The king of the politics of possibilities - Amar Singh, and he is back in action. Few have the ability to network and manipulate the levers of power as Singh does. A profile.
The fiasco over the Left alliance, among others, exposes the party's weaknesses.
Basically, the by-elections tell us that in UP now, the number one and number two slots are occupied by the BSP and SP. The two biggest national parties, the Congress and the BJP, are so out of the reckoning, they can be ignored. They have become irrelevant to the politics of the state.
So have the Maoists in Nepal been tamed? Are they going to go the way of other radical movements around the rest of the world, humbled and defanged by democratic politics? It all depends on how the chairperson of the party, Prachanda, gets his comrades to handle their victory.
Pathy defied a feudal family setup to become a professional woman. She became first woman president of the powerful Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) in 2004-05.
The Defence sector is unhappy with the Sixth Pay Commission. The points of discontent include the fact that the Military Service Pay will only begin from the date of acceptance of the award possibly 3 months from now even as their civilian counterparts will get salary arrears from January 2006 onwards. Defence officers want to be compensated for the interim period vis--vis their civilian colleagues. They are also unhappy with the quantification of arduous service conditions.
Vilasrao Deshmukh's biggest enemy is not the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. It is not the NCP, however much he may grumble about them. The enemy is his own party.
You feel sad when you see Sonia reading speeches prepared by Congress veterans like Moti Lal Vohra and Digvijay Singh. She apparently has no personal feelings for the country and its people.
Those who know the depths of the mindless lethargy that the Bihar bureaucracy had sunk into until two years ago, understand the importance of the unquantifiable but invaluable revival.
In a move that will benefit over 10 million central and state government employees, besides those in the defence services, the ministry of personnel is finalising a proposal to raise the retirement age of central government officials from 60 to 62 years. If approved by the Cabinet, this will be the second time in nine years that the retirement age will be raised.
With the Congress unable to make up its mind, Deve Gowda's in power once again.
Despite poor governance, the BJD-BJP alliance may win an other term, since the main opposition Congress is in disarray and has no credible leaders.
The attack on Ambika Soni is aimed at stopping her return to the party during election time.
Govt puts populist schemes on fast track.
New Delhi eyes France's nuclear power expertise.
The government is considering a proposal to examine foreign direct investment applications on a sector-wise, rather than country-wise, basis to assess their threat to national security.
Move could delay FDI liberalisation in the sector.
It is now almost certain that Najma Heptulla, lately from the Congress and now member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (Rajasthan) from the Bharatiya Janata Party, is not going to be elected vice-president.
'Musharraf has no constituency but the Army.'
The real, frightening problem is that there is no one fighting communalism in Karnataka.
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