Voting for 117 assembly seats in Punjab and 59 assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh were held on Sunday.
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
Asking that if all these leaders and actors accompanying the Pakistani journalists are Inter-Services Intelligence's contacts, Singh asserted that he would have invited her again had there been no visa restrictions between India and Pakistan.
In its first list of 86 candidates, the Congress on Saturday gave the ticket to party MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from Bassi Pathana (SC) seat.
Amid the factional feud in the Punjab Congress, Sidhu will be meeting All India Congress Committee general secretary Harish Rawat and senior party leader K C Venugopal on October 14 for a discussion on organisational matters related to the party's state unit.
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday said the state must concentrate on real issues that concern every Punjabi even as MP Manish Tewari said he never saw "such chaos and anarchy" being played out in the party's state unit.
Raut also said that all the opposition parties will discuss whether a delegation should be sent to Lakhimpur Kheri.
'Because if a Dalit is made the chief minister, they ask who is taking the decisions in the Congress?'
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra left for Lakhimpur Kheri Wednesday evening from a PAC guest house in Sitapur where she was kept in detention since Monday morning.
Sidhu made the remark welcoming the change, ushered by the people and emphasising that their verdict should be 'humbly accepted'.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
Sunil Jakhar was among the front runners for the chief ministerial post after the exit of Amarinder Singh. But the party preferred Charanjit Singh Channi, who became the first chief minister of Punjab from the Scheduled Caste community.
In a statement, Deol said Sidhu's 'repeated utterances seek to derail the earnest efforts of the state government to ensure justice in the drugs matter and the sacrilege cases'.
Two lecturers -- one from Nabha and another from Patiala -- wanted to be posted to a government polytechnic institute at Patiala.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded two Congress turncoats and its former Union minister Vijay Sampla for next month's Punjab assembly polls as it released its second list of 27 candidates on Thursday.
The other main contender for the party's CM face was Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Jat Sikh face.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met more than 20 party leaders, including ministers, MLAs and MPs at his farmhouse in Mohali's Siswan, sources said. Sidhu, who may be declared the state party chief, met four ministers and at least six MLAs at the residence of Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa in Chandigarh, they said.
Kejriwal then said that though he had wanted party MP Bhagwant Mann's name to be declared as the chief ministerial candidate, the latter insisted that the people of Punjab should make this decision.
On his condition of resolving farmers' issues, the BJP leader said Singh did not talk about ending the farmers' agitation.
After Congress president Sonia Gandhi met leaders of the G-23 grouping to resolve internal party issues, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said "indulging the dissenters too much" will encourage more dissent.
The MHA has also sought an immediate report from the state government besides asking it to fix responsibility and take strict action against those responsible.
The committee comprises Justice (Retd) Mehtab Singh Gill; principal secretary, home affairs; and Justice, Anurag Verma.
Modi, who was travelling by road in Punjab, was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to blockade by some protesters, an incident the Union home ministry described as a 'major lapse' in his security.
Besides Kejriwal, no other chief minister will be present in the oath-taking ceremony, according to AAP sources.
Sidhu made the sharp retort amid speculation that the former cricketer is himself eyeing the top post if the Congress wins next month's assembly polls.
"We had asked them (PMO) to discontinue the visit due to bad weather conditions and protests. We had no information of his (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) sudden route change. There was no security lapse during the PM visit," Channi said at a press conference.
There is "dictatorship" in India now with politicians not being allowed to visit Uttar Pradesh to meet the families of the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, Rahul said.
The incumbent Congress could win only 18 seats, with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi losing both seats he contested -- Chamkaur Sahib as well as Bhadaur.
A case against Majithia under various sections of the NDPS Act was registered on the basis of a 2018 status report of probe into the drug racket in the state.
Some residents of village Nizampur claimed that the man disrespected the Nishan Sahib and tried to run away but was caught after a chase.
The Punjab government has declared a holiday on Thursday as a mark of respect to the former chief minister.
The party also promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for the sale of liquor and sand mining.
The Congress on Friday released a list of 30 star campaigners for the February 20 Punjab Assembly elections and left out names of Tewari and Ghulam Nabi Azad, who are among the prominent members of the 'G-23' leaders who had written to the party leadership seeking an organisational overhaul.
The game intensified after Congress fielded Channi from a second seat and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia chose to take on Sidhu from the Amritsar East seat.
Gandhi rued that the fourth estate was showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face round-the-clock and not raising issues like unemployment or inflation.
His remarks came on a day when Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi announced slashing of the power tariff by Rs 3 per unit for the domestic sector and increasing the dearness allowance for government employees.
Meanwhile, Navjot Singh Sidhu again launched an attack on the former CM.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia was on Wednesday questioned for more than two hours by a special investigation team probing a drugs case registered against him.
Sources said all the ministers expressed anguish over the "major security breach" during Modi's visit to the Congress-ruled state on Wednesday, with some demanding strong action.
"I am proud of my husband. He laid down his life for the country," says Mandeep Kaur, wife of Naik Mandeep Singh, who was among the five soldiers killed in a fierce gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Monday.
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