Assembly Election Results: SP to Hold Meeting of Newly-elected MLAs, Legislative Council Members on Mar 26

The new Punjab cabinet passed a proposal to provide a total of 25,000 government jobs, including 10,000 vacancies in Punjab Police and 15,000 vacancies in other government departments. Led by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, the newly sworn in cabinet of 10 ministers held its first meeting in Chandigarh today. ANI

A blame game began between Congress and ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) over the poor show in the recent polls as BJP appears set to return to power again in the coastal state. The BJP won 20 out of the total 40 seats in the Goa elections and secured the support of MGP and three Independents. The saffron party is yet to stake a claim to form the next government, which will be its third straight term. A war of words broke out after Congress’ North Goa district president Vijai Bhike said that tying up with the GFP for polls was a wrong decision on part of Congress. I think we made a wrong decision by tying up with the Goa Forward Party as the alliance did not benefit Congress in any way but another party took advantage of it, Bhike told reporters at Saligao constituency in North Goa on Friday.

“I thank Sonia Gandhi for nominating me for the second time. I’m confident that we will win as we’ve more than the required numbers. We have 44 and for the win, we just need 42, so we don’t see any problem,” Ripun Bora, Congress candidate from Assam for Rajya Sabha biennial polls said.

Suggesting an alliance with ruling Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in Maharashtra, AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel has said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) can become a “comfortable car” from the three-wheeled autorickshaw which can prevent the BJP from coming to power. Jaleel’s overture was rejected by the Uddhav Thackeray-led party while BJP took a dig saying such tie-up between the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party and the Sena cannot be ruled out. Shiv Sena leader and MLC Ambadas Danve said that there is no question of allying with a party that opposes singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ and “runs on the thinking of Razakars”- the paramilitary volunteer force deployed in the cause of maintaining Muslim rule in Hyderabad and resisting integration into India during 1947-48. Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis said the AIMIM joining hands with NCP and Congress is immaterial for BJP.

Ten legislators, comprising eight greenhorns, on Saturday took oath in the first Cabinet formation by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab led by Bhagwant Mann at a swearing-in ceremony in Chandigarh. There are a total of 18 berths in the Cabinet, including the Chief Minister. Harpal Cheema, MLA from Dirba, who was re-elected for the second term, is an advocate by profession and considered close to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Earlier, he has served as the Leader of Opposition in the previous term of Vidhan Sabha, and was known to raise public issues. READ MORE

The Congress has declared the state chief of its women’s wing Jebi Mather as its Rajya Sabha candidate for the biennial election to fill three seats from Kerala. Congress President Sonia Gandhi had on Friday approved the candidature of Mather, who is also the vice-chairperson of Aluva municipality in Ernakulam district. AICC, in a press release issued by the general secretary incharge, Mukul Wasnik announced the candidature. Meanwhile, two ruling LDF candidates had on Friday filed their nominations for the March 31 biennial election to fill three Rajya Sabha seats from the southern state that will fall vacant early next month following the retirement of members.

Ten AAP MLAs were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab. Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at Punjab Bhawan. Among the 10 ministers, eight are first-time MLAs. All of them took the oath in Punjabi. Harpal Singh Cheema, Harbhajan Singh, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Harjot Singh Bains and Dr Baljit Kaur, the lone woman in the cabinet, were administered the oath.

Ten AAP MLAs including Harpal Singh Cheema, Dr Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh ETO and Dr Vijay Singla took oath as ministers in the Punjab cabinet.

“I thank people of Punjab and party high command. It is AAP’s good mindset that they’ve included a woman in cabinet. I’ll carry out all my duties honestly. As a woman and doctor, I’ll work for development of women and health sector,” Dr Baljit Kaur who will take oath as Punjab Minister said.

The Congress on Friday declared Ripun Bora and Jeby Mather its Rajya Sabha candidates from Assam and Kerala, respectively. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the candidature of Bora and Mather, a party statement said. Elections to fill 13 Rajya Sabha seats across six states will be held on March 31. While members from Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland and Tripura are retiring on April 2, five members from Punjab are retiring on April 9.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, who recently resigned as Punjab congress chief after the party’s dismal performance in the state, praised newly-sworn Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday and said the AAP leader had unfurled a ‘new anti-mafia’ era in the state. Sidhu, known for regularly courting controversy, said he hoped Mann would bring back Punjab on the revival path with pro-people policies. The Aam Aadmi party had dealt a devastating blow to the rule of Congress in the state, winning 92 out of 117 seats in the state. READ MORE

The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has zeroed in on the name of N Biren Singh as the next chief minister of Manipur, sources told News18 on Wednesday. The poll battle for Manipur was tough but, for Biren, the contest after the results came out on March 10 was not easy either. Though he had gone into the elections as the incumbent CM, there were other claimants for the post.

Only the Gandhis cannot be held responsible for the Congress’s recent election defeats, party veteran P Chidambaram has said, urging the G-23 ‘group of rebels’ to not split the party. In a statement made to NDTV a day after G-23 met to call for an institutional rehaul, Chidambaram said Sonia Gandhi had offered to step down along with her children Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee held to analyse the reasons behind the party’s defeat in the recently held assembly polls in five states.

“Since BJP is a national party, we need time to decide on the date of the swearing-in ceremony. When our Prime Minister has already said that Pramod Sawant is going to be the Chief Minister of Goa, there is no need for further discussion,” Subhash Phal Desai, Goa BJP MLA said.

While inducting eight first-time MLAs in the Punjab cabinet, the Aam Aadmi Party ignored all giant-killers and most of second-timers, except two. The ministers will take oath in Chandigarh on Saturday. Except former leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, all the remaining ministers have made their debut in the new state cabinet.

Yogi Adityanath is likely to take oath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second term on March 25 at 4 pm, according to sources. The swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium, which has the capacity to host a crowd of 50,000 spectators. The sources also said that thousands of beneficiaries of various central and state government schemes will be invited to witness the ceremony. Preparations are being made to accommodate at least 45,000 people in the stadium.

G-23 leader Ghulam Nabi Azad met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, after which he said leadership change is not an issue as the Congress Working Committee unanimously decided that she should continue as party chief till internal polls. After meeting Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence here, Azad told reporters that he gave her suggestions to strengthen the party and held a discussion on how to take on rivals “unitedly” in the forthcoming assembly polls. The meeting comes days after the Group of 23 pitched for an “inclusive and collective leadership” in the Congress. Kapil Sibal, another G-23 leader, had said recently that the Gandhis should step aside and pave the way for someone else to take over the reins of the party.

With Punjab in its kitty, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is trying to test political waters in the uncharted territory of Himachal Pradesh where Assembly elections are due this year-end. As part of its strategy, the party is considering contesting even the civic body elections scheduled to be held in Shimla next month. It formally announced plans to contest the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections on Saturday. AAP’s Delhi minister Satyender Jain said the focus will now be on HP, both for Shimla civic polls and later assembly polls. “We already have party set-up in each of the 68 Assembly segments and now we will consolidate further,” said Jain.

BJP named fashion designer turned MLA Agnimitra Paul as the party candidate for the by-election to the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency to contest against Shatrughan Sinha of TMC. For the by-poll to Ballygunje assembly seat in Kolkata, the BJP’s women’s wing leader Keya Ghosh, a known face in television panel discussions, has been nominated as the party candidate. She was pitted against former union minister and TMC candidate Babul Supriyo. The names were announced by the BJP central leadership in Delhi, the party’s West Bengal spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said. By-polls in both seats will be held on April 12 and votes will be counted on April 16.