While the BJP has assured voters that these benefits will not be discontinued, AAP leaders have questioned the party's long-term commitment.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The CBI began its questioning of the UP lawmaker around 5 am on Friday.
Several Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, hit out at the BJP government at the Centre, saying agencies are targeting those who raised their voice against the ruling party.
BJP MLA Raja Singh was booked on Tuesday over his alleged provocative statements pertaining to the Beef Festival that is proposed to be held at Osmania University campus on December 10.
A gas cylinder blast in a house at Dholahat in West Bengal's Pathar Pratima has claimed eight lives, including four children. The explosion, which occurred on Monday night, triggered a massive fire, intensified by the presence of stacked firecrackers inside the house. The incident has sparked a political controversy, with the BJP demanding a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe and the TMC maintaining that the police are already investigating and that the state government has a "zero-tolerance " policy towards such incidents. The blast has also raised concerns about the safety of illegal firecracker manufacturing units, which have been linked to several recent accidents in the state.
The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned on Sunday, following months of ethnic violence in the state. BJP leaders have begun closed-door meetings to decide the next course of action. The opposition welcomed Singh's resignation, while the BJP hopes the move will help restore peace in the region.
The mortal remains of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Raj Kishore Keshari, who was stabbed to death by a woman at his residence in Purnia, were consigned to flames with state honours on Wednesday.
"I am really disappointed with the way the party is functioning. I am fed up with so many allegations of corruption levelled against the party and the government. I also do not support the way the issue of Sandeshkhali was handled," he said while maintaining that the dual issues of corruption and Sandeshkhali were the primary triggers for his decision to quit.
Atishi, former Delhi chief minister and MLA from Kalkaji constituency, was chosen as the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly at a meeting of AAP MLAs on Sunday. AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal was also present at the meeting. Atishi, who was proposed by MLA Sanjeev Jha, thanked Kejriwal and the MLAs for their support. She promised to play a strong opposition role in the House, raise issues with full force, and ensure the BJP fulfils its promises. The first session of the Delhi Assembly will begin on February 24, with the BJP government planning to table pending CAG reports against the performance of the previous AAP government.
The EC said that Pradeep Singh Jadeja, MLA, had printed pamphlets showing photograph of himself and the chief minister with the BJP symbol Lotus alongside the picture of 'Maa Amba'.
Allegedly charging patients Rs 2 instead of the stipulated fee of Re 1 at a Community Health Centre (CHC) has cost a contractual employee his job in Maharajganj in eastern Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Dhanraj Kella, legislator from Wadhwan constituency, is the first rebel member to resign from the BJP and as a legislator after distribution of tickets. He submitted his resignation to Speaker Mangaldas Patel.
The priority now is to work out a comprehensive plan for government formation.
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP national general Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, BJP state unit president B Y Vijayendra, and former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai were among those present at the legislature party meeting, where R Ashoka was picked as its leader.
Karnataka BJP legislator B Raghupathy Bhat's wife Padmapriya, who has been missing for the last four days, was found dead in an apartment in a south west Delhi locality today in a suspected case of suicide.
The court said had the prosecution witnesses not turned hostile, the outcome of the trial would have been different.
BJP leader PC George was granted bail by a court in Kottayam, Kerala in a hate speech case. George had surrendered before the court on Monday and was remanded to police custody. The High Court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea, observing that granting bail would send the wrong message to society. George was accused of delivering a hate speech against a minority community during a TV channel discussion. He was booked under sections 196(1)(a), 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act.
Beleaguered Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the murder of a village sarpanch and three months after the new Mahayuti government assumed office.
Former MLA Ram Dayal Uikey, the BJP nominee from Pali-Tanakhar seat in Korba district, was present in the vehicle when the cash was seized from there, the police official said.
Television visuals showed BJP workers mobbing the car at Khandoji Baba Chowk and vandalising it, resulting in the vehicle's windscreen and side panes getting damaged.
The action followed a show-cause notice to the Shahpura MLA, who is a former Speaker of the state assembly, from the party's state unit president CP Joshi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of 20 candidates for Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka has caused dissidence among leaders in the state with few claiming that they would switch over to Congress.
'I had told Fadnavisji that I will be with the party till the Lok Sabha election and I will give my 100 per cent to campaign for the BJP. But ultimately I will have to take this decision (to quit the BJP).' 'When I requested him to see this from the point of view of an elder brother, he could not say anything more after that.'
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena, announced the latest list which also has the name of Sanjana Jadhav, daughter of former Union minister and BJP leader Raosaheb Danve.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina, seeking re-election from Nowshera assembly constituency of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, is facing a major challenge from his former party colleague Surinder Choudhary.
Chandrasekhar Patil Revoor, the BJP legislator representing Gulbarga South, died of a heart attack on Wednesday at Sedam, about 60 km from Gulbarga.
Ending all speculation, Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Bhim Lal Arya on Monday night said he would never desert his party and was not joining the Congress.
Kangana Ranaut, the BJP candidate for Mandi, held a roadshow in the constituency on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
As pressure mounted, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front seemed to be supporting Mukesh, taking a cautious wait-and-watch stance.
Former Indian kabaddi team captain and Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Hooda is locked in a multi-cornered electoral contest from the Jat-dominated Meham assembly constituency in the Rohtak district for the Haryana assembly polls.
'JD-U wants to emerge as the single largest party in Bihar after the next assembly polls by contesting more seats than the BJP.'
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's former jailer Sunil Sangwan has won the Charkhi Dadri seat in Haryana as Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.
Among the BJP rebels, a notable figure is Gopal Shetty, a two-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member from Mumbai. He has filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the party's official nominee, Sanjay Upadhyay, in Mumbai's Borivali assembly constituency.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
The TMC chief had said that she would never allow the Centre to conduct a similar exercise in West Bengal.
'Those seeking short-term benefits are joining the Shinde-led Sena and the ones looking at long-term benefits are joining the BJP.'
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