(13:44) 

RThe newly elected Congress MLAs in Chhattisgarh will meet here on Wednesday to decide on a the new Chief Minister, with informed sources indicating that state party chief Bhupesh Baghel was the front runner.

All India Congress Committee observer Mallikarjun Kharge will preside over the meeting with all newly elected MLAs, set for the evening, Baghel told IANS. “A decision regarding the Chief Minister will be taken there.” 

Among others to attend the meeting will be Congress in-charge for the state, P.L. Punia. 

The race for the Chief Minister’s post is primarily between Patan MLA Baghel, party veteran T.S. Singh Deo, who was the Leader of Opposition in the former Assembly, and the party’s lone Lok Sabha MP from the state, Tamradhwaj Sahu. 

Besides the three, former Union Minister Charan Das Mahant is also said to be in the reckoning. 

A former state Minister, Baghel is widely seen as the frontrunner for the top post. 

“Baghel led from the front working at the grassroots as well as coordinating with the central and state leaders. As state party president, he has worked very hard and is most likely to be chosen as the Chief Minister,” said a party source. 

Decimating the Raman Singh-led BJP, the Congress returned to power in the state after 15 years bagging 68 seats in the 90-member Assembly. 

The Congress has approached Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party this afternoon as results indicated that Madhya Pradesh might be heading for the split verdict which several exit polls have predicted. Mayawati is believed to have called her leaders for a meeting in Delhi after senior Congress leader Kamal Nath contacted her, sources said.

To reporters, Mr Nath expressed confidence that his party would win “lock, stock and barrel” in the state. But through the day, the leads yo-yoed between the Congress and the BJP, and the state’s three-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan predicted that he would win a fourth term.

In Rajasthan too, the Congress blinked as the gap with the BJP slowly shrunk. State Congress in-charge Sachin Pilot, said, “Even though we are certain we will have the numbers by ourselves, I would like to reach out to other like-minded parties and leaders to form the government “.

Seat sharing talks for the three states between the Congress and the BSP fell through when the Rajasthan Congress objected, arguing that they could win the election on their own and the BSP could just get in the way.

Later, Kamal Nath indicated that in Madhya Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party had asked for seats that they had very little chance of winning.

The leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – states with a chunk of Scheduled Caste voters – had been open to negotiations with Mayawati. In Chhattisgarh, senior Congress leader TS Singh Deo earlier said he was open to an alliance with Mayawati or any like-minded leader to beat the BJP.

The BSP is currently leading in four seats in Madhya Prradesh, five in Rajasthan, and eight in Chhattisgarh, where she has an alliance with Ajit Jogi, the state’s first Chief Minister, who quit Congress and floated his own party in June 2016.

Yesterday, Mayawati — one of the key leaders from Uttar Pradesh — had skipped the huge 21-party opposition meeting called to form a united front against the BJP in next year’s general elections. Her ally in the state Akhilesh Yadav, also miffed with the Congress over seat sharing, stayed out as well.

Uttar Pradesh sends 80 lawmakers to parliament – the highest figure among all states. A good performance there is crucial to win the national election.

A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the CBI plea seeking specimen signatures and handwriting samples of British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sought directions to take Michel’s specimen signatures and handwriting samples to match them with the documents already in the possession of the agency.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar also allowed Michel’s plea seeking permission to speak to his wife and kids on condition that the medium of communication between them will be English and the conversation will be done on loudspeaker.

Michel’s counsel had requested the court to allow his client to speak to his wife, manager and step-brother.

But the CBI had raised objection to Michel’s plea and submitted reasons for the same on a piece of paper to the court.

Currently, Michel is in CBI custody till December 15. He was extradited to India on December 4 from the United Arab Emirates.

IANS

After falling behind, Congress has managed to gain majority in Rajasthan. According to latest trends, Congress is leading on 100 seats

Meanwhile, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday expressed confidence that the Congress would take power in the state and said it was ready to ally with independents.

“The Congress is open to form a government with independent candidates,” Gehlot told the media as it became clear that the Congress could fall short of the half-way mark in the 200-member Assembly by a seat or two.Post noon, Congress candidates were leading over their rivals in 95 of the 197 constituencies, from where trends were available, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 78 others.

This meant that two dozen seats could go to smaller parties and independents, making them a crucial factor in government formation. The BJP took power in Rajasthan with a decisive majority five years ago.Gehlot praised Congress President Rahul Gandhi for the party’s resurgence.”Since the Gujarat elections, Rahul Gandhi has cornered (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji and (BJP President) Amit Shah. Since then, they have not been able to stand up, be it Karnataka or Rajasthan,” he said.Congress state President Sachin Pilot added: “The Congress shall form a government with a majority. But we should wait till the final results.”Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who went to the Tripurasundari temple in Banswara district on Tuesday morning, returned to the BJP office in Jaipur but did not speak to the media.She met senior party leaders at the BJP office, which gave a desolate look.

IANS

 Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh resigned on Tuesday taking moral responsibility for the BJP’s stunning defeat in Assembly elections.

He told the media that he had sent his resignation to the Governor.

“I take moral responsibility for the defeat,” Raman Singh, who was Chief Minister for 15 years, said as it became clear that the Congress was headed for a thumping victory in the 90-member Assembly.

He said he would continue to serve the state while in the opposition ranks.

IANS

 The Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the Goa government if the medical report on the health condition of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar could be presented to the court in a sealed cover, while posting the matter for hearing on Wednesday.

While hearing a petition filed by a local politician Trajano D’Mello, who has sought to know the health status of Parrikar, Justice R.M. Borde also asked the government advocate whether the Chief Secretary could argue on behalf of the Chief Minister for his right to privacy.

State Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande is expected to appear before the court and argue on the points made on Tuesday by the court vis-a-vis the petition, when the hearing resumes on Wednesday morning.

D’Mello in his petition filed last month, sought that the court direct State Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma to evaluate the former Defence Minister’s health condition with the help of a panel of expert doctors and release the medical report to the public.

In an affidavit filed before the court last week, the Chief Secretary said that since the petition was political in nature, the health status of Parrikar could not be disclosed on grounds of privacy.

The court on Tuesday also asked the government lawyer if the top bureaucrat had consulted Parrikar before filing the affidavit last week.

Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for nearly nine months.

He returned from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and has not moved out of his private residence for any official event since.

The Opposition as well as ruling coalition allies have been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister claiming that the administration has come to a standstill due to Parrikar’s prolonged absence.

Ever since Parrikar’s health started deteriorating there has been no health bulletin forthcoming from the Chief Minister’s Office, barring several informal intimations to the media, which played down his illness.

IANS

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked set to lose power in three key states, official vote counts showed on Tuesday, likely handing Prime Minister Narendra Modi his biggest defeat since he took office in 2014, and only months ahead of a general election next year.

Analysts said a big loss for the BJP would signal rural dismay and help unite opposition to Modi, though his personal popularity remains high despite criticism that he was unable to deliver on promises to create jobs for young people and improve conditions for farmers.

The elections are also a test for Rahul Gandhi, the chief of the main opposition Congress party, who is trying to forge a broad alliance with regional groups to mount the most serious challenge to Modi yet in the election that must be held by May.

In the most populous state at stake, Madhya Pradesh, Congress is leading in 117 seats, against BJP’s 104 seats in the 230-seat state assembly, according to the TOI count. A total of 116 votes is needed to achieve a majority.

“We’ve all voted for Congress this time and our candidate is winning here,” said Bishnu Prasad Jalodia, a wheat farmer in Madhya Pradesh.

“BJP ignored us farmers, they ignored those of us at the bottom of the pyramid.”

In the western state of Rajasthan, the Congress was leading with 101 seats of the 199-member assembly against the BJP’s 73, according to the same count.

In the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Congress looks like a big winner, leading in 64 races against 17 of the BJP in the 90-seat regional assembly.

Meanwhile, in Telangana, the regional party Telangana Rashtra Samithi has crossed the 60-seat majority threshold, winning at least 87 seats in the 119-seat parliament.

Congress said it was confident of forming governments in all of the three big states, where it is leading in the count. The BJP has been ruling in all three.

The BJP said the state results would not necessarily dictate what happens in next year’s general election.

Investors said the BJP had not fared as badly as feared, and nationally it would still likely have an edge over an opposition coalition in the general election.

Markets recovered from sharp early losses, though the central bank governor’s resignation on Monday kept investors nervous.

Local issues usually dominate state polls, but politicians are seeing the elections as a pointer to the national vote just months away.

The Indian rupee, however, dropped as much as 1.5 percent to 72.465 rupees to the dollar.

Equity analysts had warned that Monday’s surprise resignation of Urjit Patel, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, after a long tiff with the government, could send the markets crashing.

Gandhi, the fourth generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, has sought to build a coalition of regional groups, some headed by experienced firebrand, ambitious politicians.

“When one and one become eleven, even the mighty can be dethroned,” opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav said of the prospect of growing opposition unity.

Aljazeera

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday inaugurate the fourth Partners’ Forum — a multi-country event aimed at sustaining global momentum for issues related to health of women, children and adolescents — in the national capital, an official said on Tuesday.

The two-day international conference being organised by the Central government, along with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), will bring together around 1,500 participants from 85 countries across all regions and income levels, a government statement said.

Launched in 2005, the Partners’ Forum is a global health partnership constituting over 1,000 members from across 92 countries, working to accelerate efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality, and improve adolescent, child, newborn and maternal health.

“The previous chapters of the event were held in Johannesburg in South Africa (2014), New Delhi (2010) and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania (2007). This is the second time India is hosting the Partners’ Forum,” the government said.

“The Partners’ Forum will showcase learning from across six regions — Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Americas, South East Asia and Western Pacific,” it added.

IANS

 Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray saluted the “fearless voters” who defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in four out of five Indian states, where results were declared on Tuesday.

In a hard-hitting reaction, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally said after the voters decided they do not want the BJP, they decisively rejected it.

“Without bothering to go into ‘alternatives’ (to the BJP), the voters in these four states have given their verdict, uprooted the BJP. What happens in future would be decided later. They have displayed this courage,” Thackeray said.

He complimented the people of the four states for ushering in change without fear, irrespective of Electronic Voting Machines, money power, muscle power and the oft-repeated ‘there is no alternative’ factor, and showing the country a new direction.

IANS