POLITICS

On Monday, RJD national General Secretary Shyam Rajak met Chirag Paswan and discussed the current political situation of Bihar. The move came a day after an audio conversation of Chirag Paswan went viral on the social media in which he was heard asking a Panchayat member in Vaishali district to cast his vote in the MLC election in favour of the RJD.

"Today I met the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Sh. @narendramodi ji and discussed issues of Punjab," Bittu tweeted. While Congress leaders restrained from commenting on the meeting, sources close to Bittu said that there was nothing much in the meeting which was a courtesy call. However, recent instances of Congress leaders leaving the party have triggered speculation of another Congressman desetring the party.

In his address at a crucial consultative meeting with tribal Hohos and organisations on AFSPA, he said that all stakeholders had appealed for abolition of the draconian law and the Central government has finally heard the appeals of the people. He appealed for co-operation with the government to ensure that no untoward incidents occur and urged all the stakeholders to seriously ponder how to properly maintain law and order in the state.

Sources in the party said that during the two-hour-long meeting, Congress leaders discussed various issues and unanimously decided that they should hold such meetings at least twice in month, which all senior leaders should present. During the discussion, senior Congress leaders expressed their views on how to take on Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government and sources said that the party has decided to continue its campaign to expose the state government.

On Monday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, Depender Singh Hooda, submitted a notice in the Upper House highlighting Haryana's claim over Chandigarh. Hooda's notice under Rule 267 said, "The claim that Chandigarh was created as capital of Punjab is misleading. It's a violation of the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966." Not only the Congress, but the BJP too has opposed the move by AAP.

The bureaucrats shared their concerns during a nearly four-hour-long meeting with PM Modi that was held at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, news agency PTI reported. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister PK Mishra and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba also attended this meeting along with other top bureaucrats of the Union government.

However, Pawar also added that he is ready to help in uniting the Opposition. Talking to media persons in Kolhapur, Pawar said that some of his party’s youth wing workers recently passed a resolution to make him the chairperson of UPA, but he has zero interest in it.

A letter in this regard has been issued in the name of MP Congress president Kamal Nath. Interestingly, the Congress party's  instruction  to its workers has come ahead of the assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh that is scheduled to take place next year. The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has mocked Congress’s appeal to its workers and termed it as ‘hypocrisy’.

The MNS workers also raised slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram' as they gathered outside the party's office at Sai Chowk. The move by MNS workers to play Hanuman Chalisa has been criticized by the top leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut went on to allege that Raj Thackeray's speech was scripted and sponsored by theBJP.

Those who took oath are Pabitra Margherita and Rwngwra Narzary from Assam, Jebi Mather Hisham, Sandosh Kumar and A. Rahim from Kerala and S. Phangnon Konyak from Nagaland. BJP's Konyak, who was elected unopposed to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Nagaland, who became the first woman from the state to get a berth in the Parliament's Upper House. Konyak is also president of Nagaland BJP women wing.