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Bill for selection of ECs: Cong appeals to political parties to oppose it

The Congress on Thursday appealed to all democratic forces to oppose a new bill that seeks to regulate the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, and asked if the BJD and YSRCP will also join hands. Congress MP and whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore charged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah want to control the Election Commission by bringing the bill. The bill has been listed in the day's business in the Rajya Sabha. "Modi and Shah wants to control the ECI as they are doing now," Tagore alleged on X, formerly known as Twitter. "All the Democratic forces must appose. Will BJD and YSRCP do," Tagore asked. The government has listed a bill for introduction in the Rajya Sabha to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Te

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HM Amit Shah arrives in Odisha for day-long visit, to chair meetings

A day after Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) extended support to the Centre on the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Union Home Minister Amit Shaht arrived in Bhubaneswar on Friday late night for a day-long visit.The contentious Delhi Services Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday by a voice vote, amid an Opposition walkout.During his visit to the state, Shah is scheduled to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for various development projects in the city.Shah was received warmly at the Bhubaneswar airport by leaders of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as party workers.Taking to Twitter, the office of the Home Minister posted, "Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri @AmitShah Ji will Inaugurate & lay the foundation stone of various projects in Bhubaneswar, tomorrow at 11:00 AM".The inauguration ceremony is scheduled to be held at a convention centre, Lok Seva Bavan.The BJD had earlier announced its ...

INDIA vs NDA: From BJD to BSP, these parties stayed away from alliances

As parties position themselves in alliances, some have opted to stay non-aligned. What are the compulsions and future of these parties? Aditi Phadnis investigates

Naveen steers clear of Oppn unity; Cong says it's to keep agencies out

Whenever there is a move to form a Third Front or a common political platform of non-BJP or non-Congress parties, leaders start searching for Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

BJD wins Jharsuguda bypoll with a margin of 48,721 votes in Odisha

The ruling BJD in Odisha retained the Jharsuguda assembly seat on Saturday, as its candidate Dipali Das defeated her nearest BJP rival Tankadhar Tripathy by 48,721 votes, an election official said. Das secured a total of 1,07,198 votes, while Tripathy bagged 58,477 votes. Congress candidate Tarun Pandey came third with 4,496 votes, the Election Commission official said. Dipali is the daughter of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das, whose assassination in January allegedly by a police officer necessitated the by-poll. Naba Kishore Das had won the seat by a margin of 45,740 votes in the 2019 general elections.

Biju Janata Dal to go solo in Lok Sabha polls 2024: Naveen Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will go solo in the next year's Lok Sabha polls as it has "always" done, days after JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar met him amid efforts to forge a united opposition flank. Talking to media in the national capital after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over developmental issues related to his state, Patnaik said Nitish Kumar's visiting him Bhubaneswar was a "courtesy call" and reiterated his party's position of remaining equidistant both from the Congress as well as the BJP. Patnaik has been at the helm in Odisha since 2000 and his BJD is among some regional parties which have maintained a neutral stand on the issues involving clashes between the ruling BJP and Opposition. At times, it has supported the BJP in Parliament as well. Patnaik said he met the prime minister to raise issues related to his state. In the meeting that lasted around 20-25 minutes, Patnaik raised issues related to infrastructu

10 regional parties received Rs 852 cr via electoral bonds: ADR report

Ten regional parties, including the DMK, BJD, YSR Congress, JDU and the AAP, have declared receiving Rs Rs 852.88 crore donations through electoral bonds in 2021-22, according to an NGO working for electoral reforms. The total income of 36 regional parties for the financial year was Rs 1,213 crore, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a report, citing official data. The report analysed the total income and expenditure incurred by 36 out of 54 regional parties during 2021-22, as declared by these parties in their audit reports submitted to the Election Commission on India. "Ten regional parties -- DMK, BJD, TRS, YSR-Congress, JDU, SP, AAP, SAD, MGP and TDP -- have declared receiving donations through electoral bonds worth Rs 852.88 crore...for 2021-22," it said. The TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) has subsequently renamed as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi. The party is in power in Telangana. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is currently in power in Tamil Nadu

LIVE updates: 'Centre monitoring situation', says BJP on Adani stock rout

Live news updates: Delhi's Saket court discharges Sharjeel Imam in Jamia Violence case registered in 2019. Violence erupted after a clash between people protesting against Citizenship Amendment Act

BJD demands to restart PMGKAY in interest of household food security

"Economic life hasn't returned to normal. Stopping PMGKAY now will affect the poor and their chance to get their lives back to normalcy after the pandemic"

BJD to raise free rice scheme issue in Parliament's Budget session

He demanded that the scheme should be immediately restarted as its stopping will adversely affect the food security of crores of poor people not only in Odisha but also across India

BJP demands immediate OBC survey in Odisha, accuses BJD of deliberate delay

Opposition BJP Thursday accused the BJD government in Odisha of deliberately delaying the survey for enumeration of other backward classes (OBCs) in the state

BJP will raise voice against misrule of BJD govt in Odisha: Pradhan

Union minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said the saffron camp would focus on strengthening its booth-level organisation in Odisha and voice against misrule of the BJD government in the state in a bid to oust the Naveen Patnaik-led dispensation from power in the 2024 assembly elections. Describing 2023 as a crucial year for the BJP, Pradhan, considered as the saffron camp's face in the eastern state, said party workers will reach out to the people across the state to convey messages of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda. The union education minister said that the BJP is well prepared to contest early elections in the state. The BJP has a two-point programme in focus. The first one is about strengthening the party's organisation at all the 37,000 booths across the state and the second is to remain vocal against the misrule of the BJD government, Pradhan said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a programme. He also said

BJP says Odisha unsafe for women, children; BJD dismisses charges

Opposition BJP has alleged that Odisha has turned unsafe for women and children and that the BJD government's claim about women empowerment in the state is "hollow". Atrocities against women in the state has recorded an alarming rise in recent years and the situation is the same in the case of children, particularly the minor girls, Odisha BJP Mahila Morcha president Smruti Pattnaik said. The ruling BJD dismissed the charges and said its efforts to empower women through the SHG movement has been appreciated by the BJP government at the Centre itself, besides Niti Aayog and the United Nations. Dubbing BJD government's claim about women's empowerment in Odisha as "hollow", Pattnaik told a press conference on Tuesday, While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced several welfare schemes for women, the BJD government of Naveen Patnaik has been utilising members of self help groups for political purposes. The government, she claimed, is giving benefits to only a particular section

Union ministers, BJD, Cong leaders lock horns in bypoll-bound Odisha seat

As the battle intensifies for the December 5 bypoll to Padampur, three major political parties of Odisha -- the ruling BJD, the BJP and the Congress -- go all out to woo the people of the assembly constituency, with their top leaders hitting the campaign trail. Two union ministers -- Narendra Singh Tomar and Ashwini Vaishnaw hit out at the BJD government on Sunday over farmers' issues and other development work, as they stepped up campaign for BJP candidate Pradip Purohit, the party's Odisha unit Krushak Morcha chief. Similarly, at least 10 ministers and nearly three dozen MLAs of the BJD descended on the battleground to canvass for nominee Barsha Singh Bariha. Odisha Congress chief Sarat Pattnayak and leaders Jaydev Jena and Niranjan Patnaik were seen electioneering for party candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu in the segment. Addressing two election meetings, jointly with railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in the bypoll-bound Odisha seat, where farmers form a sizeable chunk of the ...

Have amiable relationship with PM, but BJP remains a 'rival': Odisha CM

Odisha Chief Minister and president of ruling BJD Naveen Patnaik said that he has an amiable' relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi though his party considers BJP as its main rival in the coastal state. Patnaik and his party which used to make allegations of central negligence against the central government's in Delhi, also admitted that Odisha now gets good cooperation from the Centre for development and welfare of our state. The chief minister said this during an interaction programme at Odisha Literary Festival (OLF) organised by the The New Indian Express here Sunday. Yes, it is amiable, Patnaik said while replying to a question whether he has friendly relations with the Prime Minister. On whether the federal structure of the country is under threat, Patnaik said: As far as I and my government are concerned, we have a constructive relationship with the Centre. Our concern is only the development and welfare of our state. And the Centre cooperates with us on ...

BJD, BJD work together at Centre, mock fights in Odisha: Jairam Ramesh

The BJD and BJP are two sides of the same coin, and the two parties work in tandem at the Centre but indulge in "mock fights" in Odisha, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed. The Congress will agitate against both the BJP and the BJD when it launches its Odisha Parikrama Yatra' in the state, Ramesh told reporters here. "The BJD and BJP are two sides of the same coin and there is no difference between the two," he said. Pillorying Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also the BJD chief, the Congress leader said, When the prime minister asks the CM to sit, he sits. His MPs also do what the PM says. The two parties work together at the Centre and indulge in mock fights in Odisha. Congress, he said, will launch the Odisha Parikrama Yatra' from October 31 to usher in change in the state. It will cover 2,250 km in about 100 days. Such yatras are being organised in Odisha, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Sikkim, West Bengal, Nagaland and Bihar, he said on Sunday evening. About the Bhara

Odisha exchequer facing losses due to BJD govt, mine owners nexus: BJP MP

Odisha BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi has claimed that the state's exchequer was suffering losses to the tune of crores of rupees due to the BJD government's "unholy nexus with mine owners". Sarangi, a bureaucrat-turned-BJP politician, claimed that the state government "downgraded" the quality of iron ore being produced in some mines auctioned recently. Insisting that a big scam has been pulled off, the Bhubaneswar MP, during a press meet on Monday, said the ratio of low-grade iron ore in 2019-2020 was valued at 23 per cent; it increased to 95 per cent in 2021-2022. "This would not have been possible without connivance between the government and the mine owners," she said. Earlier, Justice MB Shah Commission, during its probe into illegal mining, had detected losses of Rs 59,000 crore, causing a flutter in the state, she said. It was expected that the situation would change for better after that. The scale of irregularities, however, have only increased with time," the MP said. Rejecti

Union mins review schemes, BJD says people won't accept Centre's attitude

With seven union ministers visiting different districts of Odisha and undertaking review of various central schemes being implemented in the state, the ruling BJD Saturday said the people will not accept the inspector raj manner" of the central government. While five central ministers reached Odisha on Friday, two others did so on Saturday. The cudgels for BJD was taken up by party MLA Sashibhusan Behera, who hit back at the comment made by Union Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai during his visit to Cuttack on Saturday. Speaking at a press conference in Cuttack, Rai said It appears that the benefits of different central schemes are not reaching the beneficiaries as desired. The state government's inept handlings of central schemes are indicated". Countering the comment, Behera said It is not proper on the part of union ministers to behave in an inspector raj manner. The people of Odisha will not accept it as they know how the state government has been implementing the ...

BJD, Congress reject Amit Shah's claim of BJP forming next govt in Odisha

The Congress and BJD rejected Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assertion that the BJP will form the next government in Odisha