Jaipur:

Several leaders, including former MLAs Chandra Shekhar Vaid and Nandlal Poonia and former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal, on Saturday joined the BJP after leaving the Congress.

Other leaders who joined the BJP include Hari Singh Charan, who had fought the Assembly election as an independent candidate from Mandawa, Congress leader Sanwarmal Meharia and former IPS officers Kesar Singh Shekhawat and Bhim Singh.

“Trust in the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased. People today have trust in the guarantee of Modi ji. People have stopped believing in the guarantees given by the Congress,” BJP state president CP Joshi said at a press conference in Jaipur.

“They have seen what happened to guarantees, including complete farm loan waiver, providing unemployment allowance, women security, development and controlling inflation,” he added.

Mr Joshi also condemned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s statement on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, saying that using such derogatory words for bureaucrats is condemnable.

“A chief minister (Bhupesh Baghel) had to say that more than dogs, the ED is roaming in the country. What could be a bigger misfortune than this?” Mr Gehlot had said on Friday.

The party’s state in-charge Arun Singh said it is clear that the countdown of the Gehlot government has started and the BJP will win the upcoming Assembly polls with a historic margin.

He said the statements of chief minister Gehlot reflect a resentment with the Congress and Mr Gehlot himself, so they are using derogatory words against government employees.

After joining the BJP, former Jaipur mayor Jyoti Khandelwal said honest and dedicated workers were sidelined in the Congress and the high command was not listening to their issues.

“I continuously saw that there was no hearing of issues of workers who were dedicated towards the party. They were sidelined. High command was maintaining silence or had compromised even after knowing everything,” Ms Khandelwal told reporters.

She said the BJP has a strong leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and she will work to strengthen the party. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur:

Ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, enforcement agencies have seized Rs 244 crore cash in the last 15 days, officials said on Tuesday.

A strict vigil is being maintained by the police, excise, income tax and other enforcement agencies and a “new record” has been made in the seizure of illegal cash, liquor, drugs, gold, silver etc. The total seizure figure has crossed Rs 1,000 crore in 2023, officials said.

According to officials, this year there has been a three-fold increase in the total seizure, which was Rs 322 crore in 2021, Rs 347 crore in 2022 and Rs 1,021 crore so far in 2023.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that since June, the election commission has been working in direct coordination with all the enforcement agencies, and cash and other material worth Rs 648 crore have been seized since then.  In the last 15 days (from October 9 till now), cash and other material worth Rs 244 crore have been seized, officials said.

Gupta said that during this period, Rs 39.30 crore cash was seized by police, Income Tax Department and other agencies. Similarly, over 10.60 lakh litre illicit liquor worth Rs 20.12 crore was seized by the Excise Department, police and other agencies.  He said that drugs and psychotropic substances worth Rs 46.76 crore were seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau, police and other agencies. Police, Income Tax Department and Customs Department have seized gold, silver and other precious metals worth Rs 30.40 crore.

He said that freebies and other items worth Rs 84.22 crore have also been seized by various agencies. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur:

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took another dig at the BJP today with a show of support to rival Vasundhara Raje Scindia, telling the media that she should not be victimised by her party for refusing to bring down his government at a vulnerable moment. Mr Gehlot had expressed his gratitude to Ms Raje earlier as well on this issue, bringing a caustic comment from the younger leader.

Asked about the alleged sidelining of Ms Raje in the BJP, Mr Gehlot told reporters today that it was an internal matter of the BP and he would not like to comment on it.

“But I would like to state that she should not be punished because of me… This would be an injustice to her,” he said, implying that the BJP’s former Chief Minister is above her party’s tactics to dislodge opposition governments.

In May this year, Mr Gehlot claimed that Vasundhara Raje and two other BJP leaders had helped save his government during the revolt by Sachin Pilot and his loyalists in 2020.

The claim had brought an acerbic comment from Ms Raje, who said the veteran leader’s remark was “not a sign of goodwill but malice”.

“Ashok Gehlot has never got a majority since 2003. That’s why he considers me his biggest enemy and a thorn in his path. That’s why there is no goodwill for me in his praise, there is only malice,” Ms Raje had said.

Last month, a cropped photo of the two leaders seated together was widely circulated online, reviving their partymen’s allegation that they were going soft on each other. Ms Raje’s office finally released the complete photo, which showed two other leaders

The comment of Mr Gehlot reviving the fractious issue is seen by many as a snub to the BJP, highlighting what the Congress calls its unethical practices.

It is also a ploy to play down the factionalism in his party by drawing attention to rifts in the opposition party, which by the state’s revolving door tradition, is expected by many to be in an advantageous position.

Jaipur:

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said legislators who did development work in their areas cannot be denied a party ticket.

When asked whether a special priority will be given to 102 MLAs who saved the government during the 2020 political crisis in Rajasthan, Mr Gehlot said the winnability of every candidate will be considered when it comes to nomination.

Voting for the Assembly election will be held in Rajasthan on November 25.

“Any work related to any area is due to the legislator only. How can he be made to sit (denied a ticket),” Mr Gehlot told reporters at Jaipur airport before leaving for Delhi.

The chief minister was departing for a Congress Screening Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday. He said the party’s Election Committee meeting has been proposed to be held on Wednesday.

Mr Gehlot accused the BJP and RSS of spreading a “rumour” that Congress legislators committed huge corruption.

“If democracy has to be saved then Congress has to be brought in Rajasthan. This is what I believe. Only Congress can save democracy in the country,” he said.

Mr Gehlot also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he can have the right to ask for votes only if he brings back the Old Pension Scheme, implement an urban-rural development guarantee, social security, and Rs 25 lakh in health insurance at the central level.

He praised his government’s work in the state saying “Such schemes have probably not come anywhere in India.” Mr Gehlot once again targeted the BJP over the political crisis faced by his government in 2020.

“Governments fell in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka but could not be toppled here. Party President Mallikarjun Kharge yesterday gave the credit for this to the people. If the public had been against us, half the MLAs would have left at that time,” he said.

The chief minister made the remark referring to the toppling of the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka in 2019 after chief minister HD Kumaraswamy lost a trust vote. Congress came to power again in the state in 2023 with Siddaramaiah as chief minister.

Mr Gehlot claimed that if his MLAs were moved by greed, they would have accepted the offer of Rs 10 crore in 2020.

“When the Governor fixed the date for summoning the assembly session, their rates increased by 10, 20, 30, 40 crore,” he claimed.

The chief minister again alleged that Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were involved in the conspiracy to topple his government in 2020.

“I don’t know whether the Prime Minister’s blessings were there,” he added.

The chief minister claimed he did far more work for Hindus than BJP when it comes to welfare of cows, such as building of cowsheds, and redevelopment of temples.

“Ask them if they have done the work that we have done for Hindus. How will you ask for votes in the name of Hindutva? Their secret is exposed. Now only ED, Income Tax, CBI is left with them as people are no longer with them,” he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israeli armored personnel carriers head toward the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, October 15, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

One million Gazans displaced in a week, says UN as Israel readies for ground attack

More than one million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip in the last week, the UN said Sunday, after sustained Israeli bombardment and warnings about a ground attack targeting Hamas commanders.

Seven days of relentless bombing targeting those who masterminded the attack have flattened neighbourhoods and left at least 2,670 people dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority ordinary Palestinians.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls | SP says it will contest the election in alliance with Congress

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress, both members of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), have worked out a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. On Sunday, SP leaders expressed confidence that an INDIA bloc government led by the Congress would be formed in the State.

Congress won’t repeat 30% of Rajasthan MLAs, says party’s State chief

The Congress is likely to replace up to 30% of its sitting MLAs in the coming Rajasthan Assembly election, the party’s State unit president, Govind Singh Dotasra, told The Hindu on Sunday.

Mr. Dotasra mocked the BJP for fielding “failed” MPs in the Assembly election to deflect an anti-incumbency trend against the Union government ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2024.

BJP MP accuses Mahua Moitra of ‘taking cash to ask questions’

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had allegedly taken bribes from a business house to ask questions in Parliament.

Ms. Moitra denied the allegations and urged the Speaker to first complete the “probe” into Mr. Dubey’s educational qualifications and then hold an investigation into the allegations against her.

New investment slowed again in Q2 of FY24, drops by 13%

Fresh investment announcements in the July-to-September quarter, the second quarter of 2023-24, have dropped to ₹6.9 lakh crore, 13% lower than the first quarter, and 21.5% down from a year ago, driven by a sharp dip in proposed outlays by the Union government and foreign investors, and a broad-based contraction across the manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, and electricity sectors.

ICC World Cup: ENG vs AFG | Gritty Afghanistan leaves England shellshocked

In the past, Afghanistan has let teams like India and Pakistan off the hook in the World Cup. The gritty fighters, with a display of fearless trading of wickets for quick runs, have often paid the price for their inexperience in dealing with the ‘big’ moments of the game.

SC to hear AAP leader Raghav Chadha’s plea against ‘indefinite’ suspension from Rajya Sabha

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on October 16 a plea moved by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha, challenging his indefinite suspension from the Rajya Sabha.

A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra is scheduled to hear the plea of Mr. Chadha, who was suspended on the last day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on August 11 for “gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct”, pending a report by the privileges committee.

Study estimates count of UAVs required for the three Services

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan recently ordered two studies to be conducted on major military platforms used by all three services. According to defence sources these platforms are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and armoured helicopters. The study on UAVs has since been completed with a recommendation to acquire 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAVs and 155 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAVs.

UN aid chief says six months of war in Sudan has killed 9,000 people

Six months of war between Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group has killed up to 9,000 people and created “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” the United Nations humanitarian chief said Sunday.

Centre may raise retirement age of scientists from 60 to 65

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is working on a proposal to increase the retirement age of scientists to 65.

Its larger purpose, sources suggest, is to stem the flight of its top, senior scientists to universities and the Indian Institutes of Technology, where the retirement age is 65, The Hindu has learnt.

Railways comes up with innovations to tackle freezing of water in winter

The process of linking Kashmir to Kanyakumari through the new Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project posed a unique challenge to the Indian Railways — that of maintaining water and fuel in liquid form in sub-zero temperatures during the freezing winters of the north. To circumvent the problem of water freezing in toilets and in fuel tanks, engineers at the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala have designed and implemented indigenous innovations.

Kaziranga reopens with tribute to British-era officer

The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve reopened on Sunday with a literary tribute to a British-era forest officer who rid its name of any hunting connotations.

Poland’s opposition leader says three parties have enough votes to unseat the Law and Justice party

Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk said that three opposition parties had sufficient votes to win the general election on Sunday after an exit poll projected that they had enough combined support to oust Law and Justice, the governing conservative nationalist party.

New Delhi:

The Congress on Tuesday claimed there is no anti-incumbency against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan and the party will buck the trend of alternating governments in the desert state. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi made the remarks after chairing a meeting of the party’s screening committee for Rajasthan in the presence of state leaders here.

Mr Gogoi also accused the BJP of fielding its MPs in the state assembly polls out of fear of losing in the 2024 parliamentary polls, claiming there is a lot of anti-incumbency against them.

“There has been a tradition in Rajasthan for many years that the government changes every five years, but this time we have seen very closely that there is no anti-incumbency against the government and the chief minister.

“This time the tradition is going to break and that is why the BJP is scared and has given tickets in the assembly polls to those MPs against whom there is a lot of opposition. There is big anti-incumbency as they know they are not going to win the Lok Sabha polls again,” the Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha said.

Chief Minister Gehlot, who is seeking to repeat his government in the state, also met former party chief Sonia Gandhi as also the party’s treasurer Ajay Maken.

Mr Gehlot, who was here to attend the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday, left the national capital for Rajasthan in the afternoon.

Rajasthan goes to polls on November 30 for the 200-member state assembly.

Asked about who would be the CM face in Rajasthan, Mr Gogoi said the party would follow the tradition.

On when the party would declare its candidates, he alleged that the BJP knows all the news in advance about when the model code is going to be imposed and when the election schedule is going to be declared, hence their preparations are done accordingly.

“See, how much chemistry there is between the two when the elections are declared, the list is prepared,” he said.

“As far as the Congress party is concerned, we are fully active and fully prepared…we are going to win this election,” Mr Gogoi said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The BJP has fielded 18 MPs, including four Union ministers, for the latest round of assembly polls so far — seven each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and four in Chhattisgarh. Seventeen of them, including three Union ministers fielded in Madhya Pradesh, are Lok Sabha members and most of them have been fielded on relatively difficult assembly seats, where the party had lost in the last elections.

The party on Monday announced fresh lists of candidates for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from his traditional Budhni seat as the BJP announced the names of 57 more candidates for the assembly polls to be held on November 17. With this, the BJP has so far announced its candidates for 136 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.

The names of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and state BJP president Arun Sao figured in its latest list of candidates for the state, taking to 85 the number of seats in the 90-member assembly for which it has named candidates.

Three MPs, including Union Minister Renuka Singh, also featured in the second list of 64 candidates for Chhattisgarh.

The BJP has sent out a message about its determined efforts to put its best foot forward by fielding so many regional heavyweights, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste, and Prahlad Singh Patel in Madhya Pradesh, a state where it is in power and is facing a keen challenge from the Congress.

Party sources said fielding seasoned leaders in the assembly polls also helps defuse factional feuds as they enjoy more acceptance. Such a move also raises the stakes for the satraps seeking key roles in government and organisation by throwing them the challenge of ensuring a good performance for the party in their seats and adjoining constituencies, they said.

Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari and Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are among the BJP candidates from Rajasthan.

Ms Kumari will fight the elections from Jaipur’s Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency, Mr Rathore, a former Union minister and retired Army officer, has been fielded from Jhotwara, also in Jaipur district.

Vidhyadhar Nagar seat is currently held by BJP MLA Narpat Singh Rajvi, a five-time MLA and son-in-law of former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

The remaining 40 constituencies for which the BJP announced its candidates are held by the ruling Congress and other parties.

Jhunjhunu MP Narendra Kumar will contest the elections from Mandawa, Alwar MP Baba Balaknath from Tijara, Ajmer MP Bhagirath Choudhary from Kishangarh, Jalore MP Devji Patel from Sanchore, and Meena will fight from the Sawai Madhopur constituency.

Announcing the election schedule at a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said single-phase assembly polls will be held in Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 23, Telangana on November 30 and Mizoram on November 7 while Chhattisgarh will go to the polls in two phases on November 7 (20 seats) and 17 (70 seats).

The BJP and the Congress will be engaged in a direct fight in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan while the two parties are also in contention for power in Telangana, where Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi is eyeing a third straight term.

The BJP is in power in Madhya Pradesh while the Congress is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party is ready to contest the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan with full strength and the names of candidates will be declared soon, its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Monday.

The Election Commission has announced that assembly polls in Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana will be held on different days beginning November 7 and the votes will be counted on December 3.

Asked about the AAP’s preparation for the polls, Mr Kejriwal said, “We are prepared to contest the elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh with full strength.”

When asked whether his party will contest the elections as part of the INDIA bloc, he said that “whatever happens will be apprised”.

Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are currently ruled by the Congress, which like the AAP is a partner in the opposition INDIA bloc.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)