Political observers are keen to see if the BJP will now be guided by its more firmly entrenched ideological dominance in picking a face solidly identified with its core planks, or if it will choose a person tilted more to its electoral calculations. Or, whether its pick will be an ode to its core supporters or a outreach to relatively new groups of votaries.
Mamata Banerjee's sights are not on the next month's Presidential election. She is focusing on another election that will take place in 2024.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on March 24 a plea by K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, seeking protection from arrest and challenging the summons by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case arising out of the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to be elected to Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh in the by-election slated for July 3.
In order to stall the Telangana bill and urge the government to withdraw its decision, the YSR Congress of Jagan Mohan Reddy and Seemandhra government employees will protest in different parts of the city
Even though Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of the late leader, has announced that he will not take part in any of the state government sponsored programmes, he has written to the party high command seeking to make peace.
Kavitha has asserted that she had done nothing wrong and alleged that the BJP-led Centre was "using" the ED as the saffron party could not gain a "backdoor entry" in Telangana.
'The BJP may well be his ultimate destination.' 'In the process, he has probably shot himself in the foot.' 'It is unlikely that either Scindia or Pilot will be anything other than a No 3 or a No 4 in the Modi-Shah dispensation,' predicts Amulya Ganguli.
'After the creation of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh has been left as an agrarian state.' 'Therefore, the special category status to this residual state was imminent and necessary for its development,' YSR Congress MP V Vijayasai Reddy explained in the Rajya Sabha.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu chided the members for their 'unbecoming' behaviour and asked them to resume their places.
N Chandrababu Naidu, when he was chief minister of the state, had sought funding for the project in 2015, but the Bank had deferred its decision in the light of the alleged government excesses.
In a discussion in Lok Sabha on the COVID pandemic, members called for ban on international flights in view of the outbreak of the Omicron strain and demanded that the government 'accept responsibility' for deaths of lakhs of people during the outbreak.
The Telugu Desam Party chief picked up an argument with the police officials and demanded to know why he was being prevented from going to Tirupati and Chittoor.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
This is the fourth supplementary and overall fifth charge sheet or prosecution complaint filed in the case by the ED before a designated special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Delhi.
As Telangana voters queued up to exercise their franchise in the assembly polls on Thursday, they were pleasantly surprised by finding some of the well-known actors and politicians around them.
Meanwhile, the AP CM said that the TDP is ready to bring no-trust motion against Centre as last resort.
Flaying the 'pomp and show' associated with the 'coronation' of N Chandrababu Naidu, Jaganmohan Reddy, chief of YSR Congress party, on Saturday said he does not want to be part of the extravagant swearing-in ceremony when Andhra Pradesh is in deep crisis.
The speaker had suspended 45 members last week for unruly behaviour.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the bill giving primacy to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government after high drama in the House that saw uproar by the opposition and a walkout by MPs of parties like the BJD, SP, Congress and the YSRC.
Union minister Ananth Kumar alleged that the Congress was increasingly becoming intolerant of people's mandate for the Modi government.
Tuesday was the 12th day in a row that Parliament did not functioned and the current stalemate has entered the third week.
Experts foresee possible scenarios: A BRS government with less majority, a BRS government with BJP and AIMIM support, or a Congress government.
A suitable non-Congress candidate from a regional party could help influence even some of the NDA allies like the Shiv Sena and the Janata Dal-United to vote for a consensus Opposition candidate, reports Archis Mohan.
Eleven of the 33 party MPs from Andhra Pradesh met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is expected to go to Hyderabad sometime later for resolving the issue, and put up their case that late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's son should be given the top job in the state.
Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan are the other three states to pass a resolution opposing the contentious legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
Faculty members are also continuing in the administrative position.
'There is a need for the Congress to introspect.' 'Introspection means to find out where we have gone wrong in the last eight-ten years, how we have gone wrong, where we have failed to succeed.'
The Election Commission will start counting votes for Vidhan Sabha elections on May 23. The assembly elections were held in four states -- Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim -- simultaneously with the Lok Sabha Elections over April and May. The Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim Assemblies went to polls in the duration between 11 April and 19 May, and the Election Commission will declare the results for at least 534 assembly seats - which is almost as many as the Lok Sabha seats - on May 23.
The prospect of an upset worries the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh as it faces a threat from a rebel candidate in the biennial election to Rajya Sabha slated for Friday.
Though the people of Andhra Pradesh seem to have more or less reconciled to the fact that bifurcation of the state is inevitable, political parties in Seemandhra are leaving no stone unturned to stall the proposed division process, at least till the 2014 elections.
Over the last two days, Dalit organisations and the opposition Telugu Desam Party put in sustained pressure calling for the police to arrest the ruling party legislator.
The massive response to the 48-hour hunger strike of former Kadapa Member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy in Vijaywada has set the alarm bell ringing in the ruling Congress due to the increasing number of legislators who are supporting the former party leader.Apart from the mammoth gathering of more than a lakh people at 'YSR Pranganam', Congress leaders were also worried by the fact that many party legislators and other leaders have decided to openly support Jagan.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the leaders of various parties at an all-party meeting to ensure smooth and effective functioning of the House during the Budget Session.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury was in Chennai on Saturday and AIADMK sources said Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa could be sounded as convenor for the proposed Third Front. Aditi Phadnis reports
The speaker rejected the adjournment motion moved by the TDP and sought to take up regular business, which the Opposition did not allow.
The Congress virtually snubbed Andhra Pradesh MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for his decision to go ahead with his controversial yatra, saying party discipline must be observed. "All true committed and loyal Congressmen must necessarily observe both the party dharma and Laxman rekha of propriety and party discipline," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
The Congress was ranked sixth with a total expenditure on advertisement of Rs 54,100 on Google.
The Andhra CM charged the BJP and Centre with 'mud-slinging' and trying to 'damage his credibility'.
