The Congress has not released a poll manifesto but a declaration of appeasement.
Patel will be administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function to be held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat in Gandhinagar at 2 pm.
A buoyant Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday began the groundwork for government formation, with party president Rajnath Singh appointing observers to be sent to the four states where the party has emerged victorious.
Milind Deora, minister of state for communication and information technology and shipping, is one of the Congress' young guns under Rahul Gandhi. He tells Kavita Chowdhury that the core problem for the United Progressive Alliance in its second term has been its inability to communicate effectively. Edited excerpts:
Upset over the defeat of several of Congress's sitting Members of Legislative Assembly in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, state Congress chief Charandas Mahant blamed it on "internal sabotage" on Sunday evening.
He spent Saturday at his brother's home in Mumbai even as his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar attended a party meeting where most of the NCP MLAs were present.
On January 18, the agency had raided his premises and claimed to have seized about Rs 8 crore cash.
Known for courting controversies, the Sadhvi claimed the mission of a Congress-free India has already been "accomplished" and it is now time to rid the country of Muslims.
The Congress president spoke of how Modi had hosted Xi in his home state Gujarat and the Chinese troops made an incursion into Indian territory.
Former army chief Gen VK Singh, who was engaged in a long-drawn battle with the government over his age issue, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday.3
The veteran socialist leader, who ended his long alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party last year, was responding to queries from journalists about the 'Hindu Rashtra' clamour, which was openly endorsed earlier this week by his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath.
If the BJP has to work as a junior partner of Vijay's TVK, then either the party will have to change the state leader, or the latter should change himself. Incidentally, ever since Vijay started talking politics and elections, the pro-BJP/Hindutva social media had stopped dragging his name into any non-existing issue.' In particular, they have stopped referring to him by his Christian name, 'Joseph Vijay', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Monday joined the party men who have offered to contest against Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
In an apparent reference to the snooping scandal, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked Narendra Modi alleging that the Gujarat chief minister, who spoke about women empowerment, was "tapping" phones of women in the state.
In the wake of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra predicting Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh's Chouhan's exit from the top post following the year-end assembly polls, the latter asked people at a rally whether he should become the CM again or not.
Bharatiya Janata Party's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi on Wednesday said coming out with a "white paper" for every government department and initiating a "security index" to ensure better policing will be her priorities if the party is voted to power in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls.
His resignation came hours after reports surfaced that the party has sought an explanation from him over allegations of corruption levelled by some unidentified workers.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, who shares a warm relation with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar notwithstanding the severing of ties with the Janata Dal-United, will skip the party's October 27 rally.
Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Friday wrote letters to fellow chief ministers, urging them to oppose the Communal Violence Bill saying it was a blatant intrusion upon the powers of the state governments.
Arvind Kejriwal elected AAP legislature party leader.
Modi will start his Sunday election tour with a rally in Chapra, the political bastion of Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad. As per the itinerary, from Chapra he will go to Samastipur to address a public meeting in Housing Board ground, then at Gandhi maidan in Motihari and will end the campaign trip with a rally in Bagaha.
"Within a few weeks, Rahul Gandhi will become the prime minister. In your (Gandhi's) hands the country will be safe we believe," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.
If Tamil Nadu voters preferred the DMK combine, it owed to the Modi-Annamalai combo's ideological battle which often crossed the line of political decency and also challenged 'Tamil pride', argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said in the state assembly that its friend-turned-foe Bharatiya Janata Party had betrayed him and The JD-U by projecting Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate of NDA.
Congress sources said internal surveys indicate that the party is likely to get a majority in Himachal polls leading to increasing the number of contenders for the chief minister's post.
The ruling Congress is seeking to retain power in Chhattisgarh by banking on the welfare schemes of the Bhupesh Baghel government, while the Bharatiya Janata Party is hoping to corner it on the issues of alleged corruption, religious conversions and unfulfilled poll promises.
Sources in the PML-N told the Press Trust of India in Lahore that Nawaz Sharif decided to withdraw himself from the race for the prime minister's office for his daughter and political heir, Maryam Nawaz, 50.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday clarified that he does not propose a ban on sex education as suggested by a prominent newspaper through banner headlines.
Amidst snakelike political manoeuvrings for government formation in state, Devendra Fadnavis still remains top contender for CM post, say sources
Security has been tightened outside three luxury hotels, police said on Sunday.
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was the "target" of the serial blasts carried out by Indian Mujahideen modules in Patna.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi asked partymen to focus on Bharatiya Janata Party's return to power at the Centre instead of projecting anyone including him as the prime ministerial candidate.
Kumar's comment comes days after a section of JD-U leaders in Uttar Pradesh announced that they would join the Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in the state.
We are definite that we will form the government here," Sonowal told media persons.
Thousands of people turned up at the domestic airport in Mumbai to greet Narendra Modi.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United on Wednesday asserted that it was "not scared of ED and CBI" following its break-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules the Centre and is often accused by the opposition of misusing investigating agencies.
Delhi picked up the pace and a 67 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 6 pm.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh said on Monday there was a "security lapse" at the venue of Narendra Modi's rally in Patna, which witnessed serial blasts that left six persons dead, and extra precautions should have been taken.
Rather than contesting the state elections from Ganderbal, the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister will be contesting the state elections from Sonwar and Beerwah, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
