At least seven people have been feared killed and 20 injured in two explosions near a busy bus stop at Dilsukh Nagar in Hyderabad on Thursday evening. Authorities warned that the toll is expected to rise.
Congress is wary that state elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and New Delhi to be held in December will impact its prospects in the 2014 general elections. Sheela Bhatt reports
'The hanging has made Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's position very vulnerable. The government has created an issue in Kashmir when there was none.'
What most people don't know is that the emotional flourishes and notes, the memories about Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi, the point about his mother Sonia coming into his room late on Saturday night and weeping, in the speech were added by his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has worked for weeks to prepare speeches and the Congress' Jaipur Declaration. "This is the Obama moment of the Congress, where the party is re-energised with the rise of young leadership," he said.
In a statement that is expected to erupt a huge political row, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Sunday, "The RSS and BJP are running terrorist training camps to spread Hindu terrorism."
A jubilant Digvijaya Singh said "Rahul's responsibility until now was limited, but now the entire Congress organisation is under him" when asked how different would it be for Rahul Gandhi when he was all already the number 2 in the party.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt analysis what Rahul Gandhi's elevation to number 2 position means to a struggling Congress party and a government facing a credibility crisis.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday accused Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of hiring a group of about 50 IT professionals at Sanskar Kendra in Ahmedabad to disseminate his propaganda, follow trending issues and abuse the Congress online.
It remains to be seen how this phenomenon of public activism will translate in the political sphere. Unless this outpouring of outrage over the Delhi gang-rape can be channelised politically, the change that many of us hanker for will not come. The crowds might be politically alive, but they are not politically aligned or active, says Sushant Sareen.
Sheela Bhatt's questionnaire for all those boys, teenagers, young chaps, middle-aged-men and aged men to tick before they step out at India Gate or Jantar Mantar to speak up for women.
Sheela Bhatt blames the Delhi gang-rape and its aftermath on the dreadful transport mafia, the offspring of the nexus between politicians, crooked bureaucrats and shady operators.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, Telo Tulku Rinpoche, who heads the biggest Russian monastery in Kalmykia and is the president of Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, says while in New Delhi, they want to attract Putin's attention to an urgent need of visa to the Dalai Lama, despite China's reservations.
Modi will have greater satisfaction to see that Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel's Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency is also going the Bharatiya Janata Party's way.
With Sushil Kumar Shinde as the new home minister, Rehman Malik probably felt he could force his way into India and get away with saying the sort of things he said on Indian soil without any fear of being put in his place, says Sushant Sareen
What does the high voters' turnout of 68 per cent in first phase of Gujarat election mean? Sheela Bhatt tries to find out.
Congress Party may agree to form a coalition government in Gujarat, a senior leader tells Sheela Bhatt
"The Congress is in the hands of a few people. Rahul Gandhi, C P Joshi, Mohan Prakash, Ahmed Patel, Shaktisinh Gohil and Arjun Modhwadia have decided on all the 182 seats. Once again, our leaders are plotting to defeat each other. They have made a mess of the Congress's improving fortunes. Like 2007, the Congress will lose both the election and prestige."
"The Congress is in the hands of a few people. Rahul Gandhi, C P Joshi, Mohan Prakash, Ahmed Patel, Shaktisinh Gohil and Arjun Modhwadia have decided on all the 182 seats. Once again, our leaders are plotting to defeat each other. They have made a mess of the Congress's improving fortunes. Like 2007, the Congress will lose both the election and prestige."
'The biggest damage is inflicted not during the riots, but after the riots. The curfews and inactivity brings misery to survivors of the riots. In every riot, some 3,000 Muslim families slip below the poverty line. Nobody talks about them.' Zafar Yunus Sareshwala, who speaks in Narendra Modi's favour and has initiated the dialogue between Modi and Gujarati Muslims, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.