- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are news in brief related to India politics for Wednesday, August 24, 2022:
The Nitish Kumar-Tejashwi Yadav government of the eastern state of Bihar has won the trust vote on the floor of the state assembly, days after the Janata Dal United (JD-U) walked out of its alliance with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. Ahead of the vote of confidence, several leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a coalition partner, were raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday in a years-old land-for-jobs scam. Speaking on the motion of confidence in the assembly, Tejashwi Yadav said: “We are cricketers and this pair (RJD and JDU) is going to have a never-ending partnership. This is going to be the longest innings. This partnership will work for the development of Bihar and the country. No one is getting run out this time.”
Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will launch his party’s campaign for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections during his visit to the BJP-ruled state on September 5, it was announced on Wednesday, Press Trust of India reported. Making the announcement in Ahmedabad in the state, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said the opposition party has started the process of candidate selection and will release its first list of nominees for the year-end polls before September 15. “The Assembly poll campaign will be launched by Gandhi on September 5. He will come here (Ahmedabad) and have a massive launching programme on election preparations,” the Rajya Sabha member told reporters.
Bihar assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on Wednesday announced his resignation on the floor of the House following an emotionally charged speech in which he expressed anguish over the no-confidence motion moved against him by the ruling ‘Mahagathbandhan‘ (grand alliance), PTI reported. Sinha, who belongs to the BJP which now stands stripped of power in the state, left the House in turmoil as he adjourned proceedings before the trust vote. He made a hasty exit from the assembly, and MLAs of the BJP, almost all of whom were wearing saffron scarves and raising slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’, followed suit.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed on Wednesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party approached four of its legislators in Delhi, asking them to switch sides and join the saffron party or else, face “false cases, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and the ED (Enforcement Directorate)”, PTI reported. Addressing a press conference here, AAP’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the legislators — Ajay Dutt, Sanjeev Jha, Somnath Bharati and Kuldeep — have been approached by leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with whom they have “friendly relations”. “They have been offered Rs 20 crore each if they join the party and Rs 25 crore if they bring other MLAs along with them,” Singh said.
Maharashtra tribal development minister Vijaykumar Gavit on Wednesday said in the state Assembly that there has been no child death reported due to malnutrition in the state in the last five years. However, members of the NCP and Congress objected to the minister’s claim. Gavit said, “As per information shared by the state health department with my office, there is no child death reported due to malnutrition in the state.” “There are 16 districts in the state where tribal population is identified. No district has reported death due to malnutrition in the last five years,” the minister said. However, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar objected to Gavit’s response saying, “It is a well-known fact that there have been cases of malnutrition in the state and many children die due to it every year.”
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided multiple locations in the eastern state of Jharkhand on Wednesday as part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation into alleged illegal mining in the state, official sources said. The federal probe agency will cover about 17-20 premises in the state as part of the operation. The searches were carried out after fresh information came to the fore following the questioning of Pankaj Mishra, a political aide of the state’s chief minister, Hemant Soren, and Mishra’s associate and muscleman Bachhu Yadav, the sources said. Both Mishra and Yadav were arrested by the ED in this case sometime ago.
Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi will soon travel abroad for medical check-ups and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will accompany her, the party said on Tuesday. It did not divulge any specific date of travel or their places of visit but said Rahul Gandhi will address the Congress’ ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ rally in New Delhi on September 4. “Congress President Sonia Gandhi will be travelling abroad for medical check-ups. She will also visit her ailing mother before she returns to New Delhi,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.
