However, Bajpai ruled out any possibility of an epic battle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections between Sonia Gandhi and Arun Jaitley.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to get reservation for women in legislatures promises to shape the political discourse ahead of key state polls and Lok Sabha elections, and a parliamentary approval to the long-contested proposal will be used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to burnish his credentials as a decisive leader.
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 Opposition on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the killing of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district, alleging that 'jungle raj' and 'mafia raj' were prevalent under its rule.
Congress MP from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh Sanjoy Singh is one of the Congress candidates who have filed nominations for the February 7 election to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
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.
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.
Reliance Industries Vice Chairman Anil Ambani would contest the Rajya Sabha elections as an independent candidate from Uttar Pradesh, an associate of Ambani said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
While Delhi topped the list among states in terms of foreign tourist arrivals, Andhra Pradesh received the maximum number of domestic tourists during 2005.
In a jolt to Rashtriya Lok Dal, its Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Shahid Siddiqui and Anuradha Chowdhury, a former aide of party chief Ajit Singh, on Sunday joined the Samajwadi Party ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Amid growing speculation that former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh might be headed to his parent party, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Friday said that they would welcome his return to the saffron party.
The credibility of the examination system has also come under question, they said.
Series of controversies related to Dalit issues have come at a time when the BJP has launched a massive campaign to win back Uttar Pradesh.
Rekha, the Rajya Sabha MP, once again came last when it came to attendance of actor-turned-MPs with an abysmal 5 per cent.
The win in UP is especially significant because UP assembly members carry the maximum value of votes in a Presidential election, given the fact that the state is India's most populous.
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 vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
The Rajya Sabha was on Monday adjourned twice during the Question Hour as Samajwadi Party members stalled proceedings demanding special status to Uttar Pradesh while the Left parties raised the issue of rising onion prices.
Besides in-charges, the party has also named co-incharges for several states, a BJP statement said.
Defectors getting tickets is causing tremendous heartburn in the BJP, says Aditi Phadnis
Against a total authorised strength of 6,154 IAS officers in the country, there were only 4,377, Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy said during Question Hour.
The BJP has the maximum number of such politicians.
The notice to Bachchan has been issued by the principal secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
Over 24,000 cases related to rape and sexual harassment are pending in the Supreme Court and various high courts of the country, with Uttar Pradesh leading the tally with 8,215, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is caught in an escalating spat between Delhi's Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari and Uttar Pradesh Minorities Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, both baying for each other.
The state government had on June 24 directed district adminstration to issue SC certificates to 17 OBCs -- Kashyap, Rajbhar, Dhivar, Bind, Kumhar, Kahar, Kewat, Nishad, Bhar, Mallah, Prajapati, Dhimar, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machua.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
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.
The Samajawadi Party leader pointed out that foreign companies were being paid twice the amount that was paid to their India counterparts, and demanded that farmers' loans be waived off.
Voices of opposition to FDI in retail from within the United Progressive Alliance gained momentum on Tuesday with a Congress member of Parliament from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh criticising the decision, saying it will hurt the poor and its timing was not right.
Kurien adjourned the House till noon.
Patel's victory, which came against heavy odds, has given the Congress and the rest of the Opposition the confidence that Modi and Shah weren't invincible.
Fifteen candidates in the recently concluded elections to the Rajya Sabha have pending criminal cases against them, of which six of them have serious charges, a report by the Association of Democaratic Reforms and National Election Watch has stated.
Never before has the BJP faced such a crisis over the nomination of the Chief Minister as it is facing now, discovers Prakash Bhandari, veteran observer of Rajasthan politics.
The Lok Sabha was remained disrupted on Tuesday as the Congress moved an adjournment motion in the House.
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.
