Latest news with #ex-Congress
New Indian Express
30-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Former PA of ex-Congress minister detained in Rajasthan on suspicion of spying for Pakistan
JAIPUR: Security agencies on Wednesday detained Shakur Khan, a former personal assistant to ex-Congress minister Saleh Mohammad, from the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan on serious charges of espionage and involvement in anti-national activities. He was taken into custody from the government office of the Employment Department, where he is currently posted. According to sources, Shakur Khan is accused of traveling to Pakistan multiple times without informing the authorities and allegedly engaging in activities that posed a threat to national security. Following his detention, he was brought to Jaipur, where a joint interrogation by central and state intelligence agencies is currently underway.
Indian Express
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Shah on key visit to Nanded ahead of local polls in Maharashtra
With the Supreme Court paving the way for Maharashtra to hold its much-delayed local body elections in the next few months, Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Nanded on May 26 would be significant for the ruling BJP in the forthcoming poll battle. Though the State Election Commission is yet to announce its schedule, the apex court ordered Maharashtra in early May to hold the local body polls within four months. Twenty-nine municipal corporations will go to polls, as will local bodies down to the panchayat level. Already, the parties, both from the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), have swung into action for these polls. After arriving in Nagpur late on Sunday, Shah will on Monday head to Nanded, where he is expected to hold closed-door meetings on the local body polls with senior BJP leaders and then address a public rally to set the tone for it. 'For the BJP, every election is important. Whether it is Lok Sabha or Assembly or municipal corporation. The state and central leadership together plan the strategies,' said a BJP functionary. Nanded is the turf of turf of senior BJP leader and ex-Congress CM Ashok Chavan, a former two-time Lok Sabha MP from the seat. Ahead of Shah's visit, Chavan held a series of meetings with several prominent local leaders from the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP) – an exercise that is being seen as a tactical move to induct them into the BJP fold to weaken the two key MVA parties and consolidate the BJP's support base for the local body polls. 'We are in talks with former MLAs as well as some other leaders of Congress and NCP(SP) in Nanded. They would be inducted into the BJP during Shah's visit,' said a close aide of Chavan. On the BJP's push to induct leaders from rival parties, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said: 'If anybody from other parties is keen to come and work in the BJP, we welcome them.' With Chavan on its side now, the BJP has gained a foothold in Nanded district, which has traditionally been a Congress stronghold.
India Today
07-05-2025
- Politics
- India Today
How Maharashtra BJP chief's call to empty out Congress caused a flutter
The BJP's Maharashtra president and state revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has called on party leaders and cadre to engineer defections in the Congress, causing a flutter in political circles. '[Ensure that] the Congress is emptied out. You will gain to the extent the Congress party declines,' Bawankule said while pointing to the recent defection of former MLA and legacy Congress leader Sangram Thopte to the BJP. Bawankule, who was speaking at a meeting of party functionaries in Pune, however, assuaged BJP loyalists that they would be given precedence over newer entrants. Bawankule's statement drew flak from the Opposition. Harshwardhan Vasantrao Sapkal, president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, likened the BJP to a 'witch that ate up Congress leaders and workers'. He said the BJP's moves indicated the party was not confident of coming to power in the state on its own. The Congress has 16 MLAs in Maharashtra. Sapkal said a significant part of the state cabinet was made up of leaders who had earlier been with the Congress. Some prominent ex-Congress figures in the Maharashtra cabinet include Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Nitesh Rane, Jaykumar Gore and Manikrao Kokate. The BJP has also managed to get former chief minister Ashok Chavan on board. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) spokesperson Sanjay Raut alleged the BJP was using power and money to break parties. He mocked that the present-day BJP was largely made up of defectors. Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha MP from the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), charged that central enforcement agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation, were being used to split BJP rivals. 'This is not lokshahi (democracy) but dadapshahi (a reign by suppression),' she said. However, in his defence, Bawankule said the leadership of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SCP) lacked the ability to grow their parties. 'They can't handle their parties,' he said. At the time of joining the BJP, Thopte, a three-term MLA and a 'hardcore Congressman' by his own admission, had claimed that the Congress had given a short shift to his loyalty and ignored him in ministerial appointments. Thopte and his father Anantrao, a former minister, have represented the Bhor assembly constituency in Pune from 1980 to 1999 and 2004 to 2024. Causing more flutter in the Congress, the BJP has made overtures to another legacy Congress leader—independent Lok Sabha MP Vishal Patil, the grandson of former chief minister and Congress veteran Vasantdada Patil. In the seat-sharing agreement within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for the general elections last year, the Sangli constituency was allotted to the Shiv Sena (UBT). Vishal Patil contested the seat as an Independent and won by defeating the BJP's two-term MP Sanjaykaka Patil and the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Chandrahar Patil. It is also being claimed that Chandrahar Patil, a renowned wrestler, may be on his way to the rival Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde. Subscribe to India Today Magazine
Time of India
02-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Pinarayi, Tharoor at Adani event will give many sleepless nights, says PM Modi
The sight of Kerala's Leftist CM Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor at an event linked to an Adani project would "give several people sleepless nights", PM Modi quipped on Friday at the inauguration of Vizhinjam Port , India's first dedicated transshipment hub, in Thiruvananthapuram. He also took a dig at Kerala CPM's stance on private investment. Left mantri called private investor 'partner': PM Modi Referring to state ports minister VN Vasavan calling Adani 'a partner', PM Modi said, 'See, a communist minister called a private investor a partner. This reflects the change happening in India.' 'I want to tell the chief minister (Vijayan)…you are a strong pillar of the INDI alliance. Shashi Tharoor is also sitting here…,' Modi said, pausing in between to allow his words to be translated to Malayalam for the local audience. When the translator appeared to misinterpret the part about 'sleepless nights' as a reference to 'issues about Indian airlines', the PM immediately caught on. 'He couldn't translate it properly. But the message has reached where it should,' Modi said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Grosuplje: AI guru Andrew Ng recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Aroun... Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said Modi's remarks about INDIA bloc and Lok Sabha leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi — the PM didn't mention him — were unbecoming of his position. 'Let's see who actually has sleepless nights. It seems the PM got carried away by the excitement of meeting his dearest friend, Adani,' said Venugopal, adding that CM Vijayan could have corrected the PM, but chose not to. Later, Vasavan clarified that he called Adani a partner because the industrialist executed the Vizhinjam Port project initiated by ex-Congress CM Oommen Chandy. 'There's no need to read too much into what I said. It's a public-private partnership , and as long as the agreement is in place, Adani remains the project partner,' he said. The launch event was overshadowed by friction between CPM and Congress. State leader of the opposition VD Satheesan skipped the event, claiming he wasn't properly invited. Congress functionaries were also upset that the state govt didn't acknowledge ex-CM Chandy's role in the project. They also pointed out the irony of CM Vijayan accusing Chandy of corruption when he was CPM state secretary.
New Indian Express
29-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
BJP reshuffle in Gujarat paused amid Pahalgam fallout; but district-level presidents announced
AHMEDABAD: Amid nationwide outrage over the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, political developments in Gujarat have slowed, with the BJP's long-anticipated state-level shake-up now caught in a cloud of uncertainty. Despite this pause, the party made an unexpected move on Tuesday by announcing new district-level presidents, signalling selective progress in its internal restructuring. Delhi has become the epicentre of high-level political activity, as pressure mounts on Pakistan following the Pahalgam incident. In Gujarat, however, all eyes remain on two major questions: who will be the next BJP state president, and when will the long-delayed cabinet expansion take place? Over the past fortnight, speculation surged after Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on 21 April. A day later, BJP state chief C.R. Patil held a closed-door meeting with Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, further fuelling rumours of imminent changes. The BJP was reportedly considering a young OBC leader for the state president's post, but sources now say the terror attack has 'shifted the narrative'. Despite the expiration of Patil's term, he is expected to remain in his role until political conditions stabilise. Plans to expand the Gujarat cabinet, with ministerial berths for ex-Congress members who switched to the BJP, have also been put on hold indefinitely. 'Given the current national climate, the cabinet expansion will not proceed anytime soon,' said a party source. In a move that caught many by surprise, the BJP announced new district-level appointments on Tuesday. New presidents were named for Ahmedabad city, Gandhinagar, Kheda, Porbandar and Vadodara, indicating that while state-level decisions remain in limbo, the party is not shying away from recalibrating local leadership. The swift succession of high-level meetings in Delhi has kept Gujarat's political circles on edge. For now, the BJP's larger reshuffle remains on standby—its course altered by national developments beyond the state's borders.
