The letter to Sonia Gandhi reminded her of the party's 18-point agenda "given to the last chief minister" of Punjab and said that those were "equally relevant today".
Singhdeo was the main architect of the Congress party's poll manifesto, which he said was made after feedback from about 80,000 people from across the state.
"Making a person belonging to Dalit caste as the chief minister of Punjab is nothing but an election stunt. I have come to know through the media today that assembly elections in Punjab will be fought under a non-Dalit leader and not under Channi," Mayawati told newspersons in Lucknow
Heading G20 will give India a foreign affairs year like it has never had in history. You can trust Narendra Modi to exploit this to India's benefit. And, of course, to his own in his election year, explains Shekhar Gupta.
'The Congress-JD-S alliance will be intact for the next three years, for sure.'
'Is China's intention not clear?' 'Do we still think that if we are nice to China, it will be good to us?'
'The BJP has lost 5 states and Lok Sabha elections are due in less than 90 days.' 'The reservation bill is a jhunjhuna (lollipop) for the upper castes.'
Padmanabham said the government has assured him it would obtain the report of a commission on backward classes (for inclusion of the Kapus in Backward Classes), within seven months instead of nine, if possible, and allocate Rs 1,000 crore annually to Kapu (welfare) corporation from next year.
However, another quota agitation body Sardar Patel Group welcomed the government's move, but said they will assess how it will help Patel community and up to what extent.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday refused to vacate the stay granted by it last month on Haryana government's decision to grant reservation to Jats.
It also provides that no preliminary enquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an arrest under this law would not be subject to any approval.
The 26-member Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, has three women members; two from the Scheduled Castes and one from the Scheduled Tribes.
The stir in Gujarat by the Patel (Patidar) community over their inclusion in the Other Backward Classes has once again raised the issue of the importance of reservations in India.
With an eye on upcoming assembly elections after the drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, Maharashtra's Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government will take a decision next week on the Rane committee's recommendation for 20 per cent quota for Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions.
Mahesh Londhe, son of a Pune bhel vendor cleared CA in first attempt. Londhe, who was sponsored by Thermax CEO MS Unnikrishnan, now wants to take up a corporate job in a manufacturing firm
Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com offers his unique perspective on the Patel agitation and the reservation issue.
Patel told Congress to clear their stand on Patidar quota by November 3.
The controversial decision of the United Progressive Alliance-II government ahead of general elections to include Jats in Other Backward Classes category came under judicial scrutiny with the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking explanation from the Centre for allegedly ignoring the advice of a statutory body to keep the community away from reservation benefits.
The monk-turned politician will take the reins of the most populous state for a second time in a row after completing his full five-year term.
The outcome in UP is far more significant than in the other states going to the polls next year. An unlikely setback in UP can cramp the Modi government, virtually making it a lame-duck two years ahead of the 2024 parliamentary poll, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Taking a swipe at the prime minister, he said there was no dearth of skills in the country and those from the backward classes are endowed with skills but not given an opportunity to move forward.
Such is the force of his oratory that many Muslims, even those who don't vote for him, have come to believe that Asaduddin Owaisi is the first and only politician who speaks up for Muslims since Independence, observes Jyoti Punwani
'Where should shudra-OBCs go because of whom the nation is surviving?'
The logic behind the BJP targeting Mayawati's votes.
She has been losing her party's core voters since the 2007 assembly polls, whereas the Samajwadi Party has managed to keep its flock together. The BJP believes she is a soft target.
The state government had on June 24 directed district adminstration to issue SC certificates to 17 OBCs -- Kashyap, Rajbhar, Dhivar, Bind, Kumhar, Kahar, Kewat, Nishad, Bhar, Mallah, Prajapati, Dhimar, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machua.
The Patel community, a decisive vote bank in Gujarat, has two main sects -- Leuva and Kadva. Maa Umiya is the reigning deity of Kadva Patel community.
'Tamil Nadu's youth bulge will soon be 70 per cent of the population, many of them smartphone-toting millennials looking for gains more tangible than what screen gods can give,' says Sunil Sethi.
Security has been beefed up in the East Godavari district, in view of Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham's planned indefinite fast at Kirlampudi from Friday for inclusion of the community in the Backward Class category.
Mukesh Sahni's move to contest 55 seats in the UP assembly polls antagonised top BJP leaders.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday saw high drama and embarrassment for the government as a Constitution amendment bill on backward classes was changed after some amendments moved by the Opposition were passed by the House.
The JD-U, may be the BJP's partner for now. But it is a party at all only because of Nitish Kumar. The day Nitish Kumar exits, the JD-U will split into hundreds of pieces. Obviously, Prashant Kishor is setting himself up as the vessel that will collect all the pieces and put them together in some sort of political instrument, explains Aditi Phadnis.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Saturday
Aam Aadmi Party founder member and former MP Ilyas Azmi on Monday quit the party citing "lack of inner democracy" in the organisation.
Fadnavis also reiterated that the three-party MVA dispensation will collapse under its own weight, and asserted that once that happens, his party would provide an alternative government in the state.
'Otherwise, the minorities would not have acknowledged his leadership quality. I am happy the BJP is working towards achieving a secular image,' Vellappally Natesan, the OBC leader in Kerala who has created a controversy by supporting Narendra Modi, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
Influential Patel community leader Parshottam Rupala, minister in the first Narendra Modi government Mansukh Mandaviya and three-time MP Darshana Jardosh, all from Gujarat, were among those inducted in the Union cabinet on Wednesday.
A summary of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi dispels doubts about him and his policies in a conversation with Urdu weekly Nai Duniya's Chief Editor Shahid Siddiqui.
The big question is: Will her release be a threat to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami? The answer is, while it may give him moments of nervousness, he will not be replaced, say political experts. T E Narasimhan reports.
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