Page 274 - Bjp

The inside story of two U-turns

The next battle in Bihar could be between Samrat Choudhary and Tejashwi Yadav

It's not interim Budget, but 'antim' Budget of BJP govt at Centre: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday dubbed the interim budget for 2024-25 as the antim (last) budget of the BJP government at the Centre, indicating that the saffron party will taste defeat in the Lok Sabha polls this year. Banerjee made the remark during a dharna in Kolkata, which began earlier in the day to demand the state's "dues" from the Centre for various social welfare schemes. "It is not an interim budget, but the 'antim' budget, she asserted. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tabled the interim budget on Thursday. The chief minister also said her government has submitted utilisation certificates regarding the usage of central funds since 2011, when the TMC assumed power in the state for the first time. Why should we take responsibility for what happened before we came to power, during the Left rule?" she said.

Gujarat govt presents Rs 3.32 trillion Budget; no new taxes proposed

The BJP-ruled Gujarat government on Friday presented a Rs 3.32 lakh crore budget that imposed no new taxes. Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai presented the budget for 2024-25 in the Assembly here on the second day of the Budget Session. Desai informed the House that the budget outlay of Rs 3,32,465 crore for 2024-25 indicates an increase of Rs 31,444 crore, or 10.44 per cent, over the previous fiscal. The state government presented the budget with an estimated surplus of 146.72 crore and proposed no new taxes. In his budgetary address, Desai announced a host of schemes and projects and said the state government kept GYAN Garib' (the poor), Yuva' (youth), Annadata' (farmer) and Nari Shakti' (women power) at the core while preparing the budget. Under the newly proposed Namo Lakshmi' scheme, girls studying in government, aided and private schools from Classes 9 to 12 will be given Rs 50,000 over the four years of their education. A provision of Rs 1,250 crore has been made in the bud

If BJP can rig mayoral polls, imagine what it can do in LS polls: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday attacked the BJP, saying if it can "rig" the Chandigarh mayoral polls, it could go to any extent in assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He was addressing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and workers at a protest at the party's office here. The demonstration was planned in front of the BJP headquarters, a few hundred metres away on the DDU Marg, but AAP members could not reach there because of heavy police deployment and barricading. The world's biggest party was caught on camera "stealing" votes in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, Kejriwal said. The elections to the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor were held on Tuesday and the BJP won all defeating the Congress-AAP alliance "In the last few years, we had heard that BJP rigs polls. They tamper with EVMs, get names of voters deleted from voter lists, but never was any evidence found. They were caught red-handed in Chandigarh stealing votes," he alleged. "If they can indulge

Champai Soren: From humble farm worker to Jharkhand's Chief Minister

Champai Soren, who once tilled fields with his father in a remote village in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district, has ascended to the chair of the state's chief minister. The 67-year-old tribal leader has earned the sobriquet "Jharkhand's Tiger" for his contribution to the long fight for the creation of a separate state in the 1990s. Jharkhand was created from the southern part of Bihar in 2000. A loyalist of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president Shibu Soren, Champai became the leader of the JMM legislative party after Hemant Soren's resignation as the chief minister by the ED in a money laundering case and his subsequent arrest on the night of January 31. He is the seventh person to become Jharkhand's chief minister and the third from the JMM to reach that post after Shibu Soren and his son Hemant. "I used to work in farms along with my father (Simal Soren)... Now fate has offered me a different role," Champai Soren told PTI after being elected as the leader of the JMM legislative

PM Modi to lay foundation stone of projects worth Rs 11,599 cr in Guwahati

The Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of projects worth Rs. 11,599 crore in Guwahati

Cong MP asks for higher share in Budget, demands separate nation for south

Karnataka politician DK Suresh threatened a call for separate nationhood for southern states after accusing the Centre of disproportionately distributing share of GST and direct tax funds

Tripura BJP announces 73-member state executive committee ahead of LS polls

The ruling BJP in Tripura announced a 73-member state executive committee months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. All senior leaders of the party in the state, including Chief Minister Manik Saha, Rajya Sabha MP Bilab Kumar Deb, Union MoS for Social Empowerment and Social Justice Pratima Bhoumik and former deputy CM Jishnu Dev Varma, found a place in the committee announced on Thursday night. There are 14 invitee members in the committee. Names of 18 office-bearers of the party's state unit were announced on December 30. With an eye on the elections, the state BJP has reconstituted the committees of office-bearers of all its frontal organisations, including Mohila Morcha and Yuva Morcha.

Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' resumes from Bengal's Nabagram

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' on Friday resumed from Nabagram in West Bengal's Murshidabad after the district administration asked the party to delay it owing to the class 10 state board examination, senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed. The Yatra, which was scheduled to resume at 8 am from Gokarna in Murshidabad, started around 10.30 am from Nabagram. Chowdhury, the Baharampur MP, said that permission to hold the Yatra was refused in neighbouring Birbhum district, through which it is to pass to enter Pakur in Jharkhand later in the day. He said that the permission to hold a roadshow was not granted in Murshidabad district owing to the commencement of West Bengal secondary education board's class 10 examination being held across the state. "I do not understand what is the problem if we peacefully conduct our Yatra after the examinees enter the centres," Chowdhury told reporters. The Yatra commenced with only a few vehicles as Gandhi rode a red SUV

AAP MLAs, volunteers coming for protest being stopped, detained: Kejriwal

AAP MLAs and volunteers coming to participate in the party's protest outside the BJP headquarters here against the "cheating" in the Chandigarh mayoral polls are being stopped or detained, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Friday. Security has been stepped-up in Central Delhi with police barricading several roads leading to the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and deploying additional personnel in view of the Aam Aadmi Party's demonstration as well as a protest by the BJP against "corruption" in the Kejriwal government. The BJP will stage its protest near the AAP head office. The offices of both the parties are on the same road, a few hundred metres from each other. "First votes were stolen in the Chandigarh mayoral elections. Now, people coming to protest peacefully against this are being stopped at various places across Delhi," Kejriwal said in a post on X, ahead of the demonstration scheduled to begin at 11 am. In another post, he said that "across Delhi, they are detain

AAP, BJP protests: Security tightened in Central Delhi, police deployed

Security has been stepped-up in Central Delhi with the deployment of additional personnel in view of demonstrations by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP on Friday, police said. While the AAP will stage a protest outside the BJP headquarters over alleged cheating in the Chandigarh mayoral polls, the BJP has said its members will protest near the AAP head office against the "corruption" of the Arvind Kejriwal government. The headquarters of both the parties is on the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and the distance between them is less than 800 metres. A senior police officer said that appropriate arrangements have been made. "Adequate security arrangements have been made in view of the protests. Additional personnel have been deployed. No one will be allowed to break the law," the officer said. Traffic movement will be hit on the Deen Dayal Upadhayay Marg, and accordingly, diversions will be effected, according to police. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Kejriwal

Centre conspiring to implicate oppn leaders in parl security breach: Cong

The Congress on Thursday alleged that a "conspiracy" was being hatched by the government to pressure those arrested in the Parliament security breach case to take the names of opposition leaders so that they can be held responsible for the security lapse. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh's attack on the government came a day after five of the six people arrested in the Parliament security breach case told a court here that they were allegedly being tortured by the Delhi Police to accept their association with opposition parties. In a post in Hindi on X, Ramesh said, "To make false allegations against the opposition to hide his crime is the way of 'Ahankaracharya'!" The Modi government, which has put opposition leaders in jail by misusing the ED, CBI and IT department is now hatching another conspiracy, he claimed. "Firstly, no action was taken against the BJP MP who gave passes to the youth who intruded in Parliament and 146 opposition MPs who were raising their voices over

Union Ministers laud 'inclusive Budget', Oppn terms it 'election Budget'

PM Modi, in his first post-budget remarks, said that the Interim Budget empowers the four pillars of Viksit Bharat

U'khand UCC: Draft to be submitted on Fri, special session for legislation

The Uttarakhand government-appointed panel to prepare a draft of the Uniform Civil Code will submit the document to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami here on Friday. A special four-day session of the Uttarakhand Assembly has already been convened from February 5-8 to pass a legislation on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The draft will be discussed in a meeting of the state Cabinet before it is tabled in the form of a Bill in the Assembly. Passing a legislation on the UCC will fulfil a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, which saw the saffron party storm to power with a landslide victory for the second consecutive term - a feat achieved for the first time by any political party in the state which came into being in 2000. The second consecutive electoral win was interpreted by the BJP as the people's mandate for a UCC and the Dhami government decided at the very first meeting of the state Cabinet in March, 2022 to constitu

Gujarat Assembly session: Budget for FY25 to be presented on Feb 2

The budget session of the Gujarat assembly will begin on Thursday and the state budget for FY 2024-25 will be presented on Friday, a state minister said. The budget will reflect the vision of the state government for the next year and a road map for the next 25 years, he said. The opposition Congress has said it will corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on a range of issues including inflation, unemployment, and the recent boat capsize tragedy in a lake in Vadodara, resulting in the death of 12 students and two teachers. The budget session will start with the customary address of Governor Acharya Devvrat. "On the first day, the governor will present the previous year's achievements of the state government in his address to the House," Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rushikesh Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai will present the budget on the next day (February 2). The budget will reflect the vision of the s

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Budget 2024: Key highlights of last 5 Budgets under FM Nirmala Sitharaman

From crypto tax to the introduction of PM-Kisan scheme, here are the highlights of the last 5 Union Budget (2019-2023) announcements under first full-time woman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Congress-TMC talks 'on hold', Mamata reiterates vow to fight alone

The Trinamool supremo without naming any party or leader said that there were some who appeared only during elections like Cuckoos in spring

Naxalites frustrated as govt has intensified fight against them: CM Sai

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday said Naxalites have become frustrated as the Bharatiya Janata Party's "double engine" government has intensified the fight against the Naxal menace. He was talking to reporters after paying homage to the three personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who lost their lives in an encounter with Naxalites along the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts of the state on Tuesday. Fifteen other personnel were injured in the incident. The wreath laying ceremony for the martyred personnel was held at the camp of the 201st battalion of CRPF's CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) unit at Karanpur village in Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar district. Sai said since the "double engine" government (of the BJP in the state and at the Centre) has been formed after his party came to power in Chhattisgarh, the fight against Naxalites has been intensified due to which they have become frustrated. "In Tekalgudem, a new

Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' to re-enter Bengal today

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to re-enter West Bengal from Bihar on Wednesday. The first phase of the yatra in West Bengal concluded on Monday, as it stepped into Bihar from Islampur. It will re-enter West Bengal through Debipur, Ratua in Malda district in the northern part of the state around 11.15 am, party leaders said. After the handover of the flag, the yatra will resume from Ratua stadium and move towards Sujapur, where Gandhi will address people before a night halt. On February 1, it will enter Murshidabad before exiting the state the next day. Covering 523 km across six West Bengal districts so far, the yatra has traversed Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Uttar Dinajpur, with Malda and Murshidabad slated for the second phase, they said. The journey through North Bengal, once a Congress stronghold, witnessed enthusiastic reception, as Gandhi interacted with locals along the route. Encountering obstacles akin to those fa