Projecting itself as the lone alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday launched a nationwide survey seeking people's opinion on the two parties.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are likely to play out during the winter session of Parliament beginning Wednesday.
Modi said whenever Congress came back, all development works came to a standstill.
Chidambaram also stressed that there were lessons to be learnt by the Congress from the Gujarat loss, saying there is no such thing as a "silent" campaign in a hard-fought election.
Passed by a voice vote, the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2022, also bans "mass conversion" - described as two or more people converting at the same time - through force or allurement .
The Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly while the BJP got 25 seats.
No matter how smug they sound on the surface about the potential of the dissenters to disturb the proverbial applecart, the Congress and the BJP know that their electoral calculations are precariously hinged in a seemingly tight contest.
President Ram Nath Kovind will stay at a private hotel in Shimla instead of the presidential retreat where he normally stays, during his visit beginning Thursday to Himachal Pradesh, where he will address a special session of the state assembly.
The Haryana committee will also study laws enacted by other states on the issue, Vij said.
In his address after more than 75,000 people were given appointment letters for various government jobs in the first tranche, Modi acknowledged the challenges facing the economy the world over with many countries hit by a record inflation and unemployment and said India is making every effort to come out of the situation unscathed.
She also took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party over its defeat in the just-concluded Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, saying the ruling party's president could not hold on to his home state. "Who is the Pappu now?" she asked.
'Jockeying for that position has possibly started at this time.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday poised for a landslide victory in Gujarat to retain power for a record seventh straight term but was behind the Congress in Himachal Pradesh which could go with the trend of alternative governments in the hill state.
In the 2012 election, the Congress emerged as the largest party by winning 36 of the 68 constituencies.
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly election results declared on Thursday saw 22 candidates, including five independents, making their maiden entry into the House.
Battle lines have been drawn for Sunday's poll for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly where political heavyweights Prem Kumar Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh are jostling for the attention of voters, for whom the issue of price rise and corruption seems to have surpassed the anti-incumbency factor.
The Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assemblies must be in place before January 15, 2013.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has cleared the first list of 45 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, five of his ten ministers and 15 sitting Members of Legislative Assembly figure in the list cleared by the Central Election Committee, chaired by party president Nitin Gadkari and attended among others by patriarch Lal Krishna Advani.
Women, who voted overwhelmingly and exceeded men in the polling for Himachal Pradesh assembly, fared poorly in the elections with just three candidates making it to the 14th Vidhan Sabha. There were 26 women in the fray including seven from the Bharatiya Janata Party and four from the Congress but only three candidates, Congress leaders Vidya Stokes and Asha Kumari, and BJP leader Sarveen Chowdhary won the elections.
Congress leader Virbhadra Singh recently resigned as the Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises following allegations of corruption. He tells Kavita Chowdhury how he intends to fight both his detractors and his opponents in the upcoming Himachal Pradesh assembly polls
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be a star campaigner for the Trinamool Congress as the Election Commission has rejected the list of her party's star campaigners for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls. The expenditure incurred on the party campaigners, including Banerjee, will not be exempted now as they are not 'star campaigners' approved by the EC and such expenses will be included in the candidates' expenses, sources said.
With the tide in favour of Narendra Modi, his shift to Delhi is inevitable. Aditi Phadnis examines
AAP's presence in both states has complicated the contests for the BJP and its Congress rival.
What these elections prove beyond any doubt (if ever there was one) that Modi's hold over public mind and Shah's mastery of election management are unparalleled. It doesn't seem likely that they will be matched any time soon in the Indian political scene, reaffirms Shreekant Sambrani.
Shares of metal, realty, consumer durables, auto, capital goods and banking hogged limelight on a flurry of buying by investors
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee rejected suggestions that the United Progressive Alliance government's capacity to operationalise the deal has weakened after the Congress' debacle in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. "We would not like to proceed with the deal if the Left parties withdraw support from the government," he told Karan Thapar's India Tonight programme on CNBC.
Prem Kumar Dhumal, who led the Bharatiya Janata Party to a spectacular victory in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, was sworn in as Chief Minister of the state for the second time on Sunday. Governor V S Kokje administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 63-year-old veteran BJP leader at a public ceremony at the historic Ridge Maidan in Shimla.BJP stalwart L K Advani, party vice-presidents Shanta Shanta and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attended the function.
In a move to track down mischievous messages during campaigning, the Election Commission on Friday banned, for the first time, the use of Short Messaging Service by candidates 48 hours before polling for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assemblies.
'The government has pushed HP in a debt trap. Nepotism has reached the zenith,' says senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.
Attacking HP CM Virbhadra Singh, Modi said he had hardly ever seen a CM spend so much time with lawyers.
"I can tell you that I understand you, my family must have drank water from the river Jhelum. Kashmiriyat, the culture and thought process must be in me too. When I come here, I feel like I am coming home," he said, while referring to his family ties to Kashmir and added that he had come with a message of love and respect.
The PM also said the results proved that there is a strong support for "politics of good governance and development".
The survey also found that employment opportunities, transport and women empowerment are key issues in the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls.
Following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, reactions poured in from various leaders across the political spectrum.
It was an extremely volatile session, borne out by the Sensex swinging over 1,200 points through the day and the Nifty 369 points.
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