Gearing up for the upcoming state assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Partyon Wednesday named its organisational spearheads for the elections, putting Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Bhupender Yadav in charge for the contest in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur respectively.
Governors must be impartial, fair, and above narrow politics to uphold the values and spirit of the Constitution. But in a rapidly changing political culture where the unstated rule is to crush the Opposition, such values have no meaning. At stake are Constitutional values, federalism and governance, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Joining the BJP cannot have been an easy decision for former UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who grew up with secular values and appears to be a victim of the party's durbar politics. Amit Agnihotri reports.
The party managed only 52 seats on its own and many of its top leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia were defeated in the polls.
The Law Commission had on June 14 invited views from all stakeholders, including people and recognised religious organisations, on the politically sensitive issue.
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday, December 12.
Over 6,000 people are feared to have been killed in the devastating floods, cloudbursts and landslides in Uttarakhand in June, the government said on Tuesday.
An analysis of seats across the five states shows that the race was won on tighter margins than five years ago, except for Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Will a caste census make tens of millions desert Mr Modi?, asks Shekhar Gupta.
The next 10 days will tell you whether the United Progressive Alliance and its leading constituent, the Congress, have learnt the right lessons from their poor performance in the assembly elections held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
Rawat, who represents the Kotdwar seat in the state assembly, is said to have been seeking a ticket for his daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain from the Lansdowne constituency and a change of seat for himself.
Just as political observers braced for another tiresome tantrum, on Tuesday, November 2, Harish Rawat -- the Congress secretary in charge of Punjab and a native of Uttarakhand -- whisked Channi and Sidhu to his home state and a visit to the Kedarnath shrine where spirituality and no doubt the freezing weather seems to have brought about yet another ceasefire in the Punjab Congress for now.
Rahul Gandhi has set out to revamp the Congress party after the recent drubbing it received in the assembly elections. Renu Mittal reports
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
Political parties were bracing for the assembly election results on Thursday in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and politically volatile Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, sending out feelers for possible post-poll tie-ups.
Bahuguna is said to be unhappy with the Congress leadership over projection of Sheila Dikshit as the party's chief ministerial face
Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party on the corruption issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that the party was forced to change its chief minister in Uttarakhand following graft allegations and accused it of "creating a wedge" between the hills and the plains.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh are among those named by the party as its star campaigners in Uttar Pradesh.
"Given the constitutional crisis, I felt it was right for me to resign," Rawat said.
What some of our leaders were up to on Saturday and Sunday.
Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday laid wreaths on the mortal remains of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat.
Despite the ongoing rift in the Punjab Congress, party leader Harish Rawat on Tuesday said that all is well in the state and expressed confidence in its victory in the forthcoming assembly polls.
"There are clearly two sides. On one side, there is an organisation of patriots in the form of BJP and on the other side, tukde-tukde gang have come together under the leadership of the Congress. It is for the people of Karnataka to decide now whether they are with the patriots or those who support people who want to divide this country," he added.
After Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, discontent is brewing among Congress MLAs in Manipur.
Dismissing the Congress' criticism over its decision to charge Rs 5 for attending Narendra Modi's forthcoming public meeting in Hyderabad, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the ruling party is making allegations as it is unable to digest the growing popularity of the Gujarat chief minister. "The Congress is rattled by Narendra Modi. They are not able to digest the growing popularity of Narendra Modi. That's why they are making such allegations. They are trying to hit below the belt," senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.
Nine ministers also take oath. Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Madan Kaushik, Arvind Pandey, Subodh Uniyal,Yashpal Arya and Prakash Pant have been made Cabinet ministers.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has unfurled a 'new anti-mafia era in Punjab' and hoped he would rise to the expectations of the people.
The Congress cannot do without the Gandhi-Nehru family, and they ensure the unity of the party. The Congress experimented with a Narasimha Rao and went back to the family. Sonia Gandhi neither faces a threat to her leadership nor a prospect of a split, which her mother-in-law had to contend with. But she will have to show a resoluteness she displayed in early 2004 if the party is to revitalise
The prime minister will be part of the launch of several development initiatives on his birthday.
'In AAP, those who are in charge of a particular state provide information to Arvind Kejriwal. 'In the BJP, several organisations convey what is happening on the ground to the top leadership.' 'There are so many channels through which issues are being understood.'
The meeting of the Congress Parliamentary strategy group was held at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Modi said that unlike other parties that believe in keeping people weak so that their dependence on them never ends and their "crown" remains intact, the BJP believes in empowering them and making them independent.
"It is only natural. After all, why should any Indian have problems in hoisting the tricolour on their houses to celebrate the occasion?" Bhatt told PTI on Friday reiterating what he had recently said in Haldwani.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday denounced the Modi government's decision to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment in defence sector by easing norms, saying the prime minister was working under pressure from the United States and his party would oppose it in Parliament.
Several loyal party old guards were unhappy and had expressed their displeasure openly about "migrants" scuttling the chances of them becoming ministers.
Rahul Gandhi, who Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said will be 'back soon' from his sabbatical, could replace his mother in the top party post as early as May.
Rubbishing the allegations, the Uttarakhand CM said that the CD presented was totally fake, adding that efforts were being made to tarnish the image of the Congress-led state government.
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