States roundup: Cyclone Murasu nears Andhra, Punjab AAP MLAs quit, Azam Khan remanded and more from India

From a fresh cyclone bearing down on the Andhra coast to resignations in Punjab's ruling party, a court remand in Uttar Pradesh, a water-sharing objection from Karnataka and civic poll alliances in Tripura, here are the main verified developments from 24 states and Union Territories over the past day.

North

Jammu and Kashmir: Government offices, including those of the Chief Minister and ministers, resume work in Jammu on Monday under the biannual Darbar Move, after offices in Srinagar shut on October 30 and 31. Police stepped up security along the Jammu-Srinagar highway and kept goods carriers off parts of the road for two days to let employee convoys pass.

Himachal Pradesh: The High Court has ruled that the state cannot put off arrears of revised pay and retirement benefits under the 2022 pay rules for as long as it likes, and it rejected the government's plea of financial constraints. A Division Bench ordered the petitioners' dues paid in two instalments, by December 15, 2026 and February 28, 2027, with 6 per cent annual interest from June 2022. Employees and pensioners who did not go to court remain entitled to the arrears but will not get the interest.

Punjab: Two AAP MLAs from Patiala district, former minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra (Samana) and Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra (Sanour), resigned from the party on Sunday. This came a day after AAP named its first 40 candidates for the 2027 Assembly polls, a list that left out both their seats. The two accused the Bhagwant Mann government of failing to deliver on drugs, jobs and governance. AAP general secretary Baltej Pannu told The Tribune that the party had already sidelined them.

Haryana: On Haryana Day, BJP national president Nitin Nabin led a 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' padyatra in Rohtak, which the party staged as its answer to the INDIA bloc's Delhi rally. He accused the Congress of attacking constitutional institutions because it lacked a public mandate, and said Rahul Gandhi should apologise for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. No Congress response to his remarks was reported.

Delhi: From Sunday, petrol and diesel vehicles registered outside Delhi that do not meet BS-VI emission norms are barred from entering the capital as part of winter anti-pollution measures. Electric and CNG vehicles are exempt. On the first day, checks at border points caused long queues, including on NH-48 near the Sirhaul toll plaza, and officials inspected thousands of vehicles and turned hundreds back.

Uttar Pradesh: On Sunday, a special court in Ghaziabad sent Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan to 14 days in judicial custody in a money-laundering case connected to Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur. The Enforcement Directorate, which alleges that public funds were diverted to build the university, arrested him on Saturday shortly after his release on bail from Rampur jail in a separate case. PTI reported that his lawyer told the court the arrest broke PMLA rules; Khan has long called the cases against him politically motivated.

West and Central

Maharashtra: In Nanded on Sunday, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said farmers in the roughly 304 tehsils declared drought-hit would receive Rs 5,000 each as immediate relief before Diwali. He said more help would follow once crop-loss assessments were finished.

Madhya Pradesh: Late on Saturday, four people died, apparently from suffocation, after going into an underground waste chamber at a hotel on the Ujjain-Dewas road. Two others who went in to help them were taken to hospital. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced Rs 4 lakh for each victim's family, and police and district officials are investigating how the deaths happened.

South

Andhra Pradesh: Cyclone Murasu has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and is expected to cross the south Andhra coast between Nellore and Narsapur, near Ongole, between about 11.30 pm on Monday and 4 am on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department said. Winds of 100-110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph, are forecast at landfall, and fishermen have been told to stay off the sea.

Tamil Nadu: Minister A Rajmohan said at a Tamil Nadu Day event in Chennai that an unnamed person had offered Rs 5 crore for the post of president of the state's Eyal Isai Nataka Mandram arts body. He said the post instead went on merit to folk singer Pushpavanam Kuppusamy. He did not identify the person who allegedly made the offer.

Karnataka: Minister M B Patil objected to a reported Maharashtra plan to divert about 40 TMC ft of Krishna floodwater to the Ujjani reservoir on the Bhima. He said the plan could cut inflows into Almatti, questioned whether it had a legal basis under the Krishna tribunal award, and asked the Centre whether it had approved the project. An all-party meeting under Chief Minister D K Shivakumar will be called soon. No response from Maharashtra was reported.

Kerala: Writer Maythil Radhakrishnan has been chosen for the 2026 Ezhuthachan award, the state government's highest literary honour, which carries Rs 5 lakh and a citation. Culture Minister P C Vishnunath announced the award on Kerala Piravi, the state's 70th formation day.

Telangana: The Hyderabad water board started 'Green Water Tanker' deliveries of treated sewage water for construction, gardening, parks and other non-drinking uses, launched at the Secretariat on its 37th foundation day. The move follows a weak rainfall year. Tankers must carry a 'not for drinking' label, and about 100 private tankers have registered for the service.

East

Odisha: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced a relief package for families hit by Cyclone Arnab and the floods that followed, including 50 kg of rice and Rs 2,500 per affected family plus aid for crop and house damage. A central inter-ministerial team is due to assess the damage in southern districts from Monday, as the state also prepares for rain from Cyclone Murasu.

West Bengal: Kolkata Police announced traffic curbs for Kali Puja on November 8 and immersion processions from November 9 to 11. Goods vehicles not carrying idols will be kept off city roads for much of that period, and roads around the Kalighat temple will close to traffic at set hours. Separately, IMD said no weather warning was in force for the state for Cyclone Murasu, but it raised distant warning signal No. 2 at Kolkata and Haldia ports.

Bihar: Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary asked well-off households and income taxpayers to voluntarily give up the state's 125 units of free electricity a month. Speaking at a youth parliament in Patna, he said the state spends about Rs 23,000 crore a year on power subsidies.

Jharkhand: The state held its Teacher Eligibility Test on Sunday for the first time in about a decade, and officials said it passed off peacefully at 986 centres. Of 5,65,916 registered candidates, 4,85,243 appeared. The test is linked to filling about 39,000 vacant teaching posts in government schools.

North-East

Assam: The Dhubri district administration began clearing about 650 bighas of government land at Alamganj in Gauripur circle on Sunday, an operation officials said would affect nearly 550 families. District Commissioner Dibakar Nath said the operation was peaceful.

Arunachal Pradesh: A youth body, the SUMP Affected Area Youth Association, called a shutdown on Monday in Siang, Upper Siang and East Siang districts to protest arrests of people opposing surveys for the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project. The state government says the current work is only a feasibility study, not a decision to build the dam. No official response to the shutdown call was reported.

Tripura: The ruling BJP and its ally Tipra Motha agreed on Sunday to contest the November 27 urban local body elections, including the Agartala Municipal Corporation, together. Minister Ratan Lal Nath called the talks constructive and said seat-sharing would be settled after a BJP working committee meeting on Monday.

Manipur: Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh opened BRICS Sustainable Lifestyle Week at Khuman Lampak in Imphal, planting saplings and flagging off a cyclothon. The week-long campaign under Mission LiFE runs until November 7, with a different theme each day such as energy and water conservation and cutting single-use plastics.

Meghalaya: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma thanked the Centre after the state received Rs 688 crore on October 31 as its share of an additional tax devolution instalment. The Centre released Rs 1,09,019 crore to all states to help them speed up capital spending.

Union Territories

Ladakh: Officials say a pilot saffron plot on reclaimed barren land in Leh flowered in about 30 days, around half the usual time, and produced roughly 22 grams of saffron in its first four days. Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena inspected the 4,000-square-metre field on Sunday.

Puducherry: Chief Minister N Rangasamy hoisted the national flag at Gandhi Thidal on Sunday for Liberation Day, which marks the 1954 end of French rule. He highlighted a Rs 1,433 crore coastal protection project for Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, aimed at curbing sea erosion and restoring mangroves. The World Bank-backed project was first set out in the Lt Governor's budget address in August.