Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said the party’s parliamentary board will take a decision on who will be the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh after it wins the November 17 assembly elections and forms a government in the state.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s move of fielding seven Lok Sabha members, including three Union ministers – Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Prahlad Patel – and also party’s general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls has signalled that has kept options open for the state’s top post.

Addressing a press conference here, former Union minister Prasad said, “It is the tradition of the party that the parliamentary board takes the decision…And opinion of MLAs will be taken when the government is formed. A deserving person will become the chief minister.”

He was replying to a question about who could be the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh if the BJP wins.

During a media interaction in August this year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had refused to give a direct reply, when asked if incumbent Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will continue to be the chief minister if the BJP retains power after the elections.

“Why are you (media) doing the party’s work? Our party will do its own work. Shivraj ji is chief minister and we are in the election…Take the development works of Modi ji (PM Modi) and Shivraj ji to the public. Also highlight if the Congress did any development,” Mr Shah had said.

Targeting the opposition Congress, Mr Prasad said when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, PM Narendra Modi condemned it, but at the same time, India helped the needy persons in Palestine.

“But the stand of the Congress has been the same as that of the Muslim League in Kerala. A Hamas leader addressed a rally in Kerala but Congress is maintaining silence on the issue. Did the Congress oppose when INDIA bloc constituents termed Sanatana Dharma as dengue and malaria?” he asked.

On the one hand the Congress keeps silence when Sanatan Dharmaa is insulted, while on the other it tries to connect with Hamas for votes, the BJP MP alleged.

Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly will be held on November 17.

Mumbai is at 4th position among 46 cities globally in terms of price rise of luxury residential properties, according to Knight Frank.

Real estate consultant Knight Frank India on Wednesday released ‘Prime Global Cities Index Q3 2023’ and said Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi recorded an increase in average annual prices of prime residential or luxury homes in the July-September period.

“Mumbai recorded the 4th highest year-on-year growth in prime residential prices in Q3 2023. The 6.5 per cent increase in prime residential prices has moved the city up by 18 places from 22nd rank in Q3 2022,” Knight Frank said.

New Delhi and Bengaluru also recorded an upward movement in their index rankings.

NCR moved to 10th in the third quarter (July-September) of 2023 with a growth of 4.1 per cent year-on-year from 36th rank in the year-ago period.

Bengaluru’s rank increased to 17th rank in the quarter under review against 27th rank in the third quarter of 2022, a year-on-year growth of 2.2 per cent.
 

Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday asserted that members of the INDIA bloc will sit together and decide the Prime Ministerial face if voted to power in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

“After being elected, all of us will sit together and decide the Prime Ministerial face,” Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma.

The INDIA bloc is an alliance of 28 political parties formed to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

However, the mega alliance is yet to brainstorm on its Prime Ministerial face.

Speaking on the Chhattisgarh assembly polls, the Congress president said, “We will cross 75 (seats), not less than that. We will provide free education to children from primary to post-graduation, will give cylinders to women… The elected MLAs will decide who will hold the Chief Ministerial post”.

Earlier today, Mallikarjun Kharge also held a public gathering in the Sukma district where he threw brickbats at the BJP stating that the latter “fooled” people in the name of caste and religion.

“They fooled people in the name of religion and caste. They trick people by saying that they made a woman belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) President. They should know that the Congress party gave the first woman Prime Minister to the country. The Congress empowered the backward classes”, Mr Kharge said.

Praising the previous Congress governments, he said, “The BJP keeps asking what Congress has done for the country. There were no schools, no banks and no jobs. It all was done by the Congress. Modi Sahab (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) asks what we have done in the past 70 years. We have built the country. We constructed schools, public sectors, banks, industries, etc. Did Modiji construct schools in Chhattisgarh?”

Chhattisgarh is scheduled to hold polls in two phases on November 7 and 17. The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all five poll-bound states.

Earlier in the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress came to power with a landslide victory, winning 68 seats out of 90.