Buoyed by the landslide victory in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party is now eyeing Chhattisgarh — one of the two states ruled by the Congress — where elections are scheduled for next year. Arvind Kejriwal’s plan to expand his party’s footprints and emerge as a national alternative to the Congress are clear as the party has already announced to contest Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, which will be held later this year.
Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath is set to take oath as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on March 25. The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other central ministers. Also, a late-evening meeting was held between BJP president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Manipur’s acting chief minister N Biren Singh, and National General Secretary (Org) of BJP B L Santhosh at Shah’s residence on Saturday.
All newly elected members of the Legislative Assembly will take oath at 11 am in Vidhan Sabha, tomorrow. The meeting of Legislative Party meeting will be held in the evening: Uttarakhand BJP chief Madan Kaushik in Delhi
— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022
(File pic) pic.twitter.com/EWChRQYdZx
BJP which has won in 4 states is not able to form govt till now due to fighting within party. You all have to work together under the leadership of Bhagwant Mann. I'm like your elder brother to give guidance:AAP's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal while addressing Punjab AAP MLAs
The whole country is talking about Bhagwant Mann and his works. Compensation for crops damaged in October has been released and farmers will get cheques in the coming days. You have done a good work within 3 days of forming the govt: AAP's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/qYCyYb0NF9
— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022
The BJP top leadership is holding hectic parleys to finalise the names for Yogi Adityanath's cabinet ahead of swearing-in ceremony on March 25. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Lucknow tomorrow.
Former Union minister Sharad Yadav is all set to merge his Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) today. Top RJD leader and Bihar’s Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav will be present at the merger event which will be held at Sharad Yadav’s residence in Delhi, reported The Indian Express. Read More
BJP central observers Nirmala Sitharaman & Kiren Rijiju to go to Imphal today morning (March 20) with Biren Singh & Biswajit Singh Legislative party meeting of BJP Manipur likely to be at 3pm later in the day
Delhi | Uttarakhand's acting CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, party leaders Madan Kaushik and Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' have arrived at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss govt formation
— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022
Uttarakhand legislative party meeting is scheduled to be held later today. pic.twitter.com/MXLhYGRHIv
The procedure for government formation is underway…the BJP central leadership will take a decision (on CM face): Uttarakhand's acting CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, at Uttarakhand Bhawan in Delhi pic.twitter.com/HBBf71bpv6
— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2022
Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) leader Om Prakash Rajbhar has categorically denied any meeting with the BJP leadership and has ruled out the possibility of his return to the NDA alliance. “I have never met any BJP leader and I will remain with Samajwadi Party. The alliance with Akhilesh Yadav is firm and will continue. We will shortly begin work on the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Inspired by the tidal wave of support it received in the Punjab assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party has finally put its expansion plan into action. Soon after the AAP decimated the Congress in Punjab to gain power in the second state, Arvind Kejriwal announced that the party will contest on all assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, where polls are due later this year. The party has also started to assert its presence in Punjab’s neighbouring state of Haryana and become increasingly aggressive in other states where it already has a presence. Read More
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary said that a delayed alliance with the Samajwadi Party was one of the reasons why the candidates fielded by his party in 33 seats failed to campaign and communicate their message to the people properly. Read More
In a further setback to the Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal days after its defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, its state unit president Masood Ahmed resigned from the party on Saturday accusing leaders of the SP-RLD alliance of selling tickets and behaving in a dictatorial manner. In a letter to Chaudhary, Ahmed levelled serious allegations against him and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
“Akhilesh-ji gave tickets to whomever he wanted while collecting money, due to which the alliance was forced to contest elections without booth presidents,” he wrote. He also accused the chiefs of the RLD and the SP of acting like dictators and cited the case of Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit the BJP to join the SP just before the polls.