With K Rosaiah stepping down as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, insiders say that Kiran Kumar Reddy, speaker of the Andhra Pradesh assembly, is the frontrunner of the post.
In a notice issued to Congress MLAs, CLP leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah warned that absence of MLAs at Friday's meeting would be viewed 'seriously'.
Singh said the farmers opted for 'unusual deeds' to draw media attention as they belong to organisations with only a few thousand members.
The Congress on Sunday named Baghel, a five-time MLA from Patan, to head the state Congress Legislature Party. Baghel, who took charge as Congress state president Congress after the 2013 assembly polls, was credited for the massive victory of the party in the recent assembly polls where Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member House.
The Congress took the gamble of going it alone but Rahul Gandhi's magic, like it did in Uttar Pradesh, failed this time in Bihar with the party recording its worst-ever performance in assembly elections in the state in last 10 years.
If the US Congress (legislature) clears, under its Foreign Military Sale (FMS) procedure, an Indian requirement of 177 145M 155mm lightweight towed howitzers, India will become owners of the lightest 'shoot-and-scoot' gun in the world, Andrew Gallagher, president BAE Systems India, told Business Standard.
K Rosaiah, who resigned as the chief minister earlier in the day, had moved the resolution. Rosaiah's resolution had become imminent because of conflicting claims by different groups and regions that the new leader should by of their choice.
Going for status quo, the Congress named Ashok Chavan and Bhupinder Singh Hooda as leaders of its legislature parties in Maharashtra and Haryana, clearing the decks for their return as chief ministers even as Arunachal strongman Dorjee Khandu was on Sunday sworn in for a second consecutive term in the state's top post.
Dorjee Khandu, who led the Congress to an absolute majority in the assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, was on Saturday elected the Congress Legislature Party leader, paving the way for his second stint as chief minister. Khandu's election was announced by central observer V Narayanasamy after all the 42 Members of Legislative Assembly, in a resolution, authorised Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take a decision on the leadership.
The incident occurred late Saturday night at the resort where the Congress MLAs are hunkered down since Friday in a move to keep the flock together against alleged bid to topple the ruling coalition by BJP, according to Congress sources.
'Kumaraswamy is not officially the leader of the opposition. For three years and eight months of Yediyurappa's government, Siddarmaiah will officially be the leader of the opposition'
On his maiden visit to the national capital after taking over as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, K Rosaiah on Saturday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and is understood to have discussed political developments in the state, particularly the convening of the Congress Legislature Party meeting.The chief minister is also expected to have discussed the state's political situation, in the wake of Y S Rajasekahara Reddy's death.
A meeting of the newly elected Congress Members of Legislative Assembly in Maharashtra on Saturday authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to nominate their new leader, who will be the next chief minister. A one-line resolution, authorising Sonia Gandhi to name the new leader, was passed at the first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, convened in Mumbai to elect the leader, two days after the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine stormed back to power.
"Speaker is yet to fix another date for them to appear before him," the sources added.
The apex court, in a plethora of verdicts, has given varying judicial opinions on Speakers' powers ranging from refusing to intervene in the matter to assuming the role of the Speaker itself and going to the extent of disqualifying lawmakers under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
'These are lies that Priyanka Gandhi rung up Sachin Pilot.'
Two other Rajasthan ministers Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena were also sacked from the state cabinet after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, its second in the last two days. The meeting was billed as a 'second chance' for Pilot, who had turned down appeals from the party's top leadership -- including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi -- to return to the fold.
Maharashtra Industries Minister Ashok Chavan will be the next chief minister of the state.The decision comes after long deliberations by the Congress high command, which on Wednesday had asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to resign, following the terror attack in Mumbai last week. Chavan has been nominated the leader of the state Congress Legislature Party by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on Friday.
The Congress party on Friday advised Uttar Pradesh government to strengthen its intelligence network, which proved to be a failure during the recent surprise visit of the party general secretary Rahul Gandhi to rural areas in the eastern part of the state.
The current crisis began Friday night when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government.
In a survey conducted by Nielsen, for Telugu news channel NTV, an overwhelming 78 per cent of the electorate in Andhra Pradesh stated that they would like to see Jaganmohan Reddy succeed his father YSR Rajasekhara Reddy as the next chief minister. According to the survey, the results of which were also released by the Congress Legislature Party, caretaker Chief Minister K Rosaiah was second on the popularity chart with 13 per cent support.
Lapang, facing revolt by at least 14 legislators, is expected to tender his resignation to Governor R S Mooshahary later on Monday after he returns from New Delhi along with 23 legislators.
Admitting that he has 'lost majority' in the Congress Legislature Party, Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang on Sunday said he is ready to quit, paving the way for his deputy Mukul Sangma to take over the reins.
Protesting against the attack on a Congress Legislature Party team in West Bengal, party activists clashed with the police in Kolkata and other towns across the state, leaving one person dead and several injured. Five Congress workers were injured in fresh violence in Mangolkot where a CLP team, led by Manas Bhunia, was attacked on Wednesday allegedly by supporters of the ruling Left Front. During the clash, Zia-Ur-Rahman Mullick, 40, died of a heart attack.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah was on Saturday nominated the Congress Legislature Party leader by party chief Sonia Gandhi, bringing down the curtains on the issue of sucessor to late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash more than two months ago.
With a series of Assembly elections scheduled in the next few months to be followed by the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress Working Committee met on Saturday to take stock of the political situation and discuss possible alliances to hammer out a winning strategy.More than 150 delegates, comprising party General Secretaries, Secretaries, CWC members, Pradesh Congress Committee Presidents, Congress Legislature Party along with union ministers deliberated on the political scenario.
Senior Andhra Pradesh minister K Rosaiah is likely to be made the acting chief minister in the wake of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's death in a chopper crash. Highly placed Congress sources said the party was not in a hurry to convene the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, to elect Reddy's successor, and the meeting could take place three or four days later.Rosaiah, 77, is Andhra's finance minister and the number two in the state cabinet.
The Congress under a 'no surrender' policy evolved by Rahul Gandhi has decided to play tough in all the states where the party is negotiating with prospective and even existing alliance partners. The aim is to bag the largest number of seats possible.
The outcome of the bypoll, which recorded 67.91 per cent polling, is crucial for BJP, which needs to win at least six seats to remain in majority.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who took over the stewardship of the state amid a campaign by supporters by late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to give his son the top post, said on Saturday that a meeting of Congress Legislature Party would be held before year-end.
Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangsamy resigned on Thursday, bringing an end to the month-long political uncertainty following a revolt by his cabinet colleagues against his leadership.Rangasamy tendered his resignation to Lieutenant Governor Govind Singh Gurjar at the Raj Nivas apparently on the directions from the Congress high command.Rangasamy was asked by the Congress high command to step down as chief minister after he failed to muster majority among the party legislators
Congress Legislature Party leader Ashok Gehlot will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Rajasthan on December 13, a Raj Bhavan spokesman said on Thursday.
Dikshit was elected at a meeting of 42 party legislators in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was attended among others by All India Congress Committee General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai, Minister of State for Finance P K Bansal and Delhi Pradesh Congres Committee chief Jai Prakash Aggarwal.
The crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to destabilise the state's Congress government.
Baghel will take the oath at 5 pm on Monday, December 17.
Congress leaders from Maharashtra Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Balasaheb Thorat attended the meeting along with the top brass of the party, including Ahmed Patel.
A blame game has begun within the Congress, even as legislators of the newly formed Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) decided to stake their claims to form the government in Meghalaya. The Congress, which emerged as the single largest party, has fallen short by just six seats to cross the majority threshold in the 60-member Assembly.
That YSR completed five years in power with out a whimper of dissidence and led the party single-handedly back to power speak volumes about the hold he now enjoys over the party in the state and the backing from the high command.
It said the apex court order "whittles down" the power of a political party to issue whip to its MLAs as it has a constitutional right to do so and the court can't restrict that.
Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang resigned on Wednesday just before the trust vote in the assembly, saying his government was unable to muster a majority. "Congress could not get the requisite support, so the Congress Legislature Party decided to resign," Lapang told reporters shortly after a CLP meeting on Wednesday morning. He said he was going to Governor S S Siddhu to submit his resignation.