The Congress on Tuesday decided to attend the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday, with its leader G A Mir asserting that the restoration of full statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be its 'priority number one'.
The 15-nation Council met on Friday to vote on the resolution tabled by the United Arab Emirates and backed by over 90 member states. The resolution got the backing of 13 Council members who voted in its favour while the United Kingdom abstained.
This will pave the way for emergence of 24,000 new panchayat-level leaders in Telangana, he said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to form 50 states in the country after the 2024 elections. I came to know that he is mulling over it," Umesh Katti, who holds the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, told reporters in Belagavi.
For the last four years since abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir-based political parties have been struggling to forge an alternate narrative to the one forcibly snatched from them. The BJP is bound to go hammer and tongs at them now that their armoury is reinforced with the Supreme Court judgment, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
'When the Executive can do whatever they want, why bother having an election?'
The Opposition parties need to spell out how exactly they will protect the citizen from government excess, asserts T N Ninan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to nominate Ananta Rai 'Maharaj', who has been demanding a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' to be carved out of West Bengal, as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from the state, has kicked off a fresh storm with the ruling Trinamool Congress accusing the saffron party of fanning separatism in the state.
Leaders from Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday said after attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's all-party meeting that they will 'continue to struggle' against the abrogation of Article 370 and urged the PM to restore the statehood of J-K at the earliest.
Flag hoisting is held at the district headquarters in the presence of the guardian ministers early in the morning as they pay tribute to martyrs on the day.
"They are attacking democracy. There is a non-stop attack on democracy and that is why we are fighting here," Gandhi said, accusing the government of not allowing debate on price rise, Lakhimpur Kheri and other issues.
Azad, 73, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress on Friday, terming the party "comprehensively destroyed" and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism.
'On hard cases like this one, the Supreme Court has only episodically stood against Parliament and the executive government.' 'I worry that this decision sets a precedent where President's rule is imposed in another state... and during the operation of President's rule, the state is fundamentally altered.'
The Centre on Saturday sought to downplay the growing momentum for carving out of small states in some regions after the decision on Telangana and said cooperation of (undivided) states and political parties is needed in addressing such demands.
The Congress, referring to Gandhi's speech at a campaign rally at Hubballi on Saturday, said in a tweet that the Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson "sends a strong message to 6.5 crore Kannadigas,' and also posted pictures of her speaking at the public meeting.
BJP leaders also say it will be a very difficult task before the new chief minister pleasing the 56 party MLAs, reports Shishir Prashant.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
'With the abrogation of Article 370, the Constitutional integration of Kashmir is complete, but whether there has been emotional integration of the Kashmir Valley is a question mark.'
"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.
Gupkar Alliance, which includes mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir, has accepted the invitation of the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 24.
There is only one perpetrator, Hamas. It is a terrorist organisation. It is obscene to argue that until the Palestinian question is solved, anybody has the right to use terrorism as an instrument of policy, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Tipra Motha has decided to go solo and hopes to sweep the 20 tribal-dominated seats that hold the key to power in the northeastern state that has a 60-member assembly.
'I asked him why were he and other writers being targeted.' 'I saw his point of view, that he and others being writers, their work was popular and well-appreciated by people, especially the youth.' 'This made the State fear them.'
Mamata asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal.
All preparations for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections to the 60-member Tripura assembly on Thursday have been completed, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarro said.
The central government's response was conveyed to the court by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, after a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, hearing the pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370, asked it to set a specific time frame for restoration of electoral democracy in the erstwhile state.
'The Government of India should start a dialogue with the people of Ladakh, but the trouble is they are not willing to listen to our grievances.'
Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party's Hekhani Jakhalu and Salhoutuo Kruse created history on Thursday by becoming the first two women to be elected to the Nagaland assembly, officials said.
'I have never seen such chaos and cheating in Maharashtra politics. No one knows who is with whom, who is forming government'
'It is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab'
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the agenda of the new political outfit would be to struggle for the restoration of J and K's statehood and to fight for the job and land rights of people.
Karnataka Minister Umesh Katti died due to cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday night, official sources said.
'It has been doing yeoman service for the people of the North East.'
The opposition bloc also got support from Telanagana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS, which saw the bill as a move to usurp powers of an elected government in Delhi, and asked the House to vote against it.
We must heed what the CJI has said. Challenging every judgment of the central government is inviting chaos, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Amid demands for a separate state carved out of Bengal by some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that she is ready to shed her own blood, if need be, to thwart attempts to divide the state.
With the Lok Sabha passing the reorganisation bill, Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao now finds himself at the brink of a new history. Prashanth Chintala reports
In his maiden rally in Kashmir Valley after quitting the Congress last month, he said only a government with a two-thirds majority in Parliament can ensure the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Some may see China's decision to antagonise India as strategically unwise. But China believes its prestige demands standing up to India, whatever the cost.
Restoration of peace and the normal routine of daily life, compared to the past, stands out as its most significant achievement, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs, four years after the abrogation of Article 370.
