The government HAD to increase the price of diesel; it could not have allowed the Indian economy to commit suicide by November 2012, a former senior official tells Sheela Bhatt
Mamata Banerjee, Chief minister of West Bengal and an important ally of the UPA government has given go-ahead to the Foreign Direct Investment in the aviation sector, according to a source in her government in Kolkata.
BJP MP and coal crusader Hansraj Ahir blames Shinde for give permission for 45 power plants in Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday took its grievances against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to President Pranab Mukherjee, demanding his intervention on the coal allocation issue and attacks on a constitutional institution like the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The Gujarat assembly election will be held in mid-December, according to a senior source in the Election Commission of India.
A Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by senior leader L K Advani will meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday to discuss the coal scam. Advani will be accompanied by Murali Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley and they are expected to apprise Mukherjee of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's role as coal minister between 2006 and 2009.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on his visit to Islamabad, reports that both India and Pakistan are cautious about keeping the peace process moving forward.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on his three-day tour of Pakistan, compares the new visa agreement to the old one
Udit Raj, chairman of Indian Justice Party and president of the All India Confederation of SC/ST, hailed the United Progressive Alliance government's move to pass a constitutional amendment bill for promotion of for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in both the government and private sectors. He regretted that the Bill could not be passed in the Parliament following agitation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on his tour of Pakistan, examines the relevance of the visa agreement that is bound to have significant impact on the relations between the countries
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will reach Islamabad on Friday to hold a comprehensive dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. The civilian governments in both India and Pakistan are currently on a weak footing. In Pakistan, the turf war is on between the Judiciary and the Executive while in India, the ruling coalition is facing a severe bout of credibility crisis with scams coming to the forefront everyday.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain reiterated on Monday that his party was firm on its demand that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should resign over the coalgate issue because "he is directly responsible for the corruption".
While Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's moral argument has been severely weakened by the judgment, on the political turf he is unlikely to lose, or gain, from it. However, the story is not about politics but justice, says Sheela Bhatt
Sheela Bhatt explains why Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to Iran for the Non-Aligned Summit will be closely watched around the world.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury asked the Union government on Tuesday to separate coal blocks needed for power generation in the public sector and then go in auctioning of coal blocks that have been allocated to private sector.
Stepping up attack after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejected CAG's observations on coal block allocation, BJP on Monday alleged that he was directly responsible for causing delay in amending laws on auction with the aim of bringing financial benefit to Congress.
The United Progressive Alliance government in its robust defence has rubbished Comptroller and Auditor General's charges against the allotment of coal mines and its estimate of losses to the exchequer.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, at a joint press conference along with Coal Minister Sriparkash Jaiwal and Minister of Law and Justice Salman Khursheed said that if the Bhartiya Janata Party continues to disrupt Parliament and refuses to hear Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, "Then we would have to find out alternatives to address the people of India through the media to put forward our point of view."
Will the current session of the Lok Sabha, which is witnessing turmoil due to Bhartiya Janta Party's demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over the Coalgate, get adjourned sine die? As the deadlock between the United Progressive Alliance and BJP continues, the adjournment of the Lok Sabha sine die seems to be the only option left, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday for maintaining studied silence on the BJP demand to own up moral responsibility and resigning in the Coalgate scam.