From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
Leaders from all political parties welcomed the conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Navjot Sidhu's life inside jail wouldn't be ten percent as hard as that of an ordinary convict who is in jail for assault leading to unintentional death, argues Sudhir Bisht.
The Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in saving the life of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar whose mercy petition had been rejected by the President. In a statement, the ruling party in Punjab sought "direct and immediate intervention of the prime minister to save the life of Bhullar on grounds of humanitarianism and civilised concern and above all the national interest".
With 85-year-old Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal at the helm, the old faces mostly stand out in the newly sworn Punjab Cabinet, whose average age is 60 years. Badal is the oldest member of his council of ministers, which comprises 17 other Cabinet-rank ministers, including his son Sukhbir Singh Badal as his deputy.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has held a series of meetings with MPs and Union ministers from Punjab and Haryana and surrounding states, and virtual interactions with state agricultural ministers of all BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ruled states where he briefed them about the merits of the two bills, the sources said.
Akali veteran Parkash Singh Badal will be sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister on March 14 for a record fifth time with the SAD-BJP combine on Friday jointly electing the 85-year-old leader to head the state for a second consecutive term.
A day after his party got a miserable drubbing in the Assembly polls, Peoples Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Wednesday accused Shiromani Akali Dal of using money power to garner votes.
The results of the Assembly elections were nothing to exult about for the Bharatiya Janata Party with the party faring poorly in Uttar Pradesh and its chief minister B C Khanduri losing in Uttarakhand although it grabbed Goa from Congress.
Despite attaining absolute majority in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party lost its vote share in comparison to Congress which failed to live up to its expectations in the poll results of the 117 member assembly.
The SAD-BJP alliance on Tuesday created history in Punjab by storming back to power for a second consecutive term, breaking a 46-year-old jinx.
Shiromani Akali Dal created history on Tuesday to become the first party ever to retain power in Punjab bucking the anti-incumbency factor with Parkash Singh Badal, the grand old man of the state politics, and his son Sukhbir Singh leading the charge.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari is confident that his party will come back to power in Uttrakhand as well as Punjab, where it has an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. He also believes that the party will fare way better in Uttar Pradesh than the predictions made by several exit polls. "I am confident that we will win the elections in Uttrakhand and Punjab," he said.
He had along with three other ministers rebelled against Amarinder Singh while choosing to side with the camp of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The SAD has been requesting the Centre not to introduce the three agriculture-related bills for the approval of Parliament until all reservations expressed by farmers' organisations, farmers and farm labourers are addressed, Badal said.
Though the Congress lost the battle in 2007 to the Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, it hopes to regain power in Punjab this year. The party, which is banking on the anti-incumbency factor, believes it "will throw Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Bhartiya Janata Party out of power".
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal expressed his gratitude to Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh for his efforts in cleaning polluted rivers in the state. Badal appreciated the central minister's efforts through a unanimous resolution adopted by the state assembly on September 30, which thanked Ramesh for his "whole-hearted assistance to the scheme to make the state of Punjab pollution free."
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Kaur, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
Punjab Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra has come under fire from several quarters after he was seen forcing the Vice Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to lie on a dirty mattress at a hospital.
Rakesh Tikait, the 51-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader from the hinterlands of Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, welcomed the support from international artistes and activists, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, but acknowledged he does not know them.
MPs from 10 Opposition parties on Thursday wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla saying that the situation at Ghazipur border was like that of India-Pakistan border and condition of farmers resembles prisoners in jail.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar held talks with leaders of the opposition in her attempt to break the Parliament impasse on the 2G spectrum issue.Leaders of several parties including the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party, RJD and the National Conference did not attend the luncheon meeting called by the Speaker to find a solution to the deadlock.
Most political leaders in Punjab have come out in the open to oppose him, unlike the early 1980s when political leaders were scared of speaking against Bhindranwale, observes Sudhir Bisht.
The Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a "collective leadership"
The government has ruled out a separate marriage law for the Sikhs and dropped the proposal to amend the Anand Marriage Act of 1909 to provide for registration of the Sikh marriages.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 assembly election results along with the 2014 Lok sabha results to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
Nothing exemplifies this Sikh khundak (revenge) better than the fact that all the tallest names in the state lost their election to novices fielded by AAP.
With its landslide victory in Punjab assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party has achieved a major milestone in its journey so far and emerged as an alternative in the national politics.
That's a deficit the NDA will have to make up with the help of 'friendly' alliance partners, the very groupings the PM has said are 'family-run'.
A beaming Amarinder Singh thanked the people of the state for their overwhelming support, saying he was committed to good governance and tackling the drug menace.
Making the announcement at a press conference in Chandigarh, Sidhu, however, said he will assume charge the day Punjab will get a new advocate general.
'This is evidently pure vendetta politics and may even end up helping the Akalis in the elections'
'Narendra Modi might not have made 145 in Maharashtra, but it is definitely true that the Congress, and other dynastic parties, are well and truly stumped.'
Expressing her anguish over the pain of farmers, Badal, leader of the ruling BJP's erstwhile ally, said, "It is strange that farmers are spending nights in open during the chilling winters and even then their demands are falling on deaf ears."
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.
"The prime minister should either bring down prices or leave his chair," Yadav told reporters.
In further trouble for beleaguered Karnataka Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, a petition seeking impeachment proceedings against him was moved by as many as 76 Rajya Sabha members on Monday.
Rahul's babalog have forged an alliance that is now formidable. This is a challenge to older congress MPs. Second-timers and third-timers cannot be very happy with this development
Modi should call an emergency Parliament session and repeal these acts, said the SAD chief, adding that people have the final say in a democracy.
