Former Jharkhand chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha rebel Champai Soren will join the Bharatiya Janata Party. While there were speculations around the same, Assam CM and BJP’s Jharkhand in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that Soren will join the party later this week.
The Congress on Monday issued its first list of nine candidates for the three-phase assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, fielding party general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir from Dooru and former state unit chief Vikar Rasool Wani from Banihal.
Amid claims by the Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Police of potential disruptions, student organisation Chhatra Samaj insisted that their August 27 'Nabanna Abhijan' rally will be peaceful and focused on demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the arrest of those responsible for the rape-murder of a doctor in R G Kar hospital.
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As a students' body set to march on Bengal secretariat today, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh has said that the state police have no right to call the protests "illegal" as "anyone can protest in a democratic country."
After the collapse of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey trained guns at ruling Mahayuti government and said, "News is coming in from Sindhudurg that a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, installed in December 2023, collapsed just 8-9 months later today. Such irregularities, such corruption. What does the Mahayuti Government want to do?"
"Who are the contractors, the employees from government departments, the PWD officers who have caused loot and are unable to respect our great men?...People of Maharashtra will give reply to Mahayuti in the upcoming election," he told ANI.
Even after BJP distanced itself from the comments made by its MP Kangana Ranaut on farmers' protests, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher has demanded action against her by the party. "The BJP has distanced itself from the statement of Kangana Ranaut, but she is party MP and hence there should be an action. If BJP thinks that she made an unsuitable and wrong statement, then they should take action against her. The BJP should also ask Kangana Ranaut to apologise, she should apologise," he told PTI .
Maharashtra Minister Deepak Kesarkar visited the site where a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed and said, "This is an accident. This statue was erected by the Navy. It was Navy Day, Prime Minister was about to come here, so it was done swiftly at that time and everyone praised it."
He deemed the incident an 'opportunity' and added, "I think there is an opportunity, a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was being built in Arabian Sea. If a similar, very tall statue is built here, it will be an attraction for entire India. Tourists come to Malvan, so if this is deliberated upon and built like Statue of Liberty, it will be a tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj."
Source: ANI
Vijayan is scheduled to meet PM Modi later today.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "After the MUDA scam that took place in Karnataka, in yet another khata-khat loot model which involves this time not the Siddaramaiah family but the Kharge family, 5 acres of prime land, from 45.94 acres, which was meant to be given to the SC community for development of civic amenities at the high-tech defence aerospace park in Bengaluru have been handed over by the KIADB, to the family-run trust of Mr Kharge, and many questions are arising, this trust has Mr Kharge himself (Priyank Kharge) and all the other members of the family, and is headed by Mr Kharge's another son Rahul Kharge."
"The question is, is this not misuse of power, conflict of interest, nepotism, openly?" he added.
While speaking in the state Assembly on Tuesday, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma addressed the Opposition and said, "I will take sides, what can you do? Won't let 'Miya' Muslims take over Assam."
On sexual abuse allegations in the Malayalam film industry, Kerala BJP President K Surendran said, "Allegations have been made against actor-sitting MLA Mukesh but the CM is not demanding his resignation. Ranjith has resigned from his post in AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists)....State govt is supporting those who are close to the CPI (M) and govt....CM should ask Mukesh to resign from MLA post."
Source: ANI
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that he met Maulana Firangi Mahali over the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and concluded that the bill is against Article 26 of the Indian Constitution.
Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Chandra Shekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) formed an alliance for the Haryana Assembly elections.
Out of 90 seats, JJP to contest on 70 seats and Azad Samaj party on 20 seats.
AAP leaders and workers today held a protest against BJP MP Kangana Ranaut over her remarks on the farmers' protest, in Haryana's Panchkula.
"We are holding a Raj Bhavan Chalo march on 31st August from Gandhi Statue in Vidhan Souda to Raj Bhavan, demanding his action be taken immediately to prosecute as per the law of this country. HD Kumaraswamy is claiming his signature is forged, I do not know why he has not filed a complaint till now... I appeal to him to file a complaint immediately," Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said.
via ANI