Page 339 - Politics
Cong-JDS leaders battle coalition turmoil post LS poll debacle
As the Lok Sabha poll debacle pushed the ruling Congress-JDS coalition in Karnataka into a greater turmoil, leaders of the two parties Wednesday held intense consultations to avert a potential existential crisis to the one-year-old H D Kumaraswamy ministry. Rushed here by the party high command on a damage control mission, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal held meetings with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and senior party leaders and ministers to save the coalition from an intensified BJP onslaught. Coalition worries have been compounded by the BJP's spectacular win with 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in its pocket, leaving a mere one seat each to the Congress and JDS, which, despite a joint fight, were swept away by the Modi wave. Buoyed by the landslide win in the LS polls, the BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party in the 224-member assembly in the May polls last year, is reportedly eyeing to capture power amid reports of a rift between the coalition partners. The BJP .
KCR to attend swearing-in of Modi, Jagan Reddy
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will attend the swearing-in ceremonies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and YSR Congress chief as Andhra Pradesh Chief minister Thursday, official sources said. After attending the swearing-in of Reddy in the morning, Rao will leave for New Delhi to be present at the oath-taking ceremony of Modi in the evening, they said here Wednesday. Reddy, whose party swept the state assembly elections bagging 151 seats, will be sworn in as Chief Minister at 12.23 pm Thursday. The CM-designate had met Rao and invited him for the function. Modi is set to take oath as Prime Minister for the second time at 7 pm Thursday. Rao had earlier congratulated Modi on BJP's spectacular victory in the recently concluded general elections. Both the leaders were critical of each other over several issues during the campaign. Meanwhile, a Raj Bhavan official here said Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan has left for Vijayawada Wednesday to ..
N Chandrababu Naidu not to attend Jagan Mohan Reddy's swearing-in ceremony
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president and outgoing Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu decided not to attend the swearing-in ceremony of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.Instead, a TDP delegation will meet and congratulate Jagan at his Amaravati residence before the swearing-in ceremony. Ganta Srinivas Rao, Acchennaidu and Payyavula Kesav will congratulate the CM designate on behalf of TDP.YSRCP got a landslide victory both in 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. 22 YSRCP MPs were elected out of 25 parliamentary seats in Andhra Pradesh and they won 151 assembly seats out 175 to achieve landslide majority in the state.
Pilot asks Cong leaders, workers to start mass contact programme in Rajasthan
Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president Sachin Pilot on Wednesday asked party leaders and workers to start a mass contact programme across the state to connect with the people after the drubbing it received in the Lok Sabha polls. Pilot said the Congress accepted defeat in the general elections but it was not the first or the last election. "We accept the defeat and the decision of voters humbly. I have asked the PCC members to start a mass contact programme in cities, towns, villages and hamlets across the country with immediate effect for connecting people with the Congress party," Pilot told reporters here. "This was not the first and the last election. We will again go among the masses and win people's heart. Congress is ruling the state and our government will fulfil all the expectations of people," the deputy chief minister said after the party's executive committee meeting here. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Congress executive committee passed a resolution, saying the party ..
Modi to take oath tomorrow, will Amit Shah get into cabinet?
Narendra Modi, who got a massive mandate for a second consecutive term, will be sworn in as Prime Minister on Thursday at the head of a new government that will not have Arun Jaitley, who has opted out on health grounds, even as speculation mounted on whether BJP President Amit Shah would be part of it.Modi and Shah have had several rounds of discussions in the last few days, including for about five hours on Monday, and the final touches would be given on the morning of Thursday in view of the fact that the swearing in ceremony is scheduled at 7 PM in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.President Ram Nath Kovind will adminster the oath of office and secrecy at the function which will be attended by Heads of government and represenatives from BIMSTEC countries besides Prime Minister of Mauritius and President of Kyrgystan, who is also the chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).State chief ministers, including those running non-BJP governments, and captains of industry ..
Gehlot should resign: UP deputy CM
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said on Wednesday that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot should take the responsibility of the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha election in the state and should resign. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader claimed that Congress' rout in the state reflected that the Gehlot government had lost the people's confidence. "Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot should tender his resignation over the defeat in the Lok Sabha election. He could not make his son (Vaibhav) win (from Jodhpur) and he should take the responsibility," Sharma told reporters here. He added that Gehlot had no "moral authority" to remain on the post. On speculation that the BJP might attempt to destabilise the Gehlot government, Sharma said the BJP was not looking for an opportunity in the "internal crisis" of the Congress. "We do not believe in government formation by defection. However, if the hearts of some of their leaders get changed then what BJP can do in this? he ...
Raj meets Pawar
Amid speculation that his party could be part of Opposition's alliance for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, MNS chief Raj Thackeray met NCPpresident Sharad Pawar earlier this week, sources said. The meeting, which took place at Pawar's residence here Monday evening, lasted about 45 minutes, NCP sources said Wednesday. On Tuesday, members of the grand alliance of Opposition which contested the Lok Sabha polls together discussed plans for putting up a united front against the BJP-Shiv Sena during the assembly polls which are due later this year. Opposition leaders, however, said the issue of taking the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) along did not come up during the talks. The MNS did not field candidates for the recently-held Lok Sabha polls, but Thackeray aggressively campaigned against the BJP, holding several rallies which drew crowds. However, the saffron alliance won 41 of the 48 seats in the state. The Congress and NCP could win only five seats together.
Rajasthan Cong refuses to accept Rahul's resignation
The Rajasthan Congress executive committee on Wednesday passed a resolution, saying the party should not accept the resignation of its president Rahul Gandhi over the Lok Sabha debacle. "The pradesh Congress executive committee accepts all those challenges, failures and shortcomings which led to this mandate,"AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Avinash Pande told reporters. He said all the members of the executive committee also authorised the Congress president to carry out a "radical organisational changes". "The Congress has lost the elections but our courage, spirit of struggle and commitment towards our principles is stronger than before," he said. The executive committee endorsed the resolution passed on the same lines by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in New Delhi on May 25. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president Sachin Pilot were present at the meeting held at the party headquarters here. It was the first meeting of ..
Chandrababu Naidu to skip Jagan Reddy's swearing-in
Outgoing Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will not attend the swearing-in of his successor Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday and will instead send a delegation of his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to call on the YSR Congress Party chief and congratulate him.
Congress workers gather demanding Rahul stays on
Hundreds of Delhi Congress workers on Wednesday massed outside Congress President Rahul Gandhi's residence demanding that he not step down from the party's top post.
TMC MLA Dutta takes a dig at party leaders over LS results
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA and Bidhannagar Mayor Sabyasachi Dutta on Wednesday took a swipe at his party leaders who failed to provide a lead in their respective Assembly segments in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and said some of them have been given higher responsibility within the party even after their failures.
Another Trinamool MLA joins BJP
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday suffered another jolt as one of its prominent Muslim faces and MLA joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Uttarakhand Minister going abroad for treatment
Uttarakhand Finance Minister Prakash Pant is going abroad for the treatment of an undisclosed ailment, a source close to Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said on Wednesday.
Mamata to participate in TMC sit-in outside Naihati municipality on Thursday
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will take part in a sit-in demonstration organised by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) outside the Naihati municipality on Thursday to protest against the violence on party workers after the Lok Sabha poll results. "Tomorrow, we will organise a sit-in outside the Naihati municipality in protest against our workers being rendered homeless by BJP goons. Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee will also participate in it," a senior TMC leader said on Wednesday. The decision comes hours after Banerjee said she would not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narenda Modi as the prime minister, citing "untrue" claims made by the BJP that 54 of its workers were killed in political violence in Bengal. The TMC supremo had on Tuesday said she would attend the ceremony to be held in New Delhi on Thursday. Incidentally, the Naihati municipality is located in the Barrackpore area of North 24 Parganas district, which has witnessed violent clashes between TMC and BJP ...
Adityanath meets newly elected BJP MPs in UP
After the BJP's thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with the newly elected MPs of the party at his official residence here on Wednesday. Addressing the meeting, which was also attended by state in-charge J P Nadda and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Adityanath congratulated the MPs for their success. "Rising above candidate and party considerations, people this time came forward aggressively to elect the PM and this was seen all through the electioneering. It is because of this that the BJP won 303 seats on its own across the country; 64 of these are from Uttar Pradesh alone," Yogi said. Adityanath said the meeting was a formal introduction for the newly elected representatives who would henceforth be moving to Delhi for the swearing-in and the parliament session. The chief minister also hosted lunch for them. Among the MPs who attended the meeting were Smriti Irani, who won from Amethi, and Bhojpuri film
Support to Congress government in Rajasthan will continue: BSP
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will continue to support the 'local Congress' government in the state led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, state BSP president Ramji Gautam said on Wednesday."To stop communal forces, BSP president Mayawati has given her support to local Congress government from outside which will continue," Ramji said while addressing a press conference here.His statement comes in the wake of rumblings within the Rajasthan Congress following the party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls with several leaders questioning the party leadership in the state.It was reported that at a meeting of Congress Working Committee (CWC) on May 25, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had accused senior Congress leaders including Ashok Gehlot of putting their sons above party interest."Our party has always been against casteism and communalism. The BSP president has instructed all the six MLAs of the party to obey her orders, not to go against the ideology of party by playing into the hands of ...
Knives out in K.M. Mani's party
On expected lines, trouble has broken out in Kerala Congress (Mani), the third biggest ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
MCI extends last date for PG medical admission to May 31
The Medical Council of India (MCI) agreed to extend the last date for admission to postgraduate medical courses from May 18 to May 31."Considering the representations received from some state governments, universities and candidates, it has been approved by the Central government to extend the last date for admission in PG courses only to fill up the vacant seats from May 18 to May 31," stated an MCI release.Earlier, the Health Ministry issued a statement saying: "The Ministry is in receipt of representations from Institutions / State Governments for extending the last date for filling up of vacant PG medical seats beyond May 18 and upto May 31."The Board of Governors at the MCI that met on Tuesday agreed to the demand made by the various bodies in this regard.
Furious Mamata does U-turn, not to attend PM's oath-taking
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not attend the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, after rejecting the BJP's claim that scores of saffron party workers were killed in violence perpetrated by her TMC. The TMC supremo's announcement on Twitter came in apparent remonstrance after the families of over 40 BJP workers allegedly slain by her party were taken by train to New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Banerjee had on Tuesday received an invitation and told reporters she would attend the event as a matter of "constitutional courtesy" after having spoken to a couple of chief ministers of other states. However, after it transpired that family members of over 40 BJP workers, who were killed in political violence in West Bengal in the last one year, have also been invited, a livid Banerjee said she will not attend as the "occasion to celebrate democracy should not be devalued to score political points". "Congratulations, ..
Another TMC MLA joins BJP
In another blow for the Trinamool Congress, its MLA Monirul Islam Wednesday joined the BJP, the third legislator to desert the ruling party in West Bengal after the reverses in the Lok Sabha polls. Two TMC legislators and over 50 councillors had joined the BJP on Tuesday. The BJP projected the decision of TMC's Muslim MLA to join the party as a vindication of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwash" (together with all, development for all, trust of all). Modi gave the slogan in his first address to MP's of BJP-led NDA after the Lok Sabha poll results were declared. He had asked them to win over the trust of minorities with their work. Several other TMC workers also joined the saffron party here in the presence of BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijaywargiya.