Rajasthan: Two former ministers, several ex-MLAs quit Congress to join BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Jaipur: Several Rajasthan Congress leaders including former ministers Rajendra Yadav and Lal Chand Kataria joined the BJP Sunday, days before the expected announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. Former Congress MLAs Ricchpal Mirdha, his son Vijaypal Mirdha and Khiladi Bairwa; former independent MLA Alok Beniwal, former state chief of Congress Seva Dal Suresh Chaudhary, Rampal … Read more

Congress announces 43 more candidates for Rajasthan polls

The Congress on Sunday released its second list of 43 candidates for the November 25 Rajasthan assembly elections, fielding former chief secretary Niranjan Arya from the Sojat (SC) seat. State ministers Govind Ram Meghwal and B D Kalla have been fielded from Khajuwala (Scheduled Caste) and Bikaner West, respectively. Minister of State for Higher Education … Read more

Rajasthan: Congress leaders Ram Gopal Bairwa, Ashok Tanwar join BJP

Jaipur: Congress leaders Ram Gopal Bairwa and Ashok Tanwar joined the BJP here on Saturday, ahead of the November 25 Rajasthan assembly polls. While Bairwa is an ex-minister, Tanwar is a former MLA, who represented Chaksu in the state assembly. They along with some other people joined the BJP at the party’s media centre in … Read more

Old Pension Scheme to restrict states’ capacity to undertake development activities: RBI

Mumbai: Sounding a note of caution, a Reserve Bank report has said that reverting to the DA-linked Old Pension Scheme (OPS) will exert huge pressure on state finances and restrict their capacity to undertake developmental expenditure. The Reserve Bank’s report on ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2023-24’ also said the provision of non-merit … Read more