Kerala as dear to me as Varanasi, says Modi in Guruvayur

Having won a massive mandate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said political parties and pundits failed to gauge the public mood ahead of the Lok Sabha election and thanked the electorate for reposing confidence in the saffron party.

In his first public engagement after leading the BJP to a grand victory in the general election, retaining power for a successive term, Mr. Modi said he made Kerala his first stop after the win despite having no MP from the state since it was as dear to him as his constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

Terming the just concluded Lok Sabha election to 542 seats as a “festival of democracy,” Mr. Modi lauded and thanked the electorate of Kerala for their contribution to it.

Rahul meets delegations, receives complaints at Wayanad Collectorate

Tea break: Congress president Rahul Gandhi taking a break at a tea shop in Chokkad town, Nilambur, on Friday. Special Arrangement  

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is on a three-day visit to his parliamentary constituency-Wayanad, arrived at the MP facilitation centre in the district Collectorate here and accepted memorandums and complaints from the people.

Representatives of farmers, tribals and other marginalised sections of the high-range constituency were among those who visited and appraised him about their issues.

The Congress chief also held discussions with the local representatives, party leaders and officials of the district and collected information on various pressing issues of the Parliamentary constituency, which is spread across the north Kerala districts of Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhihode.

25 Ministers in Jagan's Cabinet

Botcha Satyanarayana  

Twenty-five YSRCP MLAs including Dharmana Krishna Das, Botcha Satyanarayana, Pamula Pushpa Srivani, and Muthamsetti Srinivasa Rao (Avanti Srinivas) were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers a week after Jagan Mohan Reddy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Korasala Kannababu, Pilli Subhash Chandrabose, Alla Kali Krishna Sriniva, Cherukuwada Sri Ranganatha Raju, and Taneti Vanitha are among those who were sworn in on Saturday.

Sambangi China Appala Naidu sworn-in as pro-tem Speaker of AP Legislative Assembly

YSRCP MLA Sambangi China Appala Naidu was sworn in as pro-tem Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath.

As the pro-tem Speaker, Mr. Naidu will administer the oath of all the newly-elected MLAs, including Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, and Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Jagan Mohan Reddy assumes charge as Andhra Pradesh CM

Jagan Mohan Reddy takes charge as AP CM   | Photo Credit: Twitter/AndhraPradeshCM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took charge at his designated chamber at the Secretariat at 8.39 a.m. Senior bureaucrats, Secretariat staff and other leaders welcomed him amid Vedic chants by pundits. He, along with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, is scheduled to take part in the oath-taking ceremony of Cabinet Ministers at the Secretariat later in the day.

The Chief Minister affixed his signature on orders related to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), Anantapur expressway and journalist health scheme. As promised earlier, Mr. Jagan hiked the salaries of ASHA workers from ₹3,000 to ₹10,000.

As he took charge, the BJP reminds him of the action to be taken on the 'sand mafia' in the State on Twitter. "In the name of free sand, benamis of Chandrababu Naidu amassed crores of rupees selling sand illegally. Everyone involved in this should be inquired and punished," tweeted BJP State president Kanna Lakshmi Narayana.

PM Modi reaches Guruvayur to offer prayers at Lord Krishna temple

Prime Minister Narendra Modi before leaving for Guruvayur temple in Kerala. He was seen off by Governor P. Sathasivam, Chief Secretary Tom Jose and Vice Admiral Anil Chawla, chief of the Southern Naval Command.   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Guruvayur in Thrissur, Kerala on Saturday morning to offer prayers at the famed Lord Krishna temple.

PM Modi left Kochi at 9.20 a.m and his helicopter landed at Sree Krishna College ground near here at 9.50 a.m.

The PM reached here in a special naval helicopter from the Kochi naval airport.

After an hour-long ‘darshan’ at the temple, the PM will address a party meeting — Abhinandan Sabha — being organised by the BJP Kerala State committee.

This will be Mr. Modi’s first public meeting after assuming the chair of the Prime Minister for a second consecutive term.

He arrived in Kochi late on Friday night and was received at the naval airport by Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and State Devaswam Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

He stayed at the Government Guest House in Kochi.

- PTI