With two cabinet ministers and three ministers of state, the Northeastern region was on Wednesday handsomely rewarded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first reshuffle of his ministry in the second tenure.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
'The violence that shook Assam was a direct outcome of the state's ethnic problem... The tension that created a rift between the Bodos and the non-Bodos for years found a blood-spattered expression.' Former NSG chief Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Kokrajhar, speaks to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com about last week's carnage in Assam.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said though there is no pre-poll adjustment with the Tipra Motha, there can be local-level understanding with the tribal party, which has emerged as the third pole in the upcoming Tripura elections.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
Criticising BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for advocating the Gujarat model of development, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi dismissed it, saying the same formula could not be applied to all states in the country.
The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet on Thursday to finalise its first list of candidates for five assembly polls, with top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to attend the meeting.
A plea has been moved in the Supreme Court by two Kashmir residents challenging the Centre's decision to constitute the delimitation commission for redrawing the assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Sonowal, a law graduate, is considered to be a rarity -- an honest politician who also worked to unite different communities with his oft-repeated lines 'Barak-Brahmaputra-plains-hills'.
A video of MLA Dilip Lande entering the luxury hotel in Guwahati, where the party rebels have been camping for the past few days, was shared by Shinde's office in Mumbai on Friday.
Almost a week after winning the Assam Assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to decide on the name of its Chief Ministerial nominee on Saturday in a crucial meeting called by the central leadership of the party.
Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise.
Gujarat legislator Jignesh Mevani on Monday alleged that his arrest by the Assam police is a pre-planned conspiracy "designed" by the Prime Minister's Office to destroy him ahead of assembly elections in the state and termed it an act of "56-inch cowardice".
'One reason given for the failure of the Congress in Assam was due to the alliance with the AIUDF.'
Himanta Biswa Sarma -- who is also the North East Democratic Alliance convenor -- took the oath of office and secrecy in Assamese.
Amid the deepening political turmoil in Maharashtra, state Congress president Nana Patole accused Deputy CM and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar of harassing Congress legislators and ministers by stalling their development funds.
The Imphal Valley in Manipur, which remained peaceful for most of Friday, witnessed sporadic clashes later in the day as more security forces were rushed in from other states by road and air to calm down a state which had witnessed bloody ethnic rioting over the last 48 hours.
Ram Madhav has also been assigned the task of coordination with Jammu and Kashmir government, where BJP shares power with PDP.
In the Congress, Sushmita Dev enjoyed the indulgence of the Gandhi family. She has been true to them and has been graceful in her gratitude to the party that gave her unparalleled political opportunities.
'...despite not being ideologically aligned with a vast section of the people of the north east.' 'But the results in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya show that no party, including the BJP, can say that it has really done well.'
"We did not vote for the BPF (Bodoland People's Front) candidate in Lok Sabha polls, that's why we were attacked," alleged 75-year-old Iman Ali.
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The counting of votes in all these states and the UT will take place on May 2.
Indefinite curfew has been enforced in troubled Baksa district of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council areas of Assam following the killing of a youth leader, Manoj Das, of Asom Sena by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday evening at Mushalpur area.
Police have recovered four fire arms including two revolvers and 45 vehicle registration plates from the house of the arrested kingpin of a nationwide car theft racket, Anil Chauhan, at Mirza in Guwahati city on Thursday.
The defeat in the elections has put a question mark on the five-time MP and former Union minister's political future.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
China has long coveted Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Southern Tibet. But, as Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan explains, in 1947, the present state of Arunachal Pradesh constituted the North East Frontier Tract of Assam. When India adopted its Constitution on 26 January 1950, NEFT became 'a separate politico-administrative entity' although it was constitutionally still a part of Assam. Its administration was brought directly under the President of India with the Governor of Assam acting as his agent. A revealing excerpt from his book The Origin Story of India's States.
He told PTI in an interview that parties that are still thinking of 'being the leader' of a possible united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have not understood the gravity of the situation at all.
Re-polling would be held on Thursday in six polling booths of three of the five Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls on April 7.
Counting of votes in all elections will be held on May 2.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday demanded the cancellation of the nomination of Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Suvendu Adhikari, who is pitted against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram, as his name also 'seems to appear' in the electoral roll of Haldia constituency.
'Our villagers used to go up to Finger 4 and Finger 6, but today the Chinese are there.' 'Since April 2020, Chinese troops have blocked Indian troops from reaching at least ten patrolling points running from the Depsang plains in the north to Pangong Tso lake in the south.'
He was on Friday initially barred from campaigning related activities till April 4 for allegedly making threatening remarks against Bodoland People's Front chief Hagrama Mohilary.
In a subtle warning to the Shiv Sena rebels currently camping in Guwahati, party leader and cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray has said the road from Mumbai airport to Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex in Mumbai, goes via Worli.
'Conrad Sangma is an interesting mix of charisma, ability and has emerged as a capable leader.' 'Neiphiu Rio is very unassuming, quiet, subtle and stands out among all Naga leaders today.'
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party, two senior leaders of the Asom Gana Parishad on Monday joined the party and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha pledged support to BJP candidates in West Bengal, including the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
