The prime minister's decision is reportedly a fallout of the 'hue and cry' created during his Washington visit over the 2G spectrum issue.
In the face of a virtual revolt by the top bureaucrats who are learnt to have complained against a proposed extension (the fourth in a row) of cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh okayed the appointment of Ajit Kumar Seth as the next cabinet secretary from Africa, where he is currently of a week-long visit.
Sources said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi too felt that staying away from the government would not help in the party's growth in the state. She also felt that many party leaders may be lured away by Mamata, who has grown at the Congress's cost, if it stays away from power.
Kanimozhi walked out of Tamil Nadu House alone, put her luggage in the car; no Tamil Nadu government employee assisted her. She then drove to 601, Swarnajayanti Apartments -- meant for MPs -- where she has a regular Rajya Sabha accommodation
Sources say that the constitution of the high-level committee headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General VK Shungloo to look into the organising and conduct of the Games, is just phase one of the clean-up ops.
Official sources said the name of Tiwari, a 1969 batch IAS officer and former secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, has been cleared and forwarded to the President for appointment as successor to Habibullah who demits office on Wednesday.
Even though Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will move this proposal only on Thursday in the Cabinet meeting, the government is already going ahead with the proposal regardless of the response from other concerned ministries like finance, environment and forests, and tourism and the planning commission.
Even as the United Progressive Alliance government battles protests by Opposition BJP over the selection of Telecom Secretary PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner, it has now been stung by one of its allies, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is reportedly upset over the lack of courtesy extended by the government on the appointment.
The party has been objecting to Telecom Secretary Thomas' appointment, saying that the move was aimed at burying the ongoing probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the Rs 60,000 crore spectrum scam.
The Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute dominated political space in New Delhi on Saturday with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa pledging not to compromise on the security of the "linguistic minority" of the Marathi-speaking people in Belgaum region even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan led a Congress delegation to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister to complain about repression and police atrocities to these people in the disputed areas.
Sources say a couple of senior home ministry officials and seven media-persons, including from leading dailies and TV channels, are yet to receive their visas from Islamabad.
Bharatiya Janata Party has claimed that it exposed the United Progressive Alliance government during the Budget session, which ended on Friday, and brought out the internal contradictions within the ruling alliance by exposing scams and the ineffective handling of law and order situation in the country.
Kicking off its consultation process over two months after it was constituted, the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee on Telangana on Friday heard a delegation led by Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao who strongly batted for a separate Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
Among the new entrants in the council headed by the Prime Minister, which will now have 147 members, are Ambika Soni, Dayanidhi Maran and Salman Khursheed have made their entry as Union Ministers while BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have come in as Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively.
It revised an order, issued on January 14 setting up a separate mechanism to deal with such complaints on the ground that 'frivolous or vague complaints were also given importance' and that hence it was better to get them scrutinised by a group of secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
No signs of tension reflected on the faces of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The trio in fact stayed back in Lok Sabha even after the House was adjourned for an hour.
In a letter to Parliament, the ministry has made it clear that these can be used for personal visits as well but not conducting any business or professional work as a lawyer, doctor or a businessperson.
Menon retired as Foreign Secretary in August, ending a career marked him out as one of India's best bureaucrats to hold the post. The fact that he superseded 12 seniors to be appointed to the post in 2006 when his equally capable predecessor Shyam Saran retired has more than paid off.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni announced the transfer of the Vizag shipyard to the Defence Ministry for meeting 'national security requirements of building strategic vessels for the Indian Navy'.
The commotion at Lok Sabha over the Telangana issue on Tuesday has reflected badly on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
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