Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh go to polls on Tuesday. A roundup.
Clear battle lines have started emerging in the ruling Congress party in Andhra Pradesh between the supporters and opponents of YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of departed leader Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
In doing so, it further cemented the community's determination to support the opposition. But at the same time, it consolidated its Hindu vote bank like never before.
As the sympathy generated by Rajasekhara Reddy's tragic death has started ebbing, it has become more or less clear now that the Congress high command was in no mood to oblige aggressive campaigners projecting Jaganmohan Reddy as his successor.
Newly elected Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki on Tuesday said his cabinet would be finalised by this week following the approval by the Congress high command.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's opposition to the formation of Telangana is no secret. During his deliberations with the Congress high command in New Delhi on Tuesday, he had made it clear that he was not in favor of the formation of Telangana, and he is capable of handling the situation in the wake of pro-Telangana protests. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
An effective booth-level strategy, strong organisational manoeuvre and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are among the key factors that turned the tide in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.
The statement of Gudha came after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi batted for the "one-man, one-post" concept in lines with the party's Chintan Shivir reforms amid possibility of Gehlot contesting election for the post of national president of the party.
Political parties may be backing P A Sangma to mount pressure on the Congress high command to pick Pranab Mukherjee for the top post, says Neeraja Chowdhury
The prime minister made the charge at a rally in Ajmer just ahead of the announcement of assembly election dates for Rajasthan and four other states in November and December.
Eknath Shinde has been made chief minister to crush the Shiv Sena totally, completely, wholly, point out Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
A new cabinet in the state will be in place in the next 48-72 hours.
The thumping electoral victory the Congress had dreamt about is now a distant reality, says Vicky Nanjappa
Congress's chief ministerial face Sheila Dikshit offered to step aside in favour of a young Akhilesh Yadav.
There was near unanimity among the guests at the Sibal dinner that the country is ready for a change, that the ruling party has lost popularity. However in the same breath speaker after speaker lamented that without Opposition unity Modi could as well win a third successive term, reveals Virendra Kapoor.
Bommai on Friday met BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa along with other party leaders, including ministers Murugesh Nirani, Byrathi Basavaraj, party MP Lehar Singh Siroya and A T Ramaswamy, at the former chief minister's residence.
However, Gehlot, said he will make one last-ditch effort to convince Rahul to take up the party president's post.
In what could signal the end of its long-standing alliance with the Congress in Goa, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday announced its decision to contest both the seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Ending months of speculation, Uttaranchal Chief Minister N D Tiwari on Thursday said he will be ready to bow out if the Congress high command so desires.
Moitra's electoral triumph not only secures her seat in Parliament, but also serves as a defiant retort to attempts to sideline her from the political arena.
Sonia Gandhi is still to reach a decision on the matter.
In a virtual revolt against the Congress high command, the party Member of Parliament from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy has announced his decision to go ahead with his Odarpu Yatra or condolence tour of the state from July 8, coinciding with his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy's birth anniversary.
The Congress in Rajasthan plunged into a crisis on Sunday as several MLAs loyal to Ashok Gehlot submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Sachin Pilot as the next chief minister, their rebellion erupting just ahead of a Congress Legislature Party meeting.
Asked whether Pawar was not alluding to the possibility\n\nof Karuanakran quitting the Congress when he referred to 'a\n\nsenior leader from Kerala', Karunakaran quipped by saying "did\n\nhe say the seniormost leader?"
Apparently embarrassed by the resignation of two party Members of Legislative Assembly from Telangana to protest the Terms of Reference of the Sri Krishna committee, the Congress high command has summoned the two legislators to Delhi for talks.R Damodar Reddy and Ch Mutyam Reddy left for the national capital on Tuesday to hold talks with Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, and other leaders.
'Is there any truth to the rumour that the Income Tax authorities have traced a money trail to a senior politician down in South India?'
It is worth noting that the BJP did not use the short cut of Hindutva to win the game in Bangalore.
Acting tough, the Congress high command on Saturday issued show-cause notices to two Andhra Pradesh MPs -- L Rajagopal and Madhu Goud Yashki -- who are at the forefront of anti-and pro-Telangana campaigns respectively.
The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday asserted that there would be no going back on the issue of tabling a resolution in the state assembly seeking the formation of a separate Telangana state. Briefing newsmen after an emergency meeting of the state cabinet late on Thursday night, chaired by Chief Minister M K Rosaiah, Information Minister J Geeta Reddy said they would abide by the decision of the Congress high command on the Telangana resolution.
From the morning itself, Congress MLAs made a beeline to Cecil Hotel in Shimla where the party's central observers -- Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda -- were staying.
The Congress high command has spared Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah from campaigning for the party in the 12 Assembly constituencies in Telangana going to by-elections on July 27.
'I left the Congress because everybody is busy in attending to their individual vested interests,' says former Union minister Krishna Tirath, who joined the BJP on Monday.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sakal also regaled readers with a story on the remake of Bollywood blockbuster Sholay by its original director Ramesh Sippy, after the disastrous attempt by Ramgopal Varma last year.
Making a suo motu statement in the State legislative Assembly after Telangana Rashtra Samithi members were suspended for disrupting the proceedings, Reddy observed that the Telangana issue cannot be resolved overnight and appealed to the TRS and other parties to wait till a decision is taken in a democratic manner.
Four more Congress leaders, including former deputy speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly Gulam Hyder Malik, and a dozen prominent workers of the Apni Party resigned from their respective parties on Monday in support of veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Sharma will have to report before the investigating officer at 11 am.
Pilot said he is not backing down from the stand he has taken against the state Congress government saying he is "politely requesting" it to take action in corruption cases from the previous dispensation.
