Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a party meeting on Friday reviewed preparations for forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir and asked party leaders to be prepared for it.Shah headed a meeting with leaders of the core group of Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday at his residence in Delhi which lasted for three hours.The meeting was held on a day when veteran Congress leader from Jammu & Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from his party and announced his plans to form a new party in the UT.BJP leaders said the political situation and the party's organizational affairs following the delimitation exercise in J-K came up for discussion.J-K BJP president Ravinder Raina and other senior party leaders, including Union minister Jitendra Singh, Devendra Singh Rana, MP Jugal Kishore and Shakti Raj Parihar, attended the meeting. BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, in charge of the party's affairs in the UT, and co-in-charge Ashish Sood, was also present.Shah asked the party
Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said his former Congress colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad has finally "freed" himself, a day after the veteran leader ended his nearly five-decade-old association with the Grand Old Party. The internal situation of the Congress has been clear for many years now. But in the end, Ghulam Nabiji became free, Scindia, a former Congress leader who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2020, told reporters. Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from all positions in the Congress, including its primary membership, by describing former Congress president Rahul Gandhi as "immature" and "childish" and accusing the leadership of "foisting a non-serious individual" at the helm of the party. Meanwhile, identifying himself as a BJP worker, the Union civil aviation minister said he was working for nation-building under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Scindia reached Gwalior on Saturday to tour the flood-affected areas in the Gwalior-Chambal region
Amid the ongoing political turbulence in Jharkhand over CM Soren's possible disqualification as an MLA, state's Cong working president Bandhu Tirkey slammed the BJP
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday claimed that the Centre did not have to impose GST on food items if the BJP had not spent a whopping Rs 6,300 crore on toppling governments of other parties in the country. Kejriwal's remarks come a day after his called the BJP a "serial killer of state governments". During his address in the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal also alleged that the BJP is using money collected through GST and hike in petrol and diesel prices to "poach" the MLAs. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor on Saturday also alleged that the people are facing the brunt of price rise with the BJP spending crores of rupees on 'poaching' other parties' MLAs and bringing down their governments in states. In a tweet in Hindi, Kejriwal said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that has been imposed on curd, buttermilk, honey, wheat, rice etc., will fetch Rs 7,500 crore revenue per annum to the central government. "They have spent Rs 6,300 crore so far on toppling governme
Telangana Health and Finance minister Harish Rao took a potshot at the BJP-led Centre saying that the investigation agencies have become a pocket organisation of the party
Karnataka BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa on Friday said he would tour the state to strengthen the party ahead of next year's assembly polls. Yediyurappa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda here on Friday and held discussions on the political situation in the state and its preparations for the 2023 assembly polls. Talking to PTI, Yediyurappa said his inclusion in the BJP Parliamentary Board, the party's apex decision-making body, has "sent a good message not only in Karnataka but across south India." Thanking Prime Minister Modi and the party's central leadership, Yediyurappa said he would continue to his activities and "from the first week of September, will travel across the state, visit all districts to strengthen BJP and the hands of the state leadership." The former Karnataka chief minister, however, made it clear that he is not going to contest the elections. During his tour across the state in three phases, Yediyurappa s
BJP's former MLC Ramchander Rao hailed Telangana High Court's decision for allowing party's national president JP Nadda's rally in Warangal on Saturday
Ahead of the Assembly elections in Tripura scheduled early next year, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat arrived here on a two-day visit to the BJP ruled state on Friday
The Congress on Friday launched an all-out attack against Ghulam Nabi Azad after he resigned from the party, saying his "betrayal" of the party leadership reveals his true character and that his DNA has been "Modi-fied". The Opposition party also linked his resignation to the end of his Rajya Sabha tenure and claimed the "betrayal" by Azad in these times shows that his "remote control" is in the hands of Narendra Modi and that the "love" between them had also been on display in Parliament. "First Modi's tears in Parliament, then Padma Vibhushan, then the extension for residence. Ye sanyog nahi sahyog hai (It's not a coincidence, it's a collaboration)," Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet in Hindi. The sharp attack by the Congress and its leaders came within hours of 73-year-old Azad quitting the party after nearly five decades of association with the grand old party. Congress leaders said Azad's observations in the letter were more o
A day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asked his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal to "do his homework" before commenting, the AAP supremo said on Friday his intention was not to "point out faults" and that "we have to learn from each other" to make the country stronger. Kejriwal had, on Wednesday, tweeted that a closure of schools is not a solution and there is a need to open more schools across the country, and shared a link to a news report claiming a "closure" of some schools in Assam. Sarma took to Twitter on Thursday to lash out at Kejriwal over the amalgamation of schools and asked him to "do his homework" before commenting. "Dear @ArvindKejriwal Ji-as usual you commented on something without any homework! Since my days as Education Minister till now, please note, the Assam government has established/taken over 8,610 new schools," Sarma had tweeted. He had also asked how many schools did the Delhi government start in the last seven years. The Aam Aadmi Party (
In a hard-hitting attack, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday called the BJP a "serial killer of state governments" and said he wanted to face a trust vote on August 29 to prove that no MLA of his Aam Aadmi Party defected and the saffron party's "Operation Lotus" turned out "operation kichad", or mud-slinging, in Delhi. The AAP supremo went on to say that a "serial killer is in town" to topple governments in order to satisfy the "lust for power", linking recent raids by the central probe agencies against his ministers to the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat where, he claimed, the BJP's citadel is crumbling. Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi "Saheb" during a discussion on the government's resolution on good works in the Delhi Assembly's special session, Kejriwal said the nation is not with him in his "theatrics". "The BJP's fortress in Gujarat is under threat and is crumbling now. The ED and the CBI raids on us are due to the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat. "If we announc
Amid speculation on him joining the BJP following his meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Health Minister K Sudhakar, Congress Working Committee member K H Muniyappa on Friday said there is no question of him leaving the party. The former Union Minister, upset with the decision of the State Congress leaders to admit a couple of local leaders in Kolar into the party without his knowledge, expressed pain over Ghulam Nabi Azad's decision to quit the party. He said, "He (Azad) was not treated well." "There is no question of leaving the Congress. I'm active in the party and will continue to remain so...no one has invited me to join other parties, I will remain in the Congress," Muniyappa said in response to a question on speculation that he would join other parties like the BJP. Speaking to reporters here, he clarified that he met the Chief Minister with a petition seeking funds and land for the development of "Adi Jambava mutt", along with the seer of the mutt and
"The BJP has dismantled several governments and now they have turned towards Delhi. There is a serial killer of governments in our country. The pattern is the same," Kejriwal said on Friday.
"Banks recovered over Rs 1,86,000 lakh crore from written-off loan accounts of wilful defaulters from 2014 to 2021," BJP's Amit Malviya added.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party. The G-23, the members of which were lampooned by the party loyalists after their letter became public on August 24, 2020, has virtually disintegrated over the last two years with the resignations of Azad and Kapil Sibal, seen as the prime movers of the initiative, and others such as Shashi Tharoor, M Veerappa Moily and Mukul Wasnik making peace with the high-command. Leaders such as Jitin Prasada and Yogananda Shastri have also quit the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) respectively. Prasada is a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government now, while Shastri heads the Delhi unit of the NCP. Former Union minister Anand Sharma, w
Education may feature prominently in the words of the Aam Aadmi Party but it is "liquor" which drives their work, Union minister Anurag Thakur said on Friday as the BJP kept its attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia over the alleged excise scam. He said the AAP government in Delhi did not make "pathshala" (schools) but opened many "madhushala" (liquor vends) and questioned the "silence" of Kejriwal and Sisodia to the queries raised by him over the "scam", now being probed by the CBI. "The liquor scam has unmasked the AAP and showed how it is neck-deep in corruption. Why are its leaders not answering the questions raised by us over its excise policy," Thakur said. The AAP government should answer as to why Rs 144 crore was returned to liquor dealers besides Rs 30 crore earnest money, he asked. "If the excise policy was correct, then why was it withdrawn? The truth is serious corruption has occurred. Their health minister is in jail on corruptio
The BJP-led Centre is acting like a serial killer to eliminate state governments, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed on Friday, as he termed the CBI FIR against him "completely fake" and based on "mere sources". Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, Sisodia said the CBI does not have proof of any corruption in the city government's excise policy. He also alleged that the CBI conducted raids on his residence because the Delhi government's good work was being praised across the globe. The deputy chief minister, who is an accused in the CBI case related to the Delhi government's excise policy, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "feels insecure" seeing good work done by others. "Prime Minister Modi feels insecure seeing good work by others. I have not seen a more insecure person than him. Had Arvind Kejriwal been the prime minister and I the education minister of a state, he would not have done something like this," Sisodia said, participating in a discussion on a government .
Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday called Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as an "incapable" person and also a 'puppet' in the hands of the RSS. The former Chief Minister even termed the BJP government in the State as "illegal" as it was not legitimately elected by the people of the State; the saffron party came to power through "Operation Kamala." "We have an incapable Chief Minister, he has become a puppet in the hands of RSS. There is no government and there is no governance, as stated by Minister Madhuswamy himself," Siddaramaiah said. Recently, Madhuswamy's purported remarks during a telephonic conversation that the "government is not functioning, we are somehow managing" were leaked and gone viral, causing embarrassment to the government. During an interaction with mediapersons here, the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly in reference to the 40 per cent commission charge against the government by the State contractors' association, said when
The Congress on Friday said the contents of Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation letter were "not factual" and its timing was "awful", while asserting that it was most unfortunate that it came at a time when the entire party organisation was engaged in combating the BJP on key issues like price rise and polarisation. Congress sources said Azad's observations in the letter were more of a "personal vilification" targeting Rahul Gandhi. Addressing a press conference on Azad's resignation, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "It is most unfortunate, most regrettable that this has happened, when the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the entire Congress Party organization, across the country is engaged in confronting, combating, fighting the BJP on issues of 'mehangai (price rise)', unemployment and polarization." The entire Congress organisation in the last couple of weeks has been involved in preparing for the 'Mehangai Par Halla Bol rally'
BJP leader Sonali Phogat was drugged at a party by her two associates who have been now named as accused in the case related to her 'murder', Goa Police said on Friday. Both the accused were seen mixing some obnoxious chemical substance in the liquid which was fed to her at the party at a restaurant in Anjuna, said Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi. Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh, the two accused who have been detained, had travelled to Goa along with Phogat on August 22. The incident of drugging happened at Curlies Restaurant at Anjuna in North Goa as per the accused's confession, the IGP said. Both would be arrested soon, he added. Phogat was brought dead to a hospital on August 23. As per an autopsy report, her body had "multiple blunt force injuries.