Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said he would be ordering an inquiry into the tragic accident, and added that notwithstanding the inclement weather, it was the pilot's duty to determine a flight could be taken or not.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was embarking upon another major public contact program of "Rachabanda" (Village square) to have a better understanding of the situation at the grass root level when his helicopter went missing on Wednesday.
With a Sukhoi fighter aircraft, a special air craft from Indian Space Research Organization and another low flying aircraft of the state government completing a comprehensive aerial survey of Nallamalla forest area to find missing Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajashekhara Reddy's helicopter on Wednesday night and gathering crucial data including the photographs, focus of the search operation on Thursday will move to the ground.
Incessant rains, and not Maoists, is the major hurdle facing the security forces who have launched a massive search operation in the Nallamalla forests in Andhra Pradesh, where Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's helicopter went missing this morning, Andhra Pradesh police sources involved in the search operations have said.
The joint Opposition including the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool Congress, the Left, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Aam Aadmi Party did not join the Question Hour of the session when the House reassembled after its first adjournment till noon.
Madhusudan Gupta smashed an EVM in a fit of rage in Guntakal, alleging that party symbols were not properly printed on the ballot unit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present at the all-party meeting convened by the government.
Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
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The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
The fight would become more interesting as both candidates hail from Bihar, where the assembly elections are to be held soon, making it effectively a JD-U versus RJD contest.
P Chidambaram and Rajeev Shukla of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party's Sumitra Valmiki and Kavita Patidar, former Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Misa Bharti and Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal were among the 41 winners declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha.
State Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu also told reporters that TDP has decided to 'expose' the Centre on what it has done or not done to the state -- as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 -- by putting out relevant facts and figures before the people.
'Parties which supported me were all threatened. This could hardly have been called a fair election.' 'This is Modi's India.'
Ahead of Assembly polls due early next year in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that political strategist Prashant Kishor's Indian PAC will manage the poll campaign of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital.
Extending support to YSR Congress for a unified Andhra Pradesh, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday said immediate priority was to restore normalcy as the state was heading towards anarchy due to Centre's "unilateral" decision.
The strong Bharatiya Janata Party-Telugu Desam Party combine in Seema-Andhra could upset the calculations of the YSR Congress in the region, but the TDP's biggest problem is rebellion from within. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party combine on Friday appeared set for an impressive performance in Seemandhra by leading in about 90 Assembly seats, followed by YSR Congress in around 70, out of the total 175 seats in the region.
The top court said that the medical examination of Raju be videographed and report be sent in sealed cover to the top court.
Eleven MLAs from the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party have expressed their willingness to quit their respective parties and join Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress, say sources close to the leader.On Friday, Congress MLA A Nani had openly supported YSR Congress chief Jagan.Today, Congress leader Ranga Rao from Bobili constituency announced his decision to quit the Congress and join Jagan. He is likely to formally join the YSR Congress by Saturday evening.
Consolidating its position, the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested high-profile Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh from the Samajwadi Party and won three assembly seats, including that of Chief Minister Manik Saha, in Tripura in by-election results announced on Sunday.
However, The Lok Sabha did not take up notices for no-confidence motion
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday rejected as "false" and "malicious" a news report on some Telugu TV channels alleging it may have had a hand in the helicopter crash that killed former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
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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.
The YSR Congress Party headed by Jaganmohan Reddy has written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy urging him to call for an urgent assembly session to defeat the proposal to divide the state and carve out a separate Telangana.
YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has had the solid backing of his mother Vijayamma, sister Sharmila and wife Bharathi even when the chips were down during his incarceration in the disproportionate assets case. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Actor Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party, which was expected to put up a strong fight in Andhra Pradesh, came a cropper in the assembly elections, with the party chief himself trailing in both seats he contested.
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YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said that he would undertake an indefinite fast in Hyderabad from on Saturday against the Centre's decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.
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.
The CBI will now have all powers to take up corruption and other cases in AP.
The party has issued a three-line whip to all its MPs in the Lok Sabha to ensure their presence, the sources added.
His successful piloting of the move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status is undoubtedly the highlight of his ministerial stint since the Modi 2.0 government assumed office on May 30.
Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker N Manohar on Friday admitted the notices for no-confidence motion given by the Telangana Rashtra Samithiand YSR Congress Party against the Congress-led state government.
Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy has been named in the charge-sheet of the Central Bureau of Investigation's chargesheet against Jagan Mohan Reddy in the disproportionate assets case against the YSR Congress chief.
TDP's Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy battle it out for power from Kuppam and Pulivendula respectively. Vicky Nanjappa compares the two areas to see how both of them fare.
Denying allegations of orchestrating the latest delay in the formation of the Telangana state, Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress is going all out portraying the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi as the real villains. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Modi told the leaders that Tomar was just a phone call away for protesting farmers and the agriculture minister had conveyed the same to farmer leaders earlier this month.
This time the battle for the 175-member assembly will be between TDP and Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress.
