Ahead of the crucial Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House meeting on Friday, Aam Aadmi Party councillor Pawan Sehrawat joined the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging that he felt 'suffocated' due to 'corruption' in the party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The deportation of Indians from the United States, deaths in the Maha Kumbh stampede and the joint Parliamentary committee report on the Waqf bill were among the issues that led to heated exchanges and some disruptions in an otherwise smooth first part of the Budget session that ended on Thursday.
Several members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday night exchanged blows and hurled plastic bottles at each other in the chamber of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House, on a day the city got its new mayor.
The Delhi high court on Monday refused to quash the proceedings against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party leaders in a defamation case over their remarks about alleged deletion of the names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls in the national capital.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who were present at the meeting, asked party leaders to remain united and connected with the people, sources said.
The Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that 80 per cent of its leaders were arrested by Delhi police since Sunday, and questioned whether anyone can be detained for more than 24 hours.
The Delhi police has arrested 14 Aam Aadmi Party workers in connection with clashes with the Bharatiya Janata Party outside the saffron party headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The Congress was the only party in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to demand a discussion on setting up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe allegations against the Adani group. Other opposition parties gave similar notices on different issues, including violence in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal. The Congress members sought a JPC to investigate the alleged misconduct, including corruption, bribery and financial irregularities of the Adani Group in connivance with other authorities. However, other opposition parties raised different issues, with the AAP seeking a discussion on "increasing crimes in Delhi" and the TMC, DMK, AAP and CPI seeking a discussion on violence in Manipur. The CPI-M, SP and IUML sought a discussion on the recent violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
Ahead of Kejriwal's visit, drama ensued at the Ghazipur landfill site and roads leading to the area as scores of Bharatiya Janata Party supporters staged a protest, showed black flags and raised slogans against him.
TMC's Dola Sen and Mausam Noor were there at the site till midnight.
'BJP insiders acknowledge that the party needs to be helmed by someone who can match Arvind Kejriwal's stature.' 'A Sudhanshu Trivedi or Bansuri Swaraj could bring the freshness the party needs in Delhi,' points out Aditi Phadnis.
On Tuesday, seven top wrestlers filed a joint petition in the Supreme Court seeking registration of an FIR against Singh
The municipal House failed to elect a mayor on Monday after a ruckus erupted over the nominated members being allowed to vote in the election to the post.
The Election Commission on Wednesday asked the Gujarat chief electoral officer to inquire and take action "as warranted" after the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that its Surat (East) candidate was abducted and coerced by the Bharatiya Janata Party to withdraw from the poll fray.
A 39-member parliamentary panel has been constituted to examine the two bills proposing simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The panel, chaired by BJP leader Bhratruhari Mahtab, will include prominent members from various political parties, including the BJP, Congress, SP, TMC, and DMK. The panel is expected to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the first day of the last week of the next session. The government has decided to increase the committee's strength to include more political parties, highlighting the significance of this proposal to reform the election process in India.
A total of 19 legislators from the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party were suspended from the Gujarat assembly for a day on Wednesday after they shouted slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party government before walking out of the House over the issue of a fake trainee PSI found undergoing training at a state-run police training academy.
'The BJP is scared it may lose the Delhi municipal elections where they have been in power for the last 15 years.'
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
Last month, Kejriwal had joined the contractual teachers in Punjab's Mohali, who staged a protest making a similar demand.
Kejriwal said the AAP is not like the Congress and cannot be intimidated by the ruling party.
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which will replace an ordinance promulgated for handling the transfers and postings of senior officers in the city government, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday amid a walkout by opposition parties.
Aam Aadmi Party's Gujarat unit chief Gopal Italia was on Thursday detained by the Delhi police after he appeared before the National Commission for Women (NCW) for his alleged comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid protests by party members outside the women's panel's office in New Delhi.
The BJP sharpened its attack on the AAP after its Gujarat chief Gopal Italia was heard purportedly mocking the prime minister's mother in a video, and said people of the state will make it pay for 'abusing' her.
"Police are trying to cover up the matter because one of the culprits is a BJP member. The DCP is covering up the case saying the music in the car was so loud that the perpetrators didn't notice a girl was stuck in their car.
Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
Swaraj India president and former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav on Thursday termed the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's performance in Punjab as "spectacular and extraordinary", but said it's more "an indictment" of the "entire political establishment" rather than the success of a party in the electoral battle.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday replaced its Mehrauli and Mundka candidates for the Delhi assembly polls following an inquiry by the party's "internal Lokpal", triggering protests outside Arvind Kejriwal's Kaushambi residence.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs will continue their overnight protest at the Delhi assembly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday to demand the sacking of Aam Aadmi Party ministers over alleged corruption charges.
Protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation as well as the central government and demanded to stop the action.
Meanwhile, many BJP members chanted 'Hanuman Chalisa' for several minutes, awaiting resumption of the House.
The activists of the BJYM, led by its president Tejasvi Surya, staged a protest near Kejriwal's residence at Civil Lines in Delhi, demanding an apology from him for allegedly mocking Kashmiri Pandits, with the AAP alleging vandalism during the demonstration.
She alleged that the ED has become a "political tool" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Addressing the gathering at the programme in Agra, Adityanath said, "There can be nothing bigger than the nation, and when will a nation be strong, when we are united and good."
Lovely hailed the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for giving him and his colleagues the opportunity to join the party when they felt lost.
Students held a protest over the deaths of the civil services aspirants, raising slogans against authorities.
In the wake of an attack on Aam Aadmi Party headquarters on Wednesday, a plea was hurriedly made in the Delhi high court for directions to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not refuse security offered to him.
Twenty suspended Rajya Sabha members on Wednesday started a 50-hour relay protest inside the Parliament complex, with sources saying the Opposition declined the chairman's offer that they express regret over their members' behaviour in the House to get the suspension revoked.
Nearly 350 Aaam Aadmi Party volunteers and leaders from Maharashtra quit on Monday in protest against the 'murder of democracy' in the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, showing their support to expelled leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
