After months of deliberations, Udhayanidhi, the scion of DMK’s first family, is likely to get a major elevation this week with his entry into his father M K Stalin’s cabinet.
45-year-old Udhayanidhi, known as Udhay among party men and his supporters, will in all likelihood take oath as a minister on November 14, the penultimate day of the auspicious Tamil month of Karthigai.
Raising the issue in Lok Sabha, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur Pushpendra Singh Chandel said at present, there is no national language in India, however, in Article 343 of the Constitution it has been laid down that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
Elections are not a beauty contest and the Congress party has most of the times refrained from naming the chief ministerial candidate before elections as it believes it is a contest among parties, their ideologies and manifestos, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.
Asked if the Congress can go for a woman chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan in the next election, he said, "It is possible. Our priority is that Congress should win. Elections in our country, in our political system, I am sorry I will use a word, they are not a beauty contest between personalities.
"Our elections are among parties and are fought on ideologies, manifestos and symbols of parties. Who will become the chief minister is known only after the elections. Barring one or two times, the Congress party has 99 per cent of the time not announced any chief ministerial candidate because we believe that it is a contest among parties." - PTI.
A day after she was examined by the CBI in the 'Delhi excise policy scam' case, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter and BRS MLC K Kavitha on Monday said those who are exposing BJP's failures are being attacked.
Speaking at the Telangana Jagruthi state committee meeting, she slammed a section of the media saying the "fourth estate has become a private estate".
"In a structured way whoever exposes BJP's failures, they are being attacked. Character assassination is done by giving selective leaks. They are using the media," she said. - PTI.
There is no political fight in Rajasthan and only some differences, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Monday on the power tussle involving Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, and asserted that the party is united.
Replying to queries at a press conference here, Ramesh said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has had a positive effect on the politics in Rajasthan and referred to the recent meetings between Gehlot and Pilot.
"There is no fight, there are only differences," he said when asked about the issue. - PTI.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday demanded immediate withdrawal of vehicles procured under the Nirbhaya Fund and deployed for security of legislators from the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
A police official had on Sunday claimed some of the vehicles procured by the Mumbai police earlier this year with money from the Nirbhaya Fund were being used for providing Y-plus security to MLAs and MPs of the Shiv Sena faction led by the chief minister. - PTI.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Madhya Pradesh has written a letter to party chief JP Nadda seeking complete shake-up of the organisational and governance structure in the state akin to neighbouring Gujarat to ward off anti-incumbency in next year's Assembly polls.
"I want to congratulate you on the spectacular and historic win in Gujarat with a request that a petty worker like me who is always a well-wisher of the party wants that the government in MP must be formed (next year) like that state," BJP MLA Narayan Tripathi's letter, which was written on Sunday, read. - PTI.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday accused the state BJP and the Congress-led opposition of creating "needless controversy" over K-Rail, calling it a project which Kerala will eventually need.
"The project is still there despite hurdles created by the state BJP and Congress. The project is not shelved and the Centre has not informed us that the detailed project report is incomplete," said Vijayan in the Assembly.
The BJP only provides free ration when it wants people's votes and the benefits vanish as soon as elections are over, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday.
Referring to the BJP's defeat in the Mainpuri parliamentary and the Khatauli assembly bypolls, he said the saffron party faced public anger.
"When the BJP wants people's votes, it gives free ration, oil, gram, jaggery and salt. But when it gets the votes, it stops giving free ration," he told reporters. - PTI.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi on Monday questioned the purpose and timing of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's letter on the Shivaji issue to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, hours after its contents became public.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday lashed out at the government of the Union Territory of Puducherry and said that Chief Minister N Rangasamy was subservient to the Lieutenant Governor.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said, "Yes, Puducherry has a tall Chief Minister (height wise), and he is a good man but he is subservient and acts like a puppet. Should he not be ashamed or tremble with indignation when a Governor was dictating terms to his government." - IANS.
A BJP Parliamentary party meeting isscheduled to be held tomorrow at Parliament Library Building in Delhi.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed the first phase of the Samruddhi Expressway was ready a long time ago and it was supposed to be inaugurated on May 1 this year but just two days before the inauguration a related construction had collapsed. "I don't know if it was a deliberate act,'' Thackeray said.