POPULAR Front of India (PFI), linked with several Islamic extremists outfits, and Bhim Army an Ambedkarite organisation active in north India, have emerged one of the key suspects behind the recent CAA violence in western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. A series of incidents related to arson and firing in Delhi’s northeast district in the past two days, has also been linked with simultaneous violent protests in Aligarh, a report of UP State Intelligence has revealed on basis of Call Detail Records (CDRs) ..

THE National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar will definitely win the Bihar polls, said Bharatiya Janata Party President Jagat Prakash Nadda on Saturday during his meeting with the party workers in Patna. “The NDA Government has changed the face of Bihar in the past 5 years and the election to be held in November will also be fought under Nitish Kumar’s leadership,” Nadda said in his speech to motivate the party workers for the Bihar elections that are scheduled ..

MAHARASHTRA Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday expressed his Government’s resolve to carry forward the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Thackeray visited the Shivneri Fort in Junnar tehsil of Pune district in the morning to pay tributes to Shivaji Maharaj on his birth anniversary, and announced Rs 23 crore assistance for the development of the fort. He also said that cases filed against protesters during the Maratha quota agitation in 2018 will be withdrawn...

WHEN Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal took oath in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan along with his six ministers on Sunday, sharing the stage with them were 50 common people, who were designated as “Delhi ke Nirmata” by the party. The first of its kind initiative, Delhi ke Nirmata (Builders of Delhi) includes a list of safai karamcharis, students, teachers, doctors and bus marshals,. Of the list of the special guests, 24 were from the field of Education, health, NGOs, social welfare and transport. ..

BIG banners bearing messages like ‘Dhanyawad Dilli’ along with Arvind Kejriwal’s image were put up in and around the historic Ramlila Maidan for the swearing-in of the AAP supremo as Chief Minister of Delhi for the third successive time at an event on Sunday which is “open to public” but won’t see the usual gathering of political heavyweights...

ARVIND Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi Chief Minister on February 16 at Ramlila Maidan in a grand ceremony that will be open to public, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday. Addressing reporters, Sisodia said that all Cabinet Ministers will also take oath along with Kejriwal at the event. The oath-taking ceremony will take place at 10 am on Sunday, Sisodia said and urged people to turn out in large numbers for the ceremony...

ARVIND Kejriwal, engineer, civil servant and Delhi’s man with a development agenda, is the David who slayed the mighty Goliath for the second time in five years. The Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party is poised to win 63 of Delhi’s 70 seats, leaving the BJP with seven and decimating the Congress, overcoming the BJP’s divisive campaign. Nine years ago, Kejriwal slipped into the political frame behind Anna Hazare during the Lokpal movement in 2011 before quickly enlarging his canvas, first as a satyagrah ..

EXTENDING his support to the new citizenship law and the proposed National Register of Citizens, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday warned of giving a “befitting reply” to rallies being held against the CAA and the NRC. In the afternoon, the MNS took out a huge march from Girgaum Chowpatty to Azad Maidan in South Mumbai demanding eviction of illegal Pakistani and Bangladeshi infiltrators from the country. The morcha was culminated at Azad Maidan. Addressing the gathering of thousands of MNS activists ..

MARKED by the BJP aggressively pushing the anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh as a poll issue, the AAP hardselling development and the Congress conspicuous by its near absence, the bitter, often divisive campaign for the Delhi elections ended on Thursday. In their final electioneering push, the three key parties made last ditch efforts to seek votes and slugged it out over issues ranging from the amended citizenship law, appeasement politics and unemployment...

ATTACKING the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Delhi needs a Government that will not resort to appeasement but supports the CAA, abolition of Article 370 and issues of national security. Addressing an election rally in Dwarka three days before the February 8 assembly elections, the Prime Minister said the national capital also needs a Government that will give direction and not resort to blame games...

THE Bhartiya Janata Party has launched a power packed campaign in Delhi with top leadership hitting the campaign trail on Sunday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President J P Nadda will launch a door-to-door campaign in the national capital apart from addressing several rallies. While Shah will interact with people in Delhi Cantt area, Nadda will be in Chirag Delhi to woo voters. Nadda will also address rallies in Sangam Vihar and Ambedkar Nagar...

THE BJP on Thursday accused the AAP of “sponsoring” anti-CAA protests, including the one at Shaheen Bagh here and running a “proxy campaign” through them, as it urged the Election Commission to include expenses incurred on these demonstrations in the expenditure of AAP candidates. A BJP delegation, which included Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, submitted a memorandum to the EC, seeking appointment of an independent election expenditure observer to enquire into the matter to ..

THE JD(U) on Wednesday expelled its Vice President Prashant Kishor and General Secretary Pavan Varma from the party, saying, their conduct in recent past has made it clear that they don’t want to abide by the party’s discipline. Both leaders have been critical of the party President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his support to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR)...

“THEY should go wherever they want,” Bihar Chief Minister and JDU supremo Nitish Kumar said on Thursday when asked of Prashant Kishor and Pavan Verma’s repeated questions about the party’s stand’s on the newly enacted Citizenship Act. “It is their personal decision. They should go wherever they want. We don’t have an objection. Don’t look at JDU in the context of statements by some people...

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated J P Nadda on his election as the BJP President and said that he was sure that the party will scale newer heights during his presidency. Modi, who felicitated Nadda at the BJP headquarter here, also praised Amit Shah for his contribution, describing him as an “outstanding karyakarta (worker)” “I do not think words can do justice to the rich contribution of Amit Shah Ji as BJP President. During his presidency, BJP got opportunities to serve in several ..

IN A setback to the AAP, two of its MLAs quit the party after they were denied ticket for the February 8 Delhi Assembly election with one of them joining the Congress on Saturday. An Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said the resignations of Dwarka MLA Adarsh Shastri and Hari Nagar MLA Jagdeep Singh was “unfortunate but expected”...

MARKING a significant milestone, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday launched the first girder for the country’s longest sea-bridge, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), officials said here. Thackeray, along with top officials of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and others launched the girder at the Mumbai-end of MTHL in Sewri...

DAYS after she faced flak for stating that newly-sworn in ministers in the Maharashtra Government had not yet started making money, State Minister and Congress MLA Yashomati Thakur has said that touching a cow “drives away negativity”. On Sunday, the Women and Child Development Minister in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Government defended her remarks, saying touching any animal, including cows, feels one with compassion...

MAHARASHTRA Legislature on Wednesday unanimously ratified the Constitution (126th) Amendment Bill, which proposes to extend quota to SC/STs in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies by another 10 years. A special one-day session of the legislature was held to ratify the Constitution Amendment Bill, passed by Parliament on December 11...

A SURPRISE meeting between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray and Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday fuelled speculation of a new political front emerging in Maharashtra. While a MNS spokesperson confirmed the meeting, he declined to elaborate on the deliberations between the two leaders, once at loggerheads. Fadnavis met Raj Thackeray - the estranged cousin of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray - at a venue in south-central Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon for ..

MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar has got the finance and planning department while party colleague Anil Deshmukh is the State’s new Home Minister, a senior official said on Sunday. Besides, first-time Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who is the son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, has been given charge of the environment, tourism and protocol departments, he said. Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat has got the Revenue Ministry while his party colleague and ..

THE Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), making the Left-ruled state the first to oppose legislatively the controversial law that has triggered nationwide protests. The Centre, meanwhile, is likely to make the entire process of granting citizenship under the CAA online to bypass the opposition by some states, officials said in Delhi. The Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) is mulling the option of doing away with the present procedure ..

JMM leader Hemant Soren took oath as Jharkhand Chief Minister for a second time on Sunday at a grand ceremony attended by a galaxy of Opposition leaders and regional satraps, in a show of unity that could be a harbinger of a broad-based anti-BJP alliance amid the uproar over the new citizenship law. Attired in white kurta-pyjama ensemble and a Nehru jacket, the 44-year-old tribal leader was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of the State by Governor Droupadi Murmu...

VICE-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday stressed on the need for promoting family system and its values right from the school days and teach children the need to respect their elders. ..

THE counting of votes for 81 Jharkhand Assembly seats, which went to polls in five phases from November 30 to December 20, will take place on Monday. The counting will start at 8 AM in all the 24 district Headquarters. The maximum rounds of counting will take place at Chatra with 28 rounds and lowest round at two seats -- Chandankyari and Torpa. The Election Commission has made arrangements for counting at all the districts Headquarters. The first result is expected around 1 PM on Monday. ..

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought to assuage concerns of Muslims over the amended Citizenship Act and the NRC, saying both have nothing to do with Indian citizens and slammed his rivals for “inciting” people and trying to divide the country in their bid to target him. Modi began his address at the BJP rally at Ramlila Maidan with the slogan ‘Unity in diversity is India’s speciality’. ..

UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday reminded the Congress to see the 1947 proposal of the party Executive committee before criticising the Modi Government over the issue. In a tweet in Hindi, Shah said the statements of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should also be seen by the Congress along with those made by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel. “Before the Congress Party opposes to the CAA and spreads rumors and unrest across the country, it should listen and read the ..

AN estimated 56.58 per cent of over 47 lakh electorate cast their votes as polling in the fourth phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections to 15 seats ended peacefully on Monday, Election Commission (EC) officials said. The final polling percentage is likely to increase, they said. Polling, which began at 7 am, went on peacefully in the constituencies spread over Giridih, Deoghar, Dhanbad and Bokaro districts, they said. Voting ended at 3 pm in Jamua, Bagodar, Giridih, Dumri and Tundi seats while the ..

Congress leader T N Prathapan and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday moved the Supreme Court against the validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act that was given the final assent by President Ram Nath Kovind earlier this week. Other than Owaisi, Assam Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, lawmakers from Assam Abdul Khaleque and Rupjyoti Kurmi have also knocked on the doors of the apex court challenging the legality of the Act...

PORTFOLIOS in the Mahavikas Aghadi Government in Maharashtra were allotted on Thursday, two weeks after Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Chief Minister, with his party, Shiv Sena, getting the important Home Ministry. Thackeray, alongwith six ministers -- two each from Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress -- took oath of office on November 28...

THE ruling BJP swept the by-elections winning 12 of the total 15 seats, helping the four-month-old B S Yediyurappa Government to retain majority in the Assembly. Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their posts after the party posted a poor show, winning only two seats, as against the 12 it had held of the 15 which went to the by-polls on December 5. Both tendered their resignations to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, “citing unsatisfactory ..

THE Maharashtra Assembly on Sunday witnessed verbal swordplay between Chief Minister Thackeray and his predecessor Devendra Fadnavis as the former taunted that he was in the House though he never said “Me punha yein” (I will come back), an election slogan of the BJP leader who retorted that he will return as CM and they only have to wait for some time. “I will not hesitate to admit that we have been good friends for a long time. Had you listened to us, I would have been sitting at home watching today’s ..

MUMBAINATIONALIST Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said on Friday that as per the agreement between constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, his party is supposed to get the post of Deputy Chief Minister, while the Speaker would be from the Congress.   Pawar’s statement followed reports that the Congress is now demanding Deputy Chief Minister’s post, and is ready to give up the Speaker’s post to the NCP. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Maharashtr..

LONG stints in electoral politics and past experience in handling key Government departments are the hallmarks of Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena legislators who took oath as ministers along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the Shivaji Park here on Thursday evening. CHHAGAN BHUJBAL: Bhujbal (72) is a veteran figure in Maharashtra politics, who has the rare distinction of being associated with all the three major non-BJP parties in the State. A senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, ..

As a finale to a chain of dramatic political events in the past one month, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray took oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, swearing by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, his parents and Constitution. After he completed the oath administered by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the newly sworn-in Chief Minister knelt before the countless thousands of people at the historic Shivteerth (Shivaji Park), which the people welcomed with thunderous ..