While PM Narendra Modi-Amit Shah dominated the national executive, senior chief ministers and 'margdarshaks' LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi were ignored
The stage was on Friday set for a stormy Bharatiya Janata Party national executive meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, with senior leader Arun Shourie joining others in demanding an open discussion on the party's Lok Sabha poll debacle that has turned the party into a badly divided house.
Singh, who arrived in the national capital from Imphal on Sunday morning, went to meet Shah at his residence in New Delhi.
Shah held a meeting with office-bearers, state chiefs and key organisational leaders to finalise agenda items, including resolutions, which the national executive is expected to discuss on September 25, the birth anniversary of Hindutva icon Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
Clashes were reported in Rishra on Sunday evening during a Ram Navami procession in which BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh and party's Pursurah MLA Biman Ghosh were present. The MLA was injured and hospitalised.
'This is going to generate a new debate on reservation because the quota for Economically Weaker Sections is 10%, and that is for nearly 16% of the population.' 'For 16% you are giving 10%. This is set to raise eyebrows among the OBCs after the caste survey.'
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a case linked to the now scrapped Delhi excise policy and wrote to the central agency demanding the "recall" of its summons to him, calling it "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".
Based on the investigations so far, the SIT filed a memo in a special Anti-Corruption Bureau court in Hyderabad adding the names of Santhosh and two persons from Kerala--Jaggu Swami and Tushar Vellapally, besides B Srinivas, as accused in the case, they said.
This is also the first time that Naidu has been arrested on corruption charges in his political career spanning over 40 years.
Here's how some of the heavyweights fared in the Karnataka elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to replace its Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar with Union minister G Kishan Reddy, a "softer" leader who can take everyone along, and elevate Etela Rajender, who has switched from the BRS, as its election management committee chairperson hints at a change in the party's strategy in the state.
CM Stalin has a procedural problem. Nominating new ministers would entail his having to seek formal permission from governor R N Ravi. Stalin does not want to interact with the person of this governor, as far as possible, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with a 2015 drugs case on Thursday morning, official sources said.
This year, the proceedings at Kushabhau Sthal will be monitored by the leader of Opposition in Parliament L K Advani.
Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda on Tuesday asked the party's social media teams to follow the organisation's values and refrain from indulging in lowering the standard of political discourse, "irrespective of what narrative the Opposition chooses".
Internet services remained suspended as police urged people to maintain calm and not fall for rumours.
The fact that Gehlot has stayed relevant these five years with his populist schemes is one reason why he may beat incumbency in a state that votes for change every election, observes Ramesh Menon.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
The Congress on Thursday said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law after a Gujarat court rejected Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Friday downplayed the absence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the party's national executive committee meeting, claiming it was not the result of infighting within the party. "Infighting take place in the Congress and not in our party," senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi said. Denying any rift between senior leaders of the party, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, "There is no clash".
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will not receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport, who is arriving in Hyderabad on Saturday to participate in the two-day long BJP National Executive meeting.
On a tour to the US, Gandhi told reporters in Washington that the Muslim League is a completely secular party and there is nothing non-secular about it.
Earlier in the day, one person was killed and three were injured after a crude bomb went off in a mango orchard in Murshibabad district, police said.
Asserting that the JD-S does not practice opportunistic politics, Gowda while defending the decision to ally with the BJP said, "This party has to be saved, which has been his pain and struggle for decades, and there is no selfishness in this....I took the decision."
The transmogrification of Prime Minister Modi to Saint Modi began with the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. By identifying himself with Lord Ram, Modi raised himself in popular imagination to a saintly person.
Former Tripura chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Biplab Kumar Deb is congratulated by BJP national Spokesperson Dr Sambit Patra on being elected to the Rajya Sabha in Agartala.
The Bharatiya Janata Party national executive meeting has been postponed to May 27 to 28 and the venue has been shifted from Ludhiana to Delhi.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, accompanied by four of his cabinet ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party state president Sarada Devi, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Sunday, state minister and government spokesperson Sapam Ranjan Singh told PTI.
Mudigere's Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, M P Kumaraswamy, on Thursday announced his resignation from the party, after he was denied ticket to contest the Karnataka assembly polls, and blamed national General Secretary C T Ravi for not getting nominated.
Earlier in the day, Saha was elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting held in Agartala on Monday.
On Tuesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah exuded confidence that the BJP would win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by an even bigger majority.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress remain the most dominant political forces in Chhattisgarh, though the state has several regional outfits that have pockets of influence, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a determined bid to challenge its well entrenched rivals and make a mark in polls to the 90-member House.
Will a caste census make tens of millions desert Mr Modi?, asks Shekhar Gupta.
Through gestures and decisions, the BJP high command has signalled that Raje may not be the lead actor but rather play a supporting role in a high-stakes election in its stamping ground.
The Delhi police on Tuesday arrested two persons including NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha in connection with a probe in the portal's foreign funding, officials said.
Hema Malini and Shaina NC have also been omitted from the group.
The sports department of Meghalaya denied permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party to host an election rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the PA Sangma Stadium in Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma's home constituency of South Tura, citing construction work at the venue.
'The BJP would like to build a 'rainbow' coalition of different castes and communities buttressed by the appeal of nationalism and Hindutva.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party Friday said the government's "failure" to check price rise, corruption and threat to internal security will be discussed in the party's National Council Meet to be held in New Delhi in March where the party will chalk out its strategy for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday exchanged jibes over the red diary that a sacked state minister claims records financial misdeeds of the CM and his colleagues.
