Chouhan's fate will be determined by the BJP central command's assessment of the implications of such a move ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The eighth edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival kicked off on Wednesday to a grand start with a bevy of authors, poets, Nobel Laureates along with some Bollywood celebrities, trooping in to the pink city to participate in one of Asia's biggest literary jamboree.
Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat met United Progressive Alliance-Left presidential candidate Pratibha Patil on Saturday.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
Just when we were wondering what our Dream Girl is up to, Hema Malini decided to surprise us yet again. The actress who played Amitabh Bachchan's wife in Baghban is taking on another wifey role in Gul Bahar SIngh's Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi. The BJP MP will play Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindhia while Vinod Khanna will play her husband, Jivajirao.
The move by Pilot to open a new front against Gehlot amid the factional fighting is seen as an attempt to pressure the party high command to resolve the leadership issue ahead of the year-end polls.
Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, spearheading the community's agitation for ST status, has conveyed his readiness to resume the talks on Wednesday, officials in the office of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said late Tuesday evening. Rajasthan government promptly welcomed the development.
Gujjar leaders spearheading an agitation to press the demand of Scheduled Tribe status for the community on Sunday, turned down Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's invitation for a dialogue sent to Gujjar leader Col (retd) Kirodi Singh Bainsla.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Lal Kishenchand Advani has convened a meeting of National Democratic Alliance chief ministers on Saturday to hold talks with them and evolve a strategy to counter the Congress campaign in next year's Lok Sabha elections. The meeting will begin at 11 am in the morning and continue after lunch.
Refuting the Bharatiya Janata Party's charge that they had indulged in anti-party activities, two MLAs loyal to Vasundhara Raje said on Wednesday that they had not indulged in any indiscipline that led to their suspension. The two MLAs, Gyan Dev Ahuja and Rajender Singh Rathore, who have been asked to explain their conduct within seven days, maintained that they had not done anything against the party.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied a Rajya Sabha ticket to popular actor Shatrughan Sinha. Instead, the party accommodated former health minister Dr C P Thakur. "The party has decided that popular leaders should be saved for the party campaign in the Lok Sabha elections," Anant Kumar told reporters when asked why Sinha was denied a nomination.
Peeved over the alleged failure of the Vasundhara Raje government in getting them Scheduled Tribe status, an influential Gujjar organisation on Monday said that it would boycott the ruling BJP in the coming Rajasthan assembly elections. "The BJP government has not only ditched us but also broken its promises made to Gujjars, for recommending the Centre to accord ST status," said president of Rajasthan Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti Kirorisingh Bainsla.
Rajasthan's chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for setting up an IT/ITES SEZ by Somani Worsted Ltd and manufacturing facilities of Jaquar Ltd and Orient Craft Ltd in Bhiwadi. Digamber Singh, Rajasthan's minister of industries, was also present on the occasion.
The chief ministers of five mineral-rich states on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for local value addition in the National Mineral Policy (NMP). They also argued that foreign firms must not be allowed to grab control of prized natural resources. The team consisted of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Chhatishgarh CM Raman Singh, Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje.
The decision was taken in a BJP legislature party meeting held here on Thursday. After the meeting, Kataria told reporters that the motion of no confidence will be moved in the assembly session beginning Friday. He said the proposal was being finalised.
It was alleged that Singh welcomed the guests by offering them opium diluted in water, a charge denied by him. A local resident Om Prakash Vishnoi, through his counsel Malam Singh Choudhary, filed the complaint before the special judge, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act cases, under various sections of the law.
Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi on Sunday blamed the Rajasthan government for his defeat in the state's cricket association election.
Malik, who was then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has recently alleged intelligence failures and that the central government denied aircraft for the movement of security personnel.
The PIL has alleged that large scale violence last month over the Gujjar's demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category was a fallout of the 'infighting' within the state Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Rajasthan government recently made recitation of bhojan mantra in hostels compulsory.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hinted at "welcoming" former external affairs minister Natwar Singh into its fold after he quit the Congress.
The four-year-old Vasundhara Raje council of ministers in Rajasthan was on Monday expanded with induction of five ministers.
The Rajasthan government on Tuesday decided to forward the report of the Justice Jasraj Chopra Committee to the Centre. The committee had looked into the demands of the Gujjar community in the state, who want to be shifted to the Scheduled Caste category from the Other Backward Caste.
"In all the 24 deaths, the bullets hit the Gujjars on their back. This indicated that they were running for their lives and there was no question of someone resorting to violence."
Suspending Attar Singh Bhadana and Prahalad Gunjal, state BJP president Mahesh Sharma asked the duo to file their reply to the show cause notice-cum-suspension order within seven days, a party spokesman said.
A three-member high-power committee headed by a retired High Court judge to examine the community's demand for ST status.
Apart from the two major parties (Cong: 98; BJP: 67) the Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in four seats, while the Janata Dal-United and the Communist Party of India-Marxist are ahead in one each.
The state government wanted to sort out the matter but due to Friday's clash in Lalsot between Gujjars and Meenas, in which four persons were killed, the meeting was delayed.
If Meena resigns, it is likely to put pressure on other ministers whose areas also saw poor performance in the general elections.
Rajasthan's BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday differed on which Union government was behind the expressway project in the state.
In four seats in the coming Rajasthan assembly polls, relatives have been pitted against each other, which includes a husband contesting his wife and nieces up against their uncles.
The 26-day-old agitation by Gujjars demanding Scheduled Tribe status is set to be called off on Wednesday as the community on Tuesday night reached an agreement with Rajasthan government in the final rounds of talks in Jaipur. The agreement will be signed on Wednesday by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, spearheading the stir, in Jaipur on Wednesday.
Scores of wounded people were ferried to several hospitals soon after the low-intensity blasts hit at Tripolia Bazaar, where large number of devotees turned up at a Hanuman temple, Johari Bazaar, Manak Chowk, Badi Choupal and Choti Choupal in the walled part of the city. Police sources said the attack was meticulously planned and the first blast occurred around 1940 hours IST and the remaining blasts were set off in quick succession.
Elections in four assembly seats, Nasirabad in Ajmer, Kota South and Weir in Bharatpur and Surajgarh in Jhunjhunu, are scheduled for Saturday. Results will be declared three days later on September 16
Congress candidate Manvendra Singh, who recently crossed over from the BJP, will be facing off the Rajasthan chief minister in her political fortress of Jhalrapatan.
Former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, who had to resign from the government in the wake of the Iraqi food-for-oil scam, on Wednesday announced his resignation from the Congress. Natwar made the announcement in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia at a Bharatiya Janata Party-sponsored Jat rally in Vidyadhar Nagar. He also launched a blistering attack on Sonia Gandhi.
"I am Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's friend; no police can act against me." This is what some harassers told the family of the Sikar gang rape victim, who has just undergone her 20th operation in 17 months.
The hoardings have photos of Pilot and Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Jodhpur and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and a line 'Why are you silent on Sanjivani scam Pilot ji? People want an answer'.
Speaking exclusively to rediff.com he said that the Gujjars did not fulfill any of the conditions that are necessary to get ST status.