing Eknath Shinde of stealing the legacy of Bal Thackeray.
The Allahabad high court on Friday directed a probe by a state agency into alleged irregularities involving Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Amar Singh during his stint as the head of Uttar Pradesh Development Council, dismissing his plea seeking quashing of proceedings against him.
A total of 5,711 cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have been registered in Madhya Pradesh in 2006, while in Rajasthan, the number was 4,877.Northeastern states of Meghalaya and Mizoram registered zero cases of atrocities against SC/STs and similar was the case with Lakshwadeep and Puducherry.In Uttar Pradesh, 4,838 cases were registered, 4,579 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,918 in Karnataka.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has now moved to the newly created Madha constituency in the state leaving his pocketborough of Baramati to daughter Supriya Sule, currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.
A source in the know said realistically two-three of the seven bullet train corridors could be included as a practical election promise.
Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
However, Bajpai ruled out any possibility of an epic battle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections between Sonia Gandhi and Arun Jaitley.
The four labour codes on wages, social security, industrial relations and occupation safety, health and working conditions are likely to be implemented by the next fiscal year as at least 13 states have pre-published draft rules on these laws, a senior official said. The Centre has already finalised the rules under these codes and now states are required to frame regulations on their part as labour is a concurrent subject. A senior official said that the four labour codes are likely to be implemented by the next fiscal year.
Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday, in a boost to the saffron party as it works to strengthen its social coalition ahead of assembly elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh early next year.
The BJP is focusing on 160 seats 'we have never won, seats where we have reasonable support, and those we lost narrowly.'
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
From invoking the 'Saptarishi' (Ursa Major) constellation, seven basic notes of Indian classical music to 'saat phere' (seven circumambulations) -- parties give different reasons and logic to claim that they will emerge victorious in the polls.
Skating on a razor-thin majority in the Lok Sabha, the Congress managers have zeroed in on Ajit Singh and his five Members of Parliament to lend support to the United Progressive Alliance government to give the government a much needed cushion, and also to help the party get a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.
The saffron party is assured of victory in eight of the ten seats in UP going by its dominant numbers in the state assembly.
Arun Jaitley, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Bharatiya Janata Party's strategist, is getting ready to take on the United Progressive Alliance in the coming Budget session of Parliament. Jaitley's legal background and his envious reach in New Delhi's media is a potent combination helping his party to push its political agenda. He spoke exclusively to Sheela Bhatt on the Uttar Pradesh election.
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