RANCHI: One-and-a-half-years after the 2021 Assembly polls, BJP leaders in-charge of West Bengal are going to hold meetings with the saffron camp’s foot soldiers in districts shortly. Leaders like Sunil Bansal and Mangal Pandey will set out on districts visit from November and hold meetings with the party’s Mandal presidents and district in-charges.

Sources in the BJP said the decision of meeting with the lower-rung functionaries was taken after the saffron camp’s high command found ‘exaggerated’ reports on party’s strength in ground reality to hide the real picture of the organisational strength.

“Since the party’s unimpressive performance in the last year’s Assembly polls, the national leadership left the state without attending a single meeting with the grassroot level functionaries of the party fearing to face discontent. Many BJP leaders across the state expressed their discontent in public over the issue of fielding new comers as candidates in the Assembly polls before and after the electoral exercise. A large section of them turned inactive after the leadership of the party did not pay heed to their discontent,’’ said a BJP leader in Kolkata.

The high-command of the party recently sought a feed-back about the organisational strength of the BJP ahead of the panchayat elections slated to be held next year. ‘’Based on the inputs from districts, the state committee submitted a report which was opposite to the actual picture in ground reality. For an example, the report claimed to have strong organisational set-up in booth level. But actually, we have no presence in many booths,’’ admitted the leader.

Sources in the BJP said, Bansal and Pande started communicating with Mandal presidents and came to know about the poor strength of the party in lower level and the exaggerated report.Bansal will start holding meeting with district functionaries from November 6 and Pandey will meet Mandal in-charges from November 22. They will hear the discontent of the functionaries in districts and give them a roadmap to strengthen the organisation,’’ said another BJP leader.

‘Local leaders will get chance to express displeasure’

A Mandal president said leaders like him will now get a chance to express their displeasure in front of the higher leadership. ‘’Since the last year’s Assembly elections, the party’s district activities used to be directed from the glass-house in Kolkata. This is the first time, leaders like Bansal and Pandey will be meeting us. We will highlight the real picture of the party’s strength in the grassroots,’’ he added.

JAMMU: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday announced that his new political outfit will be named as ‘Democratic Azad Party’.

The development comes exactly a month after Azad resigned from the Congress party. Announcing the name of the new party at a press conference here, Azad said that the outfit will be secular, democratic and independent from any influence.

Azad also unveiled the flag of the Democratic Azad Party. The flag has three colours – mustard, white and blue. Yesterday, Azad held meetings with his workers and leaders.

Earlier, Azad, in his first public meeting in Jammu after quitting Congress, had announced to launch of his own political outfit that will focus on the restoration of full statehood.

He had said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would decide the party’s name and flag.”I’ve not decided upon a name for my party yet. The people of J-K will decide the party’s name and flag. I’ll give a Hindustani name to my party that everyone can understand,” he said at the rally after breaking away from his five-decade-long association with the grand old party.

“My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile,” he added then.

Azad said that the first unit of his political outfit would be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls. “My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile,” he added.

He lashed out at Congress and said that people are trying to defame us (me and my supporters who left the party) but their reach is limited to computer tweets.

Azad said, “Congress was made by us by our blood, not by computers, not by Twitter. People are trying to defame us but their reach is limited to computers and tweets. That is why Congress is nowhere to be seen on the ground.” The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in his first public meeting at Sainik Colony in Jammu.

Azad has been Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008.

In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, he had targeted party leadership, particularly Rahul Gandhi, over the way the party has been run in the past nearly nine years.

In the hard-hitting five-page letter, Azad had claimed that a coterie runs the party while Sonia Gandhi was just “a nominal head” and all the major decisions were taken by “Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs”. He was earlier Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Recounting his long association with the Congress, Azad had said the situation in the party has reached a point of “no return.”

While Azad took potshots at Sonia Gandhi in the letter, his sharpest attack was on Rahul Gandhi and he described the Wayand MP as a “non-serious individual” and “immature”.

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is set to expand his cabinet on Tuesday a week after he was sworn-in as Chief Minister of the Mahagathbandhan government.-ADVERTISEMENT-Ads by 

The list of the probable ministers was submitted to Raj Bhavan late Monday following a meeting of Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Congress in-charge Bhakt Charan Das with Nitish.

Earlier, Tejashwi and Das reached 1 Anne Marg, official residence of the CM with the list of probable ministers from their respective parties. It has been agreed that the new Speaker will be from the RJD.

Sources said that there would be 17 ministers from the RJD, 12 from the JD(U), three from the Congress, one each from the HAM and Left parties. However, only two ministers from the Congress will take oath on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, a video went viral wherein party workers were seen protesting against Das. The incident took place soon after Das revealed that the Congress would be getting three ministerial berths in the Mahagathbandhan government – two now and one later. However, the agitating workers were pacified by senior leaders.

Later talking to media persons, Das said that two Congress MLAs would take oath as ministers on August 16 and one more legislator would be inducted into the Nitish government in the next cabinet expansion.
Nitish and Tejashwi had taken oath as CM and deputy CM on August 10, a day after the JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD, Congress and other parties.

PATNA:  Newly sworn-in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday chaired the first meeting of the cabinet, in which it was decided to convene the special session of Bihar Assembly on August 24 and 25 to prove the majority of the Grand Alliance (GA) government. On the first day of the session, a new Speaker of the assembly will be elected by the legislators of the seven-party alliance, which have given their support to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to form the government.

A decision to convene the special session of the Assembly was taken at the first meeting of the cabinet chaired by Nitish Kumar. Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav attended the meeting of the cabinet as well. On August 25, the Mahagathbandhan government will prove its majority on the floor of the House. 

In a letter submitted to Governor Phagu Chauhan, Nitish had claimed the support of 164 MLAs of seven parties and one Independent legislator. After taking oath as the CM for the eighth time, he told the media on Tuesday that the expansion of the cabinet will take place after consultation with the members of GA.
However, the date and time of the expansion of the cabinet have not been revealed yet. Sources said there would be 35 ministers in the new cabinet, with RJD having the largest number of ministers. According to sources, the departments that were earlier with BJP ministers in the NDA government would be allotted to RJD ministers.

Meanwhile, a no-confidence motion will be moved against incumbent Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, who didn’t resign from the post even after the NDA government was dissolved by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The discussion on the no-confidence motion against Sinha will also be held during the special session.

On August 9, CPI-ML legislator Mehboob Alam wrote a letter to the secretary of Bihar Vidhan Sabha, demanding the removal of Sinha from the Speaker’s post under sub-rule 10 of Bihar Assembly Conduct Rule.

Meanwhile, security around JD-U office on Bir Chand Patel Marg in Patna has been beefed up. Additional police forces have been deployed outside the office of the party, which broke its alliance with the NDA and joined hands with the Mahagathbandhan to form the new government.

Nitish kumar

Changing the course, again 
In his decades-long career, Nitish Kumar has been a steady force in Bihar’s politics, and almost shows what it means when people say, ‘change is the only constant’. And not for no reason is he called in jest as ‘palti putra’. Nitish, 71, began his political journey from Samajwadi Yuv Jan Sabha but took centre stage during the 1974 movement led by JP Narayan. After two losses, he won Narnaut assembly seat in 1985. He later became a Lok Sabha member from Barh, and served as minister in Vajpayee’s government. After parting ways from Janata Dal, he joined Samata Party. Then he formed Janata Dal-United. In 2000, Nitish became the CM for the first time but quit after six days due to lack of majority. In 2005, he became the CM again when NDA came to power. In 2013, he split with NDA and fought 2014 LS poll on his own, getting two seats. He quit as CM and propped Jitan Ram Manjhi to the post. In 2015, he fought the polls with Grand Alliance, only to leave in 2017. He then fought LS and assembly polls with NDA. The ties were again broken by him on Monday.

Tejashwi yadav

Son shines bright, for now 
For his family at least, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is living up to his name. The 33-year-old son of former chief ministers Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, Tejashwi made his debut in electoral politics in 2015 and became a member of Bihar assembly from Raghopur, which was earlier represented by his father and mother. In 2017, Tejashwi’s name figured in a money laundering case, relating to illegal land transactions that allegedly took place during Lalu’s tenure as the railways minister in 2004, when the scion himself was in his teens. He became the leader of opposition after Nitish walked out of Grand Alliance camp in 2017. Tejashwi campaigned rigorously for his party, RJD, in the 2020 assembly election in the absence of his father, and RJD emerged as the single largest party. However, his bonhomie with Nitish was noticed at Iftar parties earlier this year. As the year progressed, JD-U and RJD came closer on several issues like caste-based census.

NEW DELHI: Polling to elect the next Vice President of India began at 10 am, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi being among the first ones to cast vote

The polling will continue till 5 pm, following which the counting of ballots will take place.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee and former West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar (71) is pitted against joint Opposition candidate Margaret Alva (80).

With the ruling BJP having an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and 91 members in the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar has a clear edge over his rival.

He is likely to succeed incumbent M Venkaiah Naidu, whose tenure ends on August 10.

All MPs of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, including nominated members, are entitled to vote in the vice presidential election.

The two Houses of Parliament together have a sanctioned strength of 788 MPs, of which there are eight vacancies in the Upper House.

Hence, 780 MPs are eligible to cast their ballot in this election.

BHOPAL: Income Tax Department raids started on Thursday at over 40 premises of two business groups, one of which is reportedly related to Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Sanjay Sharma.

The raids started early in the morning at around 5 am at the premises of the Congress legislator and another business group in five cities, including Mumbai and four cities of MP, among them capital Bhopal, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur and Katni.

According to the Income Tax Department sources, the searches at the premises of both the business groups have led to over Rs 2.5 crore unaccounted cash, besides precious jewellery and incriminating documents, whose scrutiny could lead the IT department sleuths to Benami transactions.

Scrutiny of records and documents recovered during the ongoing raids at both business groups is likely to lead to tax evasion running into crores of rupees, sources confided. Documents related to suspected bogus companies and firms too have been recovered.

Both the business groups, whose premises were searched by multiple teams of over 150-plus sleuths, have stakes in diversified activities, including mining, hotel industry, liquor business, sugar industry and construction and real estate sector.

The premises of the Congress MLA where the search is underway included his residential premises in the Narsinghpur district.

Sharma, the third time MLA from Tendukheda seat of Narsinghpur district is among one of the richest politicians in Madhya Pradesh. He had won the 2003 and 2013 assembly polls on the BJP ticket and retained the seat in 2018 polls on his old party Congress’s ticket.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress linked the ongoing IT Department action at the premises of its MLA, with the July 18 presidential election.

The link between the ongoing IT department action and the presidential election was alleged by the ex-MP minister and three-times sitting MLA Umang Singhar, who earlier in the day had alleged that ruling BJP leader were making big money offers to many Congress MLAs, including him to vote for NDA’s candidate Droupadi Murmu in the July 18 election.

SRINAGAR:  The BJP, which is hopeful of forming the next government in Jammu and Kashmir, is 
likely to face the maiden Assembly election in the Union Territory without a chief minister’s face.

With the Delimitation Commission submitting its final report, the first Assembly poll in the UT is likely to be held in October-November this year.

The BJP, which is currently the most active among political parties in J&K, has intensified activities both in Kashmir and Jammu provinces. BJP spokesman Arun Gupta said the party is ready for elections.

“We are ready both in Kashmir and Jammu. We are working on ‘Mission 50’ and will achieve it,” he said.

Gupta said the decision on CM’s face would be taken by the party high command at an appropriate time.
He said contesting the election is important and the central leadership will decide who will be CM.  

“The elections are not fought on who will be the CM or not. It is contested to ensure that the party gets maximum seats and party leaders work for that,” he said.

“The CM face will be decided only after the elections,” added Gupta.

Senior J&K BJP leader and MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh and J&K BJP chief Ravindra Raina are said to be frontrunners for the BJP’s CM probables.

However, BJP sources said nothing could be said with certainty whether Singh or Raina would be party’s CM candidate or somebody else would be appointed as the CM after the elections, in case the party wins the poll.

With the completion of the delimitation exercise, J&K Assembly’s strength has risen from 83 to 90. Of the 90 seats, Kashmir will be having 47 seats and Jammu 43 seats.

Nine seats have been reserved for Scheduled Castes and seven for Scheduled Tribes.

J&K BJP chief Ravindra Raina said now that the delimitation exercise has been completed, the elections in J&K will be held soon.

“I think within the next few months, election for J&K Assembly will be held. It will be an important election,” he said.

Raina said the BJP is confident of forming the next government in J&K and having the CM from the party.

In the 2014 Assembly poll, BJP had emerged as the second largest party by winning 25 of the 87 seats and formed a coalition government with PDP.

CHANDIGARH:  It is season of roadshows in Himachal Pradesh where Assembly elections are due later this year. While the ruling BJP is eying yet another term in power, the Aam Aadmi Party is trying to 
replace the opposition Congress as the alternative political force in the hill state. With poll fervour already in the air, the saffron party is planning a show of strength on April 22, which will be followed by the AAP’s roadshow on April 23. Notably, the Congress is missing from action.

BJP national president JP Nadda is scheduled to hold the roadshow from Kangra to Nagrota Bagwan followed by a rally at Gandhi Ground in Nagrota Bagwan in Kangra on April 22. Later in the day, he is likely to meet senior party leader and former chief minister Shanta Kumar. The BJP chief may also visit Brajeshwari Mata Mandir in Kangra. This would be the BJP chief’s second visit to his home state in recent months.

A day after Nadda’s rally, AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is scheduled to hold a roadshow and address a rally in Shahpur constituency of Kangra district. The district is politically strategic as it has maximum number of Assembly seats. Of the total 68 constituencies in Himachal Pradesh, 15 are in Kangra.

In the last Assembly election, 11 of these were won by the BJP, which had formed government after winning a total 44 seats. Congress had won three seats in the district. Kejriwal’s rally comes in the aftermath of AAP’s state president and general secretary joining the saffron camp.

AAP leader Rakesh Chaudhary said Kejriwal’s rally in Kangra would be an “eye-opener” for the ruling BJP. Stating that AAP is already making an impact in the state, Chaudhary claimed the BJP government announcing 125 units of free power and free water to people in the rural areas is a proof for this.
Sources claimed some congress leaders may join the AAP at the rally. Himachal BJP president Suresh Kashyap, however, claimed that AAP would not have any impact in the state.

KOLKATA/RAJNANDGAON/MUZZAFARPUR: Trinamool Congress candidates have taken the lead over their rivals in both the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency and the Ballygunge assembly segment, after initial rounds of counting for by-polls to the two seats, election officials said Saturday.

In Ballygunge, Babul Supriyo is ahead of CPI(M)’s Saira Shah Halim by 4,676 votes, after three rounds of counting at David Hare Training College here, they said.

Former Union minister and popular yesteryear actor Shatrughan Sinha is also leading by 10,989 votes over BJP’s Agnimitra Paul, the official said.

The by-polls, which took place on April 12, were necessitated as Supriyo resigned as the MP of Asansol after switching over to the TMC from the BJP, while state minister Subrata Mukherjee, who represented Ballygunge, died last year.

The counting exercise began at 8 am amid tight security.

Congress leading in bypoll to Chhattisgarh’s Khairagarh Assembly seat 

Counting of votes for the bypoll to Khairagarh Assembly seat in Chhattisgarh began on Saturday morning and as per the early trends, the Congress candidate is leading by a margin of 1,242 votes, officials said.

Both the ruling Congress and opposition BJP in the state are eyeing to win the seat that falls in the Naxal-hit Rajnandgaon district, where by-election was necessitated after Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA Devvrat Singh died in November last year.

“The counting of votes in the bypoll held on April 12 in Khairagarh seat began at 8 am at the godwon of state seeds development corporation here,” a poll official said.

As per the early trends, Yashoda Verma of the Congress was leading by a margin of 1,242 votes against his nearest rival Komal Janghel of the BJP after three rounds of counting, he said.

Verma secured 4,436 votes, while Janghel bagged 3,194 votes after the initial rounds of counting.

JCC (J) candidate Narendra Soni has secured 49 votes, he said.

The voter turnout in the bypoll for the seat located in state’s Naxal-affected Rajnandgaon district, was 77.88 per cent.

Postal ballots were first taken up for counting followed by votes cast in the EVMs, the official said, adding that the entire process will be done in 21 rounds.

A total of 10 contestants were in the fray, but political experts feel that this time the fight is virtually between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP as the JCC (J) has lost its appeal after the demise of Ajit Jogi in 2020.

Devvrat Singh, who belonged to the erstwhile royal family of Khairagarh, quit Congress in 2017 and joined former JCC (J) the next year.

He contested the 2018 Assembly polls on the JCC(J) ticket from Khairagarh.

He defeated BJP candidate Komal Janghel by a thin margin of 870 votes.

This time, the BJP has once again fielded Komal Janghel, a former MLA, for the bypoll, while Yashoda Verma, the Khairagarh block unit chief of Congress, is the ruling party’s nominee.

Janghel and Verma both belong to the Lodhi caste, a numerically powerful OBC community in the Khairagarh area.

However, stakes are high for the ruling Congress, as it is fighting to retain this seat, which was once considered as its bastion.

Congress has promised the people to make Khairagarh a district if it wins the seat.

In the 2018 assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, the Congress registered a landslide victory winning 68 seats in the 90-member House decimating the BJP to 15.

The JCC (J) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had bagged 5 and 2 seats respectively.

Subsequently, the state witnessed bypolls to three assembly seats which were won by Congress, improving its tally to 70 in the assembly.

RJD candidate leads by 11,620 votes in Bihar’s Bochahan 

Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Amar Kumar Paswan was on Saturday leading by over 11,620 votes over his nearest rival Baby Kumari of the BJP in the bypoll to Bihar’s Bochahan assembly constituency, an Election Commission official said.

Paswan secured 26,623 votes, while Kumari got 15,003 after the eighth round of counting, he said.

Vikassheel Insaan Party’s Geeta Kumari was in the third position with 13,512 votes.

The counting of votes for the assembly constituency in Muzaffarpur district is underway.

By-poll to the seat was necessitated by the death of MLA Musafir Paswan, who had won on the ticket of the Vikassheel Insaan Party.

Around 59.20 per cent of 2,90,544 voters had exercised their franchise in the by-election to the assembly segment on April 12.

CHANDIGARH: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday said he has resigned as the party’s Punjab chief.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had on Tuesday asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers after the party’s drubbing in the recently held Assembly polls in these states.

The cricketer-turned-politician shared information about his resignation on his twitter handle. “As desired by the Congress President I have sent my resignation….,” his tweet read. In his resignation letter written to Sonia Gandhi, Sidhu wrote, “I hereby resign as President (PPCC)

The Congress faced a humiliating defeat in Punjab, winning only 18 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party romped home with 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly. Sidhu himself lost to the Aam Aadmi Party’s Jeevanjot Kaur from the Amritsar East Assembly seat by 6,750 votes.

He had taken over as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president in July last year. Several Punjab Congress candidates on Tuesday had blamed indiscipline and infighting among the state unit leaders for the party’s crushing defeat.