New Delhi: In a run up to the Lok Sabha elections, BJP President Rajnath Singh on Sunday reorganised the party's poll machinery. Rajnath made Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah in charge of the party's affairs in key state Uttar Pradesh. Shah will be assisted by party members Trivendra Singh Rawat, Rameshwer Chaurasiya and Satyendra Kushwaha.
The BJP President also made Varun Gandhi in charge of the party's affairs in West Bengal.
In a list of state in-charges, convenors and in charge of its various fronts announced today, BJP appointed its Andhra Pradesh strongman Bandaru Dattatray as one of its Vice Presidents. He has also been made the in charge of Kerala. Dattatray was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Shah, know for his organisational skills, will be in charge of UP which has 80 Lok Sabha seats. If BJP wants to return to power at the Centre, it will have to concentrate on Uttar Pradesh....
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07:41 PM, May 19, 2013
Lahore: Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has attained a majority in Pakistan's National Assembly after 18 independent candidates joined the party, placing it in a position to form government at the centre without striking an alliance with any other party. Several independent candidates belonging to influential political families of Punjab and Sindh provinces are among those who have joined the PML-N, which emerged the single largest party in the May 11 general...
07:31 PM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: With the image of his government in tatters, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will present the last Report Card of UPA-II on May 22 in which he is expected to list the positives such as Direct Benefit Transfer and FDI in retail in a bid to boost the sagging morale of Congressmen with elections less than a year away. Battered by series of scams and the recent sacking of...
12:58 PM, May 19, 2013
Mumbai: The Congress party is debating holding a General Election in November, six months ahead of schedule, senior party leaders said, reflecting an internal discussion over whether to pull the plug on the shaky ruling coalition or have it serve a full term. Officially, the Congress party says the government - which has been battered by a series of corruption scandals and now governs as a minority after two allies...
11:45 AM, May 19, 2013
Karachi: Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan has held the chief of Mutthaida Qaumi Movement (MQM) directly responsible for the killing of a senior leader of his party in the city. "I hold Altaf Hussain directly responsible for the murder as he had openly threatened Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf workers and leaders through public broadcasts," Imran said in a statement from his hospital bed late Saturday night. The statement came hours after the...
08:55 AM, May 19, 2013
Kolkata: The West Bengal State Election Commission on Saturday wrote to the state government seeking a change in the schedule for the panchayat polls and the bunching of districts in each phase. The state government had issued a notification on Friday proposing three-phase polls. Nine districts are to go to the hustings July 2, and four each July 6 and July 10. The SEC's latter has sought a regrouping of...
04:15 AM, May 19, 2013
Karachi: A senior leader of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party was shot dead in Karachi on Saturday, police said. Zahra Shahid Hussain, the vice-president of the party's chapter in Sindh, was shot by two unidentified men outside her home in Defence Phase IV late on Saturday night. She died while being taken to a nearby hospital. Hussain was a member of the party's central executive committee. The motive for the...
12:51 AM, May 19, 2013
Rajnandgaon: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said only BJP had challenged the prevailing vote-bank politics in the country. At a rally in Rajnandgaon, the Assembly constituency of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Modi said before BJP came to power in December 2003, there was no growth in this mineral-rich state. "The country has witnessed vote-bank politics for fifty years. After gaining power through vote-bank politics, leaders subsequently promoted...
10:24 PM, May 18, 2013
Lahore: Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday met Prime Minister-designate Nawaz Sharif for over three hours, exchanging views on regional situation and the war on terror. The meeting, sought by Kayani, was the first between the two since Sharif's PML-N emerged victorious in the May 11 general election and is all set to form the government. During the meeting, which lasted over three hours, the army chief...
08:09 PM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday ruled out change of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the run up to next Lok Sabha elections but steered clear of questions whether he would again be at the helm if the UPA-III comes to power. In reply to questions about change of the Prime Minister soon and holding of early Lok Sabha elections, Congress spokesman PC Chacko said "please do not think of...
07:50 PM, May 18, 2013
Chandigarh: Amid tight security, the stage is set for Sunday's elections to Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads in Punjab, the campaigning for which was marred by violence in which four persons were killed. Security force personnel had been deployed in strength to ensure smooth, free and fair elections, said state Election Commissioner SS Brar. As many as 760 candidates were in fray for elections to 331 zones of 22 Zila...
07:40 PM, May 18, 2013
Islamabad: The PML-N and two nationalist parties have agreed to form a coalition government in Balochistan but differences remain on the issue of choosing a Chief Minister for the insurgency-hit province in southwest Pakistan. The Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), which represents the Pashtuns living in northern parts of Balochistan, emerged the single largest party in the May 11 polls by bagging 10 of the 51 directly elected seats in...
03:45 PM, May 18, 2013
Bangalore: Protests broke out in parts of Karnataka on Saturday as supporters of Congress leaders who failed to get berth in Cabinet expansion effected by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah gave vent to their anger. In the district headquarters town of Yadgir, Congress workers ransacked the party office and set fire to windows over denial of ministership to senior leader AB Maalaka Reddy, police said. In Ramanagara and Mandya, they held a...
02:46 PM, May 18, 2013
Nawaz Sharif's PML-N bagged 125 of the 272 directly elected seats in Pakistan's National Assembly but fell short of a majority and is poised to form a government with support of independents and smaller parties. ...
11:47 AM, May 18, 2013
Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday expanded his Cabinet with the induction of 28 Ministers. Twenty were made Cabinet Ministers and eight Ministers of State. They were administered oath of office by Governor HR Bhardwaj at a ceremony at Glass House at Raj Bhavan. Those made Cabinet ministers are RV Deshpande, Qamar-ul-Islam, Prakash B Hukkeri, Ramalinga Reddy, TB Jayachandra, B Ramanath Rai, HK Patil, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, V Srinivasa Prasad,...
11:24 AM, May 18, 2013
Bangalore: 29 MLAs will be inducted on Saturday into the newly elected Congress government in Karnataka at Raj Bhawan. Of the 121 Congress MLAs elected in May 5 Assembly elections, more than 50 are former ministers. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who took the oath on May 13 brought the Congress to power after seven-year hiatus in the state. 29 ministers will be sworn in at Raj Bhavan, the 64-year-old Chief Minister...
08:35 AM, May 18, 2013
Kolkata: Opposition parties in West Bengal on Friday demanded deployment of central paramilitary forces in an all-party meeting convened by the State Election Commission to ensure proper, free and fair panchayat elections. "We need adequate protection for candidates and the voters though every state of the polls - filing of nomination, campaigning, polling day as also counting. The ground situation is not conducive for that. In various local elections across...
04:47 AM, May 18, 2013
Chandigarh: In the wake of alleged political violence in the state, Punjab Congress on Friday demanded the resignation of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal saying, he was the main architect behind "political murders and growth of mafias". "Sukhbir is a total failure as state's home minister and he has no right to continue in power. "Punjab is heading to a state of total anarchy as no rule of law...
03:50 AM, May 18, 2013
Karachi: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Friday announced that it would boycott the re-polling at 43 polling stations of the National Assembly constituency 250. MQM's senior leader Reza Haroon told a press conference that the decision to boycott the re-polling was taken by the party high command as it was clear that efforts were made to snatch the party's mandate in Karachi. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission...
12:25 AM, May 18, 2013
Islamabad: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who will travel to Islamabad next week to hold talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, will also meet PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who is set to form Pakistan's new government. Li will meet Sharif on May 23. Sharif, whose PML-N emerged the single largest party in Parliament in the May 11 general election, is expected to arrive...
08:19 PM, May 17, 2013
