Indore: The BJP advised its leaders to shun differences and advised not to compete for their political career. BJP President told the leaders that country should be the first priority, while the party comes second and the individual on the third. BJP president Nitin Gadkari said, “Untouchability was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) political commitment,” indicating a significant shift in strategy for the party by bringing in issues of Dalit welfare.

Indore: BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar said on Tuesday that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is not a factor of concern for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as he could not influence voters in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh where the Congress lost badly. Talking to media persons here a day before the start of the three-day party convention, he said, “Rahul Gandhi is not a factor. He went to Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh before the assembly elections there. You know the results. Where was this Rahul factor?”

Bhopal: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan heaped showers of praise on his political opponent Congress general secretary, Digvijay Singh here on Sunday. Chouhan said a number of good words in honour of Singh on the second day of the two-day All India Kshatriya Samaj Federation Convention being held at Ravindra Bhawan. The chief minister said Singh during his tenure as chief minister launched many schemes for the uplift of Dalits, poor and economically backward class in the state.

Morena: Continuing his attack on the Samajwadi Party Chief, Amar Singh equated his former chief Mulayam Singh Yadav with 'Dhritrashtra', saying when injustice was being meted out to him, Yadav remained a mute spectator. "Yadav acted like Dhritrashtra (a character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata) who remained a mute spectator when injustice was meted out to Draupadi, kept mum when his relatives called me all funny and nasty names," Singh said at a meeting of Kshatriya Samaj here.

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said here on Friday that his last week’s visit to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh was aimed at taking on the Muslim fundamentalists who were trying to misguide the minority community’s youth and spreading falsehoods about the law-enforcing agencies. “The communal and emotional tone of the Ulema Council in Azamgarh was a cause of worry for all those who believe in democracy,” he said while talking to reporters here.

Bhopal: Expressing concern over prevailing corruption in all sections of the society, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former deputy premier Lal Krishna Advani today said even the judiciary and press were not untouched by this scourge. “Twenty-five to 30 years back, nobody could contemplate corruption in the judiciary but now it is commonplace while elections have emerged as a means for ill-gotten wealth for media,'' Advani said this while addressing a convention for Madhya Pradesh's newly-elected corporators at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's residence.

Bhopal: Politics over AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's Madhya Pradesh visit has commenced with the Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Department issuing show-cause notices to the Vice-Chancellor (VC) and Registrar of the Indore-based Devi Ahilya University over the Amethi MP's programme in Indore. “The notices on behalf of Higher Education Minister Laxmikant Sharma ask VC Ajit Singh Sehrawat and Registrar RD Musalgaonkar as to how they granted permission at their level for organising the programme.

Bhopal: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday agreed with his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the suggestion of holding Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously. Abdullah, who was here to participate in a meeting on Adventure Tourism, told media persons, “It is correct that due to frequent polls and enforcement of model code of conduct, development gets affected. If there is a consensus among the political parties on the issue, I don't think anybody will have any objection with it.”

Bhopal: Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan National Convenor KN Govindacharya has termed the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decision to support the Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to bid for forming a government in Jharkhand 'unjustifed'. “The character and conduct of JMM is radically different from the BJP. Similarly, the BJP is wrong in suggesting a ministerial post for Renukacharya in the Karnataka Cabinet. In both cases, the party's ideology had been compromised,” he said in a press conference here on Tuesday.

Bhopal: The electoral fortune of Madhya Pradesh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party seems bright after announcement of results of first phase in the just concluded civic polls as the party has captured seven posts, out of twelve municipal corporations in the state. However, in the municipal council elections both the BJP and the opposition Congress have bagged 18 posts each while two posts were bagged by Independent candidates. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) got one post each.