BJP leader C T Ravi
Credit: DH Photo
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is set to present the state Budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal on Friday. In his record 16th Budget, Siddaramaiah is expected to present an outlay of nearly Rs 4 lakh crore as he will look to provide for infrastructure creation by stabilising expenditure on the 'guarantee' schemes.
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The Congress government in Telangana on Thursday said it would organise an all-party meeting on delimitation of parliamentary constituencies to ensure that the state does not suffer any injustice in the exercise.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be on a two-day visit to Ahmedabad from today, during which he will hold meetings with party leaders and functionaries in Gujarat with a focus on the 2027 assembly elections. The Congress issued a statement saying that Rahul Gandhi had earlier said that the party will win the 2027 Gujarat assembly elections, and he is coming to the state to start the work of fighting the next assembly election.
As per Gandhi's itinerary released by the party, he will meet former state Congress presidents and former leaders of opposition on Friday morning and will have a meeting with state political affairs committee as well. (PTI)
Speaking on Omar Abdullah's comments on EAM Dr S Jaishankar's recent statement on PoK, BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal said, "... Omar Abdullah wants to create controversies without any reason. This is an international matter, a matter of national security, and the CM of any state should comment on it very carefully."
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday called out BJP's actions, urging it to halt Hindi imposition.
"Tamil Nadu will not tolerate Hindi colonialism replacing British colonialism," he said.
Omar Abdullah said, "This is my first Budget as Finance Minister. This is the first Budget in the last seven years...This Budget focuses on empowering youth and women and correcting regional disparities...J&K is on the path to peace."
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday held meeting with the leaders of Gujarat unit on the first day of his two-day visit to Gujarat.
PM Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects for the UT worth over Rs 2,580 crore at Silvassa.
He will also launch Surat Food Security Saturation Campaign and distribute the benefits of National Food Security Act to over 2.3 lakh beneficiaries in Surat.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, PM to participate in Lakhpati Didi programme at Navsari.
BJD MLAs are protesting against the Odisha government's decision to change the date of Panchayati Raj Diwas from 5th March to 24th April.
CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said, "They have no right to change the nameplates of their respective residences and it seems they don't even trust their government, it's a mockery... They don't even trust history. You can't always rewrite history... Ministers and MPs should not take the law into their own hands..."
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Friday slammed BJP over NEP, saying that whenever BJP talk about a third language, it is only Hindi imposition.
"Tamil Nadu is well served with a two-language (Tamil and English) formula curriculum... We don't need a compulsory third language... Whenever they (BJP) talk about a third language, it is only Hindi imposition, which Tamil Nadu will never accept. There is complete unanimity between political parties and all sections of Tamil Nadu society on this... English connects us to the world of science and commerce... If we accept the third language as Hindi, the BJP government, in its devious manner, will suggest that there are not enough Hindi teachers in Tamil Nadu... and soon, many non-native speakers will be working in our government schools. BJP's hidden agenda is to distort our cultural history..."
Chief ministers of the southern states probably see the Narendra Modi government moving towards delimitation before the next general elections, writes Bharat Bhushan.
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Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday said she felt like the protagonist of the Hindi movie Nayak after being selected for the post and asserted that it was not a "lottery" but an honour for all daughters of the country.
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Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin wrote to various state chief ministers and former chief ministers on Friday regarding delimitation exercise by the Union Government.
He requested their formal consent to join a Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka in the South to West Bengal and Odisha in the east, Punjab in the north and the nomination of one senior representative from their party who can serve on the JAC and help coordinate our unified strategy.
"...As an initial step towards unified action, I propose an inaugural meeting in Chennai on March 22, 2025, to chart our collective course forward..," his letter reads.
On Haryana Budget, Congress leader & former CM of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda says, "There was no new vision or hopes for youth in the Governor's speech, and there was no mention of farmers in the state Budget.
"During our tenure, the growth rate was much higher, with an average of 18 per cent between 2005 and 2014, compared to 8 per cent now. They (State govt) are considering this 8 per cent growth an achievement. They are saying that they will implement New Education Policy, but many schools have been closed..."
BJP National Secretary, Anil K Antony said, "In 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party led the state government in Karnataka, which scrapped a 4 per cent reservation for the Muslim community due to unconstitutionality.
"However, after the Congress government came back to power, the reservation was reintroduced in the budget, with 4 per cent reservation in every government contract under Rs 2 crore in every key department.
"This deviation from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution, which he despised, is a cause for concern. The Bharatiya Janata Party urges the state government to reverse these appeasement-driven steps."
On the issue of duplicate EPIC numbers, Election Commission said, "The Commission has now decided to resolve this long pending issue after detailed discussions within the technical teams and concerned CEOs in the next three months by ensuring a unique national EPIC number to the existing electors having a duplicate EPIC number and for future electors as well."
On Karnataka Budget proposing Muslim reservation in government contracts, BJP leader CT Ravi said: "The only thing left is givng a part of our properties to them, rest everything they have given. This is against the spirit of the Constitution. Dr BR Ambedkar was against religious reservation, but Congress crossed all limits and gave religion-based contract reservation."
In the MUDA case, Karnataka HC today quashed the ED notice issued to Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's wife and State Minister BS Suresha Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, "We have been fighting for justice and will accept whatever the law states. I have been saying from the beginning that this is politically motivated."
On delimitation row, Telangana Minister D Sridhar Babu said, "The delimitation exercise which the Central government is planning to take without considering the interest of south Indian states, especially Telangana, would be detrimental to our people who will be using their political voice in parliament.
"Our demand and request to the Central govt is to freeze the 1971 census, and on that, the delimitation process should carry on or on a pro-rata basis for each state, and the percentage of increase in the number of parliament should be taken."