POLITICS

Overzealous BJP workers in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district crushed a row of bicycles with a bulldozer to celebrate their party's success in the state's Assembly polls. While the bicycle is the Samajwadi Party (SP) symbol, the bulldozer had become synonymous with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's campaign against the mafia.

Mamata Banerjee does not have "national aspirations" and only wants to bring like-minded parties together to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, TMC leaders said, after the party's high-profile campaign in the Goa assembly polls failed to make any impression. The Chief Minister said after the results that the Trinamool Congress had just entered Goa three months before and the attempt was to make the name Trinamool known to the people of the state.

Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann on Saturday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhawan here and staked claim to form the Aam Aadmi Party government. He is set to take oath on March 16 as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab. Earlier, Mann was elected the AAP's legislature party leader at a meeting of the party legislators in Mohali near here on Friday.

After registering a landslide victory in Punjab Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann and his Cabinet colleagues will be sworn-in on March 16, it was announced on Friday. The AAP recorded a thumping win in the Assembly polls by winning 92 of the 117 seats. The ruling Congress won 18 seats, a massive decline from 77 it had won in 2017, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could manage only three seats.

As the BJP regained power in Manipur, the party has strengthened its hold over the northeastern states. Either the BJP on its own has formed the governments in these states or with allies. Why? Infrastructure development, improved connectivity and successful delivery of social welfare schemes without corruption are the main reasons for the success of the BJP, people hailing from the northeastern states said.

While there is uncertainty over the next chief minister of Uttarakhand after Pushkar Singh Dhami lost in the assembly polls, the BJP leadership has started consultations with the MLAs. On the other hand, the Goa BJP is waiting for direction from the central leadership to elect its new chief minister.

Lashing out at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party, AAP, Union minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani on Friday said that a party which gets less votes than NOTA in Uttar Pradesh is claiming there is a wave in its favour.

The BJP has retained power in the northeastern state for the second consecutive term by winning 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly. "People of Manipur voted against bandh, blockade, disruption and insurgency. People have understood who all were behind the bandh and blockade culture, so they have voted for the BJP to make Manipur peaceful and free of all blockades," a senior party functionary told IANS.

The Etawah assembly seat has been won by the BJP's Sarita while Jaiveer Singh of the BJP has won the Mainpuri assembly seat. In Etah, it is again the BJP which has won the seat while Firozabad - which is the bastion of Prof Ram Gopal Yadav - has been won by the BJP's Manish Asija. Kannauj, that was said to be the strongest Samajwadi area, has also been wrested by first timer and former IPS officer Aseem Arun.

Sources said that BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and others held informal consultations with the MLAs in Uttarakhand capital Dehradun. "To get a sense of the MLAs' mood, Vijayvargiya has met a few of them. The exercise has started to find the next chief minister after the party's victory and Dhami's loss," they said.