Notwithstanding the focus on women, Rahul Gandhi's scheduled interaction with state Congress leaders in New Delhi on Friday and Saturday will virtually be an all-male affair.
Amid simmering tension at the Karnataka-Maharashtra border, the police on Monday foiled the Madhyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti's (MMES) mega protest in Belagavi and detained its leaders even as several members from opposition parties from Maharashtra were stopped from crossing the border.
Amid the ongoing tussle between Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and party veteran Balasaheb Thorat in the wake of recent legislative council elections, both the leaders came face to face at the party's state executive committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, with both of them later claiming that everything was fine between them.
He also announced unemployment allowance for the youth, as the party's fourth poll guarantee, on coming to power.
Singh's choice came after AICC observers Vilasrao Deshmukh and P M Sayeed had a telephonic talk with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The BJP legislature party in Karnataka will meet in Bangalore on Wednesday for the first time after the party's central leadership brokered peace between Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and dissidents recently.
Nationalist Congress Party Legislature party leader in Maharashtra assembly Chhagan Bhujbal on Thursday said his party will never align with the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party for the sake of power.The comments came in the wake of senior party leader Ajit Pawar's interview to a national daily on Thursday, when he informed that the Shiv Sena-BJP had made an offer to him to join the combine with his followers, in exchange for the chief minister's post.
A court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks.
The 48-year-old Mann was elected the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.
At the state level, Pawar appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the quota dispute.
Battling the political crisis faced by the party-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has filed a petition before the Deputy Speaker of the state assembly seeking the cancellation of membership of 12 rebel MLAs including Eknath Shinde for 'not attending' legislative party meeting held on Wednesday.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has made it clear that there was no proposal to recommend dissolution of the state assembly.
With President's rule scheduled to end in Jharkhand on July 18, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress leaders on Tuesday held talks on the possibility of formation of a government in the state.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Parrikar is all set to become the chief minister of Goa for the third time after the BJP-MGP combine on Wednesday staked its claim to form the government with the support of 26 legislators and the swearing -in will be held on Friday.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot submitted his resignation to Governor Kalraj Mishra Sunday evening after his Congress party was defeated in the assembly polls.
An unease has set in the Rajasthan Congress with its senior leader Ajay Maken quitting as the state in-charge ahead of the assembly polls scheduled next year, with party sources saying that he has been asked to continue on the post.
The action comes two days after Congress president Sonia Gandhi held a key meeting and broke the ice by starting dialogue with some of the prominent 'letter-writers', who had earlier written to her demanding an overhaul of the party and an effective leadership.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, son of party chief Shibu Soren, was on Saturday sworn in as the new chief minister of Jharkhand. The tribal leader was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Syed Ahmed at the Birsa Mandap situated in the premises of Raj Bhavan.
If Kejriwal is arrested, it will take very little for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to summon a meeting of the assembly, direct it to elect a new leader of the House, and, if it doesn't, dissolve it and impose President's Rule, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
Notably, when asked by reporters if he would take legal recourse after Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister on Sunday, Sharad Pawar had said he would not get into all this but will go among people.
A majority of Congress leaders said the party will face desertions if Rahul Gandhi does not remain the leader.
The assembly secretariat released the business agenda of the House for Monday, when the budget session will commence, with a customary address by the Governor to members of the bicameral legislature.
'Do you want Tipu or Savarkar? Where should we send Tipu Sultan? What did Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda do? In the same way he should be knocked out and sent off'
In his letter to Ajit Pawar, who too is a deputy CM, Fadnavis said Malik has the right to attend the assembly as an MLA and added that "we (the BJP) do not harbour any personal animosity or grudge" against him.
While Shivakumar is as usual contesting from Kanakapura, Siddaramaiah is returning to his home turf of Varuna in Mysuru district, which is currently represented by his son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.
'These frequent visits show the BJP fears that the Congress will retain power.'
A resolution to this effect was passed unanimously in a meeting of the CLP in Chandigarh.
The turbulent relations between Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and INDIA bloc parties came to a head on Friday with sources saying that the opposition is considering submitting a notice for moving a resolution to remove the vice president from his office.
'I assured them I will not back away. I will not betray those who have supported me till now. Their confidence in me is what gives me the strength to move forward'
The Rashtriya Janata Dal has decided to issue show-cause notices to the four Members who failed to turn up at the legislature party meeting at the residence of former chief minister Rabri Devi in Patna on Tuesday.
The swearing-in ceremony of Pramod Sawant as Goa's chief minister will be held on March 28 and prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will attend the event.
'The central BJP leaders were determined to push Hindutva hard, and it failed.'
The MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli, Umesh Jadhav, and Nagendra -- did not ascribe any reason for not attending the opening day's session.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
A crucial meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party, chaired by B S Yeddyurappa, will be held at 4:30 am on Friday at Hotel Ashok.
What India needs more than one simultaneous election is better governance both at the central and state level. Yes, we need reforms, but our priority should be to make elections less expensive, make it more democratic, do away with freebies which are actually bribes before elections, allow only those who are educated to contest, and bring in a bill to make it impossible for criminals to contest, advocates Ramesh Menon.
This comes after 10 Kuki MLAs, cutting across party affiliations, had expressed their inability to attend the assembly session as violence in the northeastern state continued.
The tit for tat actions came a day after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs who were inducted as ministers.
The notices were sent to Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was dropped as minister in the recent cabinet rejig and is said to be extremely unhappy over it, B Nagendra, Umesh Jadhav and Mahesh Kumatahalli.
Dinakaran has been re-inducted and elevated to the position of deputy general secretary.