Capping a momentous journey, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the eighth chief minister of Delhi on Satutday, promising to make Delhi the first corruption-free state and act against communal elements.
Yogendra Yadav on Saturday hit out Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for handling a 'genuine' issue in a 'very immature' manner.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the passage of bills as a "momentous occasion" in parliamentary democracy and said a new dawn awaits the people there as they are now free from the "shackles" of vested interest groups.
"I am not talking about reorganisation of just Maharashtra but of all the states of the Indian Union based on the basis of population."
With the Congress leadership reportedly inching towards a favourable decision on Telangana statehood demand, a party member of Legislative Assembly and several YSR Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions on Thursday said they have "resigned" in support of united Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP leadership, which met at senior leader Lal Krishna Advani's residence on Sunday night, decided that it will not oppose the Bill provided the amendments suggested by them are brought in.
Telangana government is all set for the week-long celebrations to observe Formation Day on June 2, marking one year of formation of the new state.
It will now take at least two more years to get a clarity on the priorities and policies of the leadership of the new state of Telangana.
From being the hand-picked choice of Sonia Gandhi as Andhra Pradesh chief minister to sitting on a dharna in Delhi against division of the state, Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy has turned from a Congress regional leader to a disgruntled rebel in his nearly 39-month tumultuous tenure.
The time for filing of nomination for the post of Maharashtra legislative assembly speaker was on Tuesday extended after the Shiv Sena disrupted proceedings and demanded that the notification of schedule for the speaker's election be cancelled as all members had not taken oath.
In a confidential report presented to the party high command, Congress leaders from Telanagana analyse the poll debacle. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Here's a look at some of the key contenders to be part of the Delhi Cabinet
Promising to espouse the cause of Tamils living the world over, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday promised to press the Centre to take steps for conducting a referendum among Tamils in Lanka for their homeland and to appoint only Tamil envoys to nations which have a sizeable Diaspora.
Was a clash with Telagana Rashtra Samithi leader K Chandrashekhara Rao over the Medak Lok Sabha constituency the reason for Vijayashanthi leaving the TRS and joining the Congress? The actress-MP speaks to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao meets Rahul; reportedly open for alliance in the Lok Sabha polls if he can get to be the CM of the new state, says Kavita Chowdhury
Creation of new state entails long drawn administrative process, could take as much as a decade
However, the Telangana statehood was not even on the agenda of the assembly which reconvened on Thursday morning.
Celebrations have begun in Hyderabad and all across Telangana as India's 29th state was born at the stroke of midnight.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked ally Shiv Sena to stop attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cautioning that it will only boomerang on it.
'Chamling's legacy is toxic.' '7 out of 10 teenagers in Sikkim abuse drugs.' 'The youth are dying and the future looks bleak.'
"This 'notebandi' is a positive step which will lead to benefits. It will happen," the JD-U president said, terming corruption and black money as a "big sin and festering wound" which must be eradicated.
Alleging that ruling Congress is "not serious" about bringing Lokpal Bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the United Progressive Alliance government could have brought the anti-graft legislation long ago as there was consensus over the issue.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Chief Ministerial nominee Kiran Bedi today dodged AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal's challenge for an open debate on crucial issues facing the city while Congress' Ajay Maken expressed readiness for such a "healthy" exercise in the run up to the assembly polls.
In his strongest assertion amid his ongoing tussle with the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation, top cop B S Bassi on Friday said it would be a "very unfortunate" day in the history of the capital if the Delhi Police comes under the city government and its functioning under the Centre's jurisdiction was "perfect".
'Imagine a situation where an upright officer refuses to carry out a chief minister's or a central minister's orders that he considers wrong.' 'Can he be summarily thrashed at a meeting at your residence, or in his own office?' 'If AAP legitimises political violence, there are many, many, tougher political leaders elsewhere to draw the wrong lessons,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
The party, which was expecting to win at least three seats in the region this time, feels that the statements by senior leaders L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj on Thursday are counter-productive to their future plans. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Group of Ministers on Telangana will meet in the first week of February to decide on the Centre's next course of action after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought extension of the deadline for discussing and returning the statehood Bill.
Treading a cautious path on the Telangana issue, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said in Hyderabad on Thursday that the Centre should address the complicated issues concerned with the bifurcation of the state first before it embarks on the process.
There are indications that the BJP may not be as enthusiastic as it was on the Telangana issue now that the Congress has cleared the decks for the creation of the new state.
In an interview to television channel CNN-IBN, the Nationalist Congress Party chief said that the BJP will not be able to reap any benefits across the country by having Modi as its PM mascot.
By announcing Telangana, the Congress aims to kill two birds with one stone.
The strike by power sector employees has crippled life, badly hitting hospitals and water supply in Andhra Pradesh.
The government rejected the contention on Friday that it has developed any second thoughts on the issue of Telangana, saying that the process with regard to its creation is underway and won't be affected by assembly elections in five states.
'Their candidates are simple people who will be there in hours of need.'
Rumblings within Congress over its decision to form Telangana grew on Friday with its seven MPs, a state minister and seven MLAs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions quitting amid indications that some more are likely to follow suit.
Party insiders say middle class votes can be captured if Kiran Bedi is declared BJP chief ministerial candidate. Archis Mohan reports
In his first interview after the announcement on Telangana, Jaipal Reddy spoke about the historical background of the movement, Narendra Modi and other issues.
Kapil Mishra was one of the closest aides of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. However, in May 2017, the tides turned. A loyalist of the Aam Aadmi Party founder, Mishra shocked one and all by openly accusing him of corruption, a claim that the AAP dismissed. Since then Mishra has become one of the most prominent AAP rebels. In the face of the sit-in by Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers - Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office, Mishra spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com and said that this is the first time in history that a sitting chief minister of a state in India has kidnapped himself.
'The party had opposed FDI when it was in the Opposition. Now, its government has allowed FDI in all sectors.' 'Modi had opposed GST when he was chief minister. Now, he is strongly advocating it.' 'The BJP must come clean and inform its supporters and the people why it is diverging from its basic agenda.'
