The Rajasthan assembly is facing a peculiar problem. The monsoon session has been witnessing ruckus almost everyday due to the presence of Sanwar Lal Jat, a cabinet minister in the Vasundhara Raje government. Incidentally, Jat is also a Member of Parliament, who defeated Congress state president Sachin Pilot in the 15th Lok Sabha polls.
In a shake up ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan resigned on Saturday from the Union Council of Ministers and more may be in line for being drafted into party work.
The BJP candidates are on the winning trail, outdoing their opponents with thumping leads. Shahnawaz Akhtar reports.
The Congress president alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party deceived people and siphoned off hard-earned money of farmers, poor, small businessmen to fill the pockets of the country's 15-20 big industrialists.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday snubbed senior leader Jaswant Singh by denying him a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan and instead decided to field Col Sonaram Choudhary in Barmer, which Singh was seeking.
In a first such action in India's electoral history, the Election Commission had Wednesday ordered campaigning in the nine West Bengal constituencies to end at 10 pm on Thursday, instead of 6 pm on Friday, in the wake of violence between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata during Amit Shah's roadshow.
Do not blame Rahul Gandhi for the Congress's reverses in the assembly polls, Union minister Jayanthi Natarajan suggested on Sunday, maintaining that it was a "collective failure" and the party will introspect
Apart from being the CM twice earlier, he has won a series of Lok Sabha and assembly elections from the state and headed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee four times.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was at the centre of a fresh controversy over reports suggesting that she had recommended former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi for a Padma award in 2007.
'There is no money with the villagers as there is little work.'
Telangana and Rajasthan are the last states to go to the polls in the current round of assembly elections, which also covered Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.
A special task force of the SFIO recently submitted an interim report to the Corporate Affairs Ministry in this regard.
Gajendra Singh, who committed suicide at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi, was cremated at his native village on Thursday in the district, with a large number of people including politicians converging.
The government will present findings of the probe panel that looked into Walmart's lobbying activities to enter the Indian market, along with action taken report, before Parliament in the monsoon session.
'Probably only Sonia-ji knows the extent of what he is doing.'
Stressing the need to clearly define what constitutes the legal lobbying activities by business groups in India, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot on Monday said lobbyists should present their views to policymakers in public and not behind the closed doors.
Gandhi was referring to prime minister's 'silence' on Rafale fighter aircraft deal with France and the Modi government's 'failure' to bring fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to book.
'There is a need for a younger person at the top, but the old guard wants to grab the post themselves,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
Congress has alleged a scam of Rs 45,000 crore in the allocation of mines in Rajasthan and demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje along with a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe into the matter.
Congress has said that it will never instigate violence for political benefits.
'While the farmers are reeling under a huge debt burden, crop loss due to locust attacks and erratic rainfall, the state is also facing a COVID-19 challenge.' 'In this situation, you have Congress and BJP MLAs trying to outwit each other in a game of thrones'
The 41-year-old 'young gun' travelled the length and breadth of the state to strengthen the party at the grassroots level and ensure its comeback.
The Jat community is itching to end its brief dalliance with the BJP, but it is also upset with the Congress, the party they have traditionally supported, for not giving them their due, reports Archis Mohan.
A majority of Congress leaders said the party will face desertions if Rahul Gandhi does not remain the leader.
He said he is 'more than satisfied' with his long political career as a five-time Lok Sabha MP, three time Union minister and chief minister for 10 years.
Ramesh said the substance of Modi's speech is 'mostly bogus' but is presented in a very convincing manner.
After the party's near washout in assembly polls, the demand for a overhaul is growing with spokesman Abhishek Singhvi arguing for younger state leaders.
Slamming Narendra Modi for making rhetorical speeches on every given occasion, Union Minister Sachin Pilot says that the Gujarat chief minister is intoxicated with prime ministerial ambitions and is too self-obsessed to see "right from wrong".
The constituencies spread across lower and central Assam will have 12,699 polling stations where 1,04,35,271 voters will be able exercise their franchise.
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
Of the 2,67,82,371 votes cast in the state, 3,27,911 were cast in favour of NOTA while 2,72,642 were in favour of AAP. Shahnawaz Akhtar reports.
Whatever the outcome of the assembly election in Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot is firmly ensconced in the Congress inner circle.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
On Saturday, Delhi unit of the Congress unanimously adopted a resolution urging Rahul to take over as the president.
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Desperate times need desperate actions, and the BJP's only option is to enforce legislation to build a Ram mandir, says Sunil Sethi.
Taking an apparent dig at Modi, Gandhi satirised a song, saying "Aapka toh lagta hai bas yahi sapna, ram ram japna garibo kaa maal apna (It seems your only dream is to take away money from poor while chanting the name of Ram)".
Party leaders, sources said, maintained that Congress cannot afford to have a new leader at the helm for rebuilding the organisation at this juncture and that the responsibility for the defeat is collective and not individual.
Two state ministers have also come out in the open to demand a detailed assessment by the top leadership.
A preliminary report on the investigations is likely to be submitted soon by SFIO, but the final report may take little longer, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot said.
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