With the BJP set to form its government for the third time in Haryana after winning the polls, all the three Independent MLAs -- Savitri Jindal, Devender Kadyan and Rajesh Joon -- on Wednesday decided to extend support to the BJP government once it is sworn in. While Joon was a Congress rebel, Kadyan fought as an Independent after the BJP denied him ticket. Kadyan fought from the Ganaur constituency in Sonipat and defeated his nearest Congress rival Kuldeep Sharma. Joon won from the Bahadurgarh seat in the Jhajjar district, defeating his nearest BJP rival Dinesh Kaushik. Savitri Jindal fought as an Independent candidate from Hisar and won against her nearest Congress rival Ram Niwas Rara. BJP's Kamal Gupta, who was the sitting legislator and minister in the outgoing Saini Cabinet, ended up at the third spot. Savitri Jindal said she has decided to extend support to the BJP government after it is formed. "I want development for Hisar and want it to become a beautiful city, for this
Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo on Saturday said the recent "sexual assault" incident at Bharatpur Police Station was being "politicised" and asserted that those found guilty would not be spared. Speaking to reporters, he said the BJP government in the state has already suspended five police personnel for their alleged involvement in the incident. "The incident is being politicised... It is due to the BJP that former chief minister Naveen Patnaik emerged from his house and issued a media statement after 24 years," Singh Deo said. Patnaik had on Friday demanded a court-monitored SIT probe and a judicial inquiry into the alleged sexual assault of an army officer's fiance in Bharatpur Police Station on September 15. Any person found guilty during the investigation would "not be spared and stringent action would be taken against them", Singh Deo said. The BJD government has left the police in such a situation...The previous government had constituted several judic
A case of rape, sexual harassment and criminal intimidation has been registered against BJP MLA Munirathna and six others, police said on Thursday. It was registered following the complaint of a 40-year-old woman who alleged that the incident took place at a private resort within the Kaggalipura police station's jurisdiction. "We received a complaint on Wednesday night and based on it, we have registered case against seven people, including the BJP MLA under various sections for rape by public servant, sexual harassment, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, voyeurism, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, Information Technology Act, and others," a senior police officer said. The matter is being investigated, he said. The fresh FIR against the BJP MLA, also a former Minister, comes days after he was arrested by the Bengaluru Police in connection with the two cases filed against him for alleged harassment, threats and casteist abuse, police said.
Mild tension prevailed at the residence of BRS legislator P Kaushik Reddy here after turncoat MLA Arekapudi Gandhi reached the spot along with his followers in response to the former's challenge that the latter should prove which party he belonged to. The war of words between both the legislators began after the appointment of Gandhi, who defected to the Congress from BRS, as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Telangana legislature. Gandhi's appointment irked the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party, which called it a "day-light murder of the Constitution" as it is a tradition to appoint an opposition member as chairman of PAC. Earlier during the day, Reddy referring to Gandhi's claims that he still belongs to BRS, in a press conference said he was inviting the defected legislator to his residence and offered to take him to the BRS party office. Reacting to Reddy's offer, Gandhi along with his followers reached Reddy's residence where supporters of both the leaders indulged in .
Shiv Sena minister Tanaji Sawant has said that he sits next to his NCP peers at cabinet meetings but feels like vomiting after coming out, prompting a sharp reaction from the Ajit Pawar-led party. Speaking at an event on Thursday, Sawant, who is Maharashtra's health minister, said he is a hardcore Shiv Sainik and never got along with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders. Even if we sit next to each other in the cabinet, I feel like vomiting after coming out, Sawant said. The BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar's NCP are partners in the ruling Mahayuti coalition in the state. NCP spokesperson and Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Amol Mitkari condemned Sawant's remark and asked whether it was the responsibility of only his party to keep the alliance intact. Sawant has made remarks in the past that have hurt the NCP, he said. We are quiet only to maintain the coalition dharma, Mitkari said. It is only the chief minister who can treat his nausea,
The BJP announced on Sunday that its senior leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will take the decisions over seat-sharing and negotiations with allies for the upcoming assembly polls in the state. BJP's Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar told reporters, The core committee (of the state unit) convened in Mumbai to delegate all decision-making powers concerning seat-sharing and the selection of assembly constituencies to Fadnavis. The move aims to prevent undesired delays by streamlining the preparations for the assembly elections due in a few months, he said. Party observer and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav, BJP national secretary Vinod Tawde, Union minister and Mumbai North MP Piyush Goyal also attended the meeting in Mumbai. Of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, the BJP had won 104 in 2019. Shelar confirmed the finalisation of the formula for winning besides the planning and seat-sharing arrangements with the allies. Fadnavis has been granted full authority in t
Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Prem Chand Bairwa also expressed shock and grief over the death of Amrit Lal Meena
Bhartiya Janata Party's (BJP) three-time tribal MLA Amritlal Meena, aged 64, passed away due to a heart attack on Wednesday.Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, in a condolence message on X, wrote, "I am shocked by the news of the demise of BJP MLA from Salumber Assembly constituency, Shri Amrit Lal Ji Meena due to a heart attack. This is an irreparable loss for the BJP family. I pray to Almighty God to give his holy soul a place in his feet and provide strength to his family members in this hour of grief. Om Shanti!"Babulal Kharadi, who is the Cabinet Minister in Rajasthan government also expressed his condolences and said "A very important member of our party has passed away today. He was like a brother to me, and I had a close relationship with his family. No one would be able to fill in the emptiness he has left in our lives. Finding someone like him is very rare. My condolences to his family."BJP MLA Phool Singh Meena also expressed his condolences. "He was a very ...
Several BJP MLAs of Jharkhand spent the night in the assembly lobby after marshals evicted them from the well of the House where they were protesting against Chief Minister Hemant Soren's "refusal" to reply to their questions on key issues including employment. The legislators slept on bed covers and blankets on the floor of the lobby near the entrance of the assembly building. The House is scheduled to reconvene at 11 am on Thursday. The opposition BJP and AJSU Party MLAs were evicted by marshals from the House to the lobby late last night after they refused to budge from the Well even after the House was adjourned around 3 pm. They alleged that despite being in a sit-in in the well, the lights and air-conditioners were turned off. "We were dragged out by the marshals from the well to the lobby and then near stairs at the entrance of the Assembly though our protest was peaceful," a BJP legislator claimed. Sitting in the lobby adjacent to the main entrance, they were seen raising
The Allahabad High Court on Monday set aside the Ghazipur court order sentencing Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari to four years' imprisonment under the Gangsters Act over the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. With the high court allowing the plea against his conviction, the SP MP can now continue as a member of Parliament. The court also dismissed pleas by the UP government and Piyush Kumar Rai, Krishnanand Rai's son, seeking enhancement of the Ghazipur MP's sentence. The high court's judgment was passed by Justice S K Singh.
Government doctors ended their indefinite strike on Saturday following assurances from the Haryana government that their demands would be accepted, the chief of the association leading the shutdown said. The doctors resumed their duties after the strike was called off. The shutdown was lifted following a meeting between representatives of the protesting doctors and Amit Aggarwal -- additional principal secretary to the Haryana chief minister -- late on Friday, Haryana Civil Medical Services Association president Dr Rajesh Khyalia said. "We have called off the strike," he said. The government has accepted the doctors' demands and assured to notify those before August 15, he added. The doctors are demanding a career progression scheme that ensures parity with their central government peers, reduction in the bond amount for admission to postgraduate courses from Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh and formation of a specialist cadre for them. Around 3,000 government doctors had gone on an ...
The opposition BJP and JD(S) held an all-night dharna in both Houses of the Karnataka Legislature demanding a discussion on the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which involves plots given to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife. The BJP and JD(S) legislators spent the night in the Assembly and Council. As part of the protest, they held demonstrations holding placards, and raised slogans -- in the form of "bhajans" -- against the Congress government, Siddaramaiah and Speaker U T Khader for not allowing a discussion. The legislators including Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka, and BJP state President and MLA B Y Vijayendra later slept in the Assembly premises. Similar scenes were seen at the Legislative Council too. The opposition parties said they would continue their protest on the issue in both the Houses on Thursday too. Claiming that the needle of suspicion in the MUDA "scam" is pointing towards the .
Uproarious scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday as BJP members criticised the opposition for boycotting the all-party meeting called by the government on the Maratha reservation issue the previous day. Amid slogan-shouting by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members and noisy scenes, the House was adjourned three times. Raising the issue in the Lower House, Ameet Satam (BJP) accused the opposition of playing politics over the quota issue. He asked the opposition to clarify its stand on the demand that Marathas be given reservation from the OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota. "The opposition only wants to create a rift between the two communities," he charged. Ashish Shelar (BJP) claimed the opposition backtracked at the last minute from attending the all-party meeting. Members of the treasury benches trooped into the well of the House, slamming the opposition. Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar accused the government of creating a social divide and .
The winners of Lok Sabha elections 2024 won an average of 50.58 per cent votes, down by 2 per cent as compared to the last general elections, according to an analysis by the poll rights body ADR. Among the elected MPs with declared criminal cases, 42 per cent won with a vote share of 50 per cent and above, the ADR report said. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have released a comprehensive analysis of the vote share in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, examining 542 out of 543 constituencies. The Surat constituency in Gujarat was excluded from the analysis as its candidate was elected unopposed. Winners in the 2024 elections secured an average of 50.58 per cent of the total votes polled, a decrease from 52.65 per cent in 2019. Notably, 279 winners (51 per cent) achieved more than half of the total votes in their constituencies, while 263 winners (49 per cent) failed to reach the half-way mark. Among the major parties, the BJP had 75 out of
A political crisis involving the ruling AINRC-BJP coalition is brewing in the union territory with a section of saffron party MLAs expressing displeasure against the government over issues including corruption, and have knocked on the doors of the national leadership with a plea to set things right before they 'become worse.' Among others, they want a reshuffle of the cabinet. Fissures within the local BJP unit also seem to have come to the fore with calls being made for replacing the incumbent UT head over the party nominee's loss in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections. BJP candidate, Puducherry Home Minister A Namassivayam lost to Congress' Ve Vaithilingam by a margin of over 1.36 lakh votes in the April 19 polls and murmurs are being heard in the saffron camp that the three-year old N Rangasamy-led government's 'deficient performance' also contributed to his defeat. A delegation of seven legislators belonging to the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and also a couple of nominated
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is the biggest contractor of lies but his actions would not help the Congress to win the bypoll, Bilaspur (Sadar) MLA and BJP co-incharge of the Hamirpur assembly bypoll Trilok Jamwal said on Wednesday. "Sensing his party's defeat in all the three seats, including Hamirpur, the home district of the chief minister, Sukhu is making false allegations and accusations against BJP candidates," the MLA said in a statement issued here. Bypolls will be conducted for three assembly seats -- Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagargh -- on July 10. The seats fell vacant after three Independent legislators, who voted in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajya Sabha elections, resigned and later joined the saffron party. The BJP has fielded all the three former MLAs from their respective seats. "If (Sukhvinder Singh) Sukhu says that during the Congress tenure, Ashish Sharma took contracts worth crore from him, then should it be understood that contracts are
The Delhi Police on Saturday used a water cannon to disperse BJP workers demonstrating against the AAP government over water shortage in the the national capital. Led by the BJP's former South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri, the protesters gathered outside a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) office in Okhla and raised slogans against the AAP government. The police dispersed them with a water cannon after they refused to move. Amid a punishing heat wave battering the city, Delhi is facing a severe water shortage while the BJP and AAP continue to blame each other for the crisis. Addressing the protesters, Bidhuri alleged that the DJB, which had profits of Rs 600 crore, is now facing losses of Rs 60,000 crore due to corruption. He later handed over a memorandum to a DJB engineer over an acute shortage of water in the Tughlaqabad assembly constituency. Meanwhile, Delhi Water Minister Atishi's indefinite hunger strike for release of the city's "rightful share" of water share in the Yamuna by Haryana ente
Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday resigned as the MLA from his traditional Budhni seat in Madhya Pradesh, days after getting elected to the Lok Sabha from Vidisha in the state. After submitting his resignation from the assembly membership to the speaker, Chouhan said he will continue to serve the people of Budhni in Sehore district from where he started his political career decades ago. In a video statement, the BJP veteran said it was a very emotional moment for him to resign from the Budhni seat, which elected him to the assembly 6 times. I am feeling very emotional today. I have resigned from the membership of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The people of Budhni reside in every breath of mine. I started my public life from Budhni and people continued to shower me with their love and affection," he noted. "Since childhood, I took part in agitations in Budhni. Thereafter, I am getting people's love and affection. Serving ...
Chhattisgarh minister and MLA Brijmohan Agrawal on Monday resigned from the state Assembly after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Raipur in the recent general elections. Agrawal submitted his resignation to Speaker Raman Singh at the latter's residence in the presence of BJP leaders. Singh said Agrawal's resignation from the Assembly has been accepted. "It is an emotional moment for me as I have been an MLA in undivided Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh without a break for 35 years. In Parliament, I will raise issues of Chhattisgarh's development," Agrawal told reporters. He said he was starting a new innings with the blessings of everybody, adding that he had no regrets about anything. Agrawal won the Raipur Lok Sabha seat by defeating Congress's Vikas Upadhyay by a record margin of 5,75,285 votes. An eight term MLA, Agrawal had won from Raipur City South assembly seat in the 2023 polls with the highest victory margin of 67,719 votes. He has been undefeated in polls since 1990.
The 20-page manifesto by BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon focuses on issues such as women, artists, patients visiting Chandigarh, and the role of the Member of Parliament (MP) in dealing with bureaucrats