Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat has ruled out a bid for the state's top post, calling talk of it baseless. In a social media post on Wednesday, he said his aim is a Congress government in 2027 that unseats the BJP.
He said the party has many capable people for the role, and that after rising from booth worker to Union minister and chief minister, he has no wish for any specific post. He also accused two people he called the 'Bunty-Babli' duo of diverting hundreds of crores meant for school mid-day meals and food for pregnant women.
The Election Commission has extended its Model Code of Conduct to retired officials engaged by the governments of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, all of which are heading to the polls.
Until now, no specific rules governed these retirees. The same limits that bind serving staff will now apply to them during the code period.
State governments are also barred from calling election officers in districts or constituencies where polls are announced to official meetings or video conferences. The EC has warned of strict action for any violation.
Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi has shared his first statement since a row over his Navratri fair concert. An Uttarakhand MLA halted the show, claiming he was singing under the influence of alcohol.
In an Instagram note shared on Diwali, he thanked fans and family, naming his brother Mika Singh and wife Taran. He said he had never faced anything like this in three decades of singing.
Mika Singh had said the matter was settled after claiming MLA Subodh Uniyal apologised, but Uniyal denied it and accused Mika of spreading false news.
Home Minister Amit Shah has set the BJP a target of winning over 65 of Uttarakhand's 70 Assembly seats in the 2027 polls. At a Dehradun rally marking the state's 26th Foundation Day, he said the party would form the government again.
Shah accused Rahul Gandhi of being upset over encroachment action on 29 acres in Haldwani. He also said the Congress had neglected border-area roads amid concerns over China.
Shah credited Atal Bihari Vajpayee with creating Uttarakhand on November 9, 2000, and claimed tourism in the state had grown 380 per cent.
An IIT Bombay-led study used GPS stations and satellite radar to find that a 115 km-wide stretch of the Main Himalayan Thrust beneath Uttarakhand is firmly locked. The strain building up there is equal to a magnitude 8.1 earthquake roughly every 100 years. The researchers stress this is not a prediction, but a reason to prepare.
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