There is a strong possibility of opposition parties coming together to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday, stressing that he has had good talks with them and many will join hands gradually.
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create "Hindu-Muslim disturbances" to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
Five-time former Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, who was admitted to a private hospital in Mohali over a week ago, died on Tuesday. He was 95.
Sikh Federation UK, which has styled itself as one of the largest Sikh organisations based in the UK, said Avtar Singh was terminally ill with blood cancer. He was on a life support system for the last few days.
The Shiromani Akali Dal had on Saturday quit the National Democratic Alliance over the farm bills issue.
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Sikhs bravely fought the 1962, 1965, 1971 wars and the Kargil battle, but no helmet issue arose then.
The bodies of Jasdeep Singh, 39, his wife Jasleen Kaur, 27, their eight-month-old daughter Aroohi Dheri and Jasdeep's brother Amandeep Singh, 39, were found in an orchard near Indiana Road and Hutchinson Road on Wednesday evening.
The old alliance between the BJP and the SAD broke last year when the Shiromani Akali Dal quit the National Democratic Alliance over the farm laws.
The Punjab cabinet has approved the summoning of a special session of the assembly on September 22 to bring a confidence motion.
Aam Aadmi Party candidate Sushil Rinku on Saturday won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election, defeating his nearest rival and Congress nominee Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by a margin of 58,691 votes.
The state police have been looking for the Shiromani Akali Dal leader to arrest him.
Protesters led by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal were shouting slogans against the Congress-led government over several issues including irregularities in the purchase of Fateh kits and alleged diversion of COVID-19 vaccine doses to private hospitals.
Voting for 117 assembly seats in Punjab and 59 assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh were held on Sunday.
The Punjab police arrested Jasvir Singh after the incident and booked him for hurting religious sentiments and attempt to murder.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, facing arrest in an NDPS case, involving sale, purchase and manufacturing of drugs among other offences, was on Monday granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The miscreants sprayed red and black paint on the statue at the Salem Tabri area in Ludhiana, police said, adding that they carried out the act in full public glare and blamed Rajiv Gandhi for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Amid the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, a heated argument broke out between Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday when the former accused the latter of getting the farm laws enacted while she was a minister in the Union Cabinet, and added that she 'doing drama' over the laws and showing 'fake support' to the farmers' cause.
Haryana Jail Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala also said, "Gurmeet Ram Rahim is like every other prisoner here and he also has his fundamental rights."
Punjab Congress today termed Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's allegations that it was scuttling central grants to derail the development campaign of SAD-BJP government, as "ridiculous" and "baseless".
The decision came a day after Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Home Minister to find a way out to stop Bhullar's execution on the ground of peace and harmony in the state.
'I won't be surprised if a third alternative to Badal and the Congress is swept to power in Punjab in 2022.'
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday felicitated five players from the state, who have been included in Indian hockey team for London Olympic Games starting from July 27.
Seven policemen of the elite force of Pakistan have been suspended from service for leaving Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and his delegation unguarded while they went to have dinner at a reception in Lahore, officials said.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and his 45-member delegation were left unprotected for a short while when their Pakistani police guards left their duty and went off to have dinner at a club in Lahore.
The body of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh was on Thursday night brought to Amritsar onboard a special Air India aircraft from Lahore, where he died following a murderous assault in a jail.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and the state's Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Tuesday, described the acquittal of former Congress Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, as one of the saddest days in Indian history.
Under pressure from the leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Patiala Mayor Jaspal Pardhan, who has been booked by the police in the murder case of a woman, has resigned. Pardhan's son Preetinder Singh told PTI that his father had late on Monday night sent the resignation letter to party secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema after the ruling SAD asked him to resign on moral grounds.
The unidentified youths shot Nijjar, a designated terrorist, inside the premises of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, of which he was the head, at Surrey at 8:27 pm (local time) on Sunday, they said.
In the wake of alleged political violence in the state, the Punjab Congress on Friday demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, saying he was the main architect behind "political murders and growth of mafias".
It is "absurd to think" that such a brutality will go unpunished due to ownership of the vehicle, says Punjab deputy CM
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday played down the remark made by Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on backing Foreign Direct Investment in retail if the United Progressive Alliance government addresses the concerns of traders.
A day after pledging support to the United Progressive Alliance, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday met Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Peeved at the Punjab government for not heeding to their demands, teachers demanding permanent jobs in the state on Tuesday threatened to immolate themselves after one of their lady colleagues was allegedly slapped in public view by an Akali Dal sarpanch. A delegation of Education Guarantee Scheme teachers association, led by its chief Pritpal Singh, on Tuesday went to the private residence of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for a "meeting to resolve their problems"
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, who is an MP from Punjab, on Friday quoted from an affidavit filed by the Punjab government in court which said that 70 per cent of the youth in Punjab are on drugs of various kinds. It is the same Akali-BJP government, which filed the affidavit in the court.
The hanging of Beant Singh assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana would not take place on March 31 as ordered by a local court, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Monday.
Backed by ruling Akali Dal, the SGPC, apex religious body of Sikhs, will file a clemency appeal before the President for Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on death row for the 1995 killing of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, even as ally BJP steered clear of the issue.
Putting at rest all speculation, Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday declared that Parkash Singh Badal will remain the chief minister of Punjab, a post he would be holding for a record fifth time.
The Shiromoni Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance on Tuesday created history in Punjab by storming back to power for a second consecutive term, breaking a 46-year-old jinx.
The action came after Jagir Kaur failed to appear before the party's disciplinary committee, which had asked to explain her decision of contesting the election.
Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal on Tuesday night suspended Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who is at loggerheads with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on the Centre's reported conditional loan-waiver offer, from the party on the charge of anti-party activities.
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