Politics

Kumaraswamy also ruled out any differences among JD(S) MLAs over cabinet berths and allocation of portfolios and said party president H D Deve Gowda has been given total freedom on the next phase of cabinet expansion.

At the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, Rahul, Sonia Gandhi and Kejriwal were all on stage but they were careful not to share space during photo ops. Yet, nothing can be ruled out.

The BJP wants the Shiv Sena to read the writing on the wall and accept BJP as the senior partner. But Uddhav knows any such move may be detrimental to the Sena and may give enough space to his cousin Raj Thackeray to bounce back.

Former CM Siddaramaiah condemned the CBI raids, alleging that the Centre had been targeting Congress leaders but it will not succeed.

Bypoll debacle will force the BJP to rethink its strategy and listen to smaller allies as LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan and JD(U) have off late openly said that Nitish model will work in Bihar and not Modi model.

The TDP chief, who sidestepped a question on whether the parties would take the support of the Congress should the need arise, was also scathing in his criticism of the BJP during an interaction with journalists late last night.

Panda, who was suspended from the BJD in January for “weakening” the party, wrote an emotional letter to Patnaik, in which he said it was “irrefutable clear that the party wants me out”.

While Rahul Gandhi will return within a week, Sonia Gandhi will stay abroad for a longer period.

The by-election was necessitated after sitting JD(U) lawmaker Sarfaraz Alam quit his party after JD(U) joined BJP and he shifted to RJD. He recently contested from the Araria Lok Sabha seat in March and also won the by-poll.

The mining operations in the state have come to a halt from March 16 after the SC quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies.

In an editorial in the latest edition of party organ 'People's Democracy', former general secretary Prakash Karat said the country would see "more powerful united actions of working people" in the coming months.

Locals have been protesting for quite some time now against the expansion activities of the Sterlite plant and also demanding the closure of the plant.

A draft Bill for full statehood to Delhi was prepared by the Kejriwal government two years ago but the matter lingered on without any conclusion.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena will both contest each other in Palghar, the fight in Bhandara-Gondia will ostensibly be between the Nationalist Congress Party (supported by Congress) and BJP.

"We may see difficult times ahead. We are visualising the challenges ahead, but we need to bear all the hardship to build a strong party," the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief said.

HD Kumaraswamy is most likely to take office at 1.30pm on Wednesday, as prescribed by his family astrologers.