Kamat was a Member of Parliament for the Mumbai North West constituency in 2009 and the Mumbai North East constituency in 1984, 1991, 1998 and 2004.
Renu Mittal reveals what conspired at the Congress camp after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal refused to move from his protest site in Delhi and threatened to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations.
Will Prime Minister Modi start a conversation on the need for people to limit the size of their families, asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) on the occasion of World Population Day, July 11.
As the Uttar Pradesh assembly election battle hits new lows, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani walks you through all you need to know about the fifth phase of polling on February 27.
'Brand Kejriwal-AAP have a long way to go even if they win another Delhi election...'
'It is a force nobody can ignore, not even Mr Modi, because it will keep punching above its weight,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Budget announcements will come right before five states, with population of around 250 million, go to polls.
'A bit of foresight would have helped.' 'Isn't it common sense that this is sowing and wedding season?' 'The plan is indeed unquestionably revolutionary, but better preparedness could have avoided such teething troubles.'
Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on Friday conferred with the Bharat Ratna.
Former Central Board of Direct Taxes chief K V Chowdary and Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma were on Monday appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner and Chief Information Commissioner, posts which have remained vacant for over nine months on which the government drew some flak.
Senior most Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma is tipped to be new Chief Information Commissioner, while former Central Board of Direct Taxes chief K V Chowdary is understood to be in the running for the Central Vigilance Commissioner's post.
Shiv Sena said that Dalit Prez candidate has been chosen for vote-bank politics.
The one national GST unifies the country's $2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people into a common market, an exercise that took 17 tumultuous years.
PM Modi said the Centre was not consulted by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
To believe that the key job of his senior ministers is to ensure that his image be kept intact whatever be the outcome of his policies is to expect too much even of someone as ambitious as Narendra Modi, asserts Rashme Sehgal.
In his nearly 80-minute long speech on the first day of the three-day conclave, Bhagwat also asserted that RSS is "most democratic" and not dictatorial, insisting that it neither imposes its ideology nor remote-controls its various affiliates, apparently rejecting criticism that the Bharatiya Janata Party is controlled by it.
Kaleidoscopic lights replace incandescent glory this year.
Political leaders bid an emotional goodbye to Vajpayee.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, whose party has extended crucial outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra, on Monday said the decision was prompted by the need to avoid fresh elections but made it clear that the party will play the role of an effective opposition.
'There is a group who want to internally damage the Congress and they may be hand in glove with the BJP.'
'Mamata wanted the Congress in alliance with the BJP in Bengal against the Left Front government.' 'Pranab Mukherjee opposed it, stating it would amount to compromising on secularism.' 'In 2021, Mamata defeats the BJP and becomes a champion of secularism.'
At an online book release event, former vice president Hamid Ansari lays to rest the controversies surrounding his tenure.
"We have diplomatic ties with both nations. Any discourteous reference can impact our relations with them," says External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
With the Supreme Court ordering Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation, the agency will finally be able to question the top cop in cases arising out of the Saradha chit fund scam probe.
The election campaign finally ended on Friday, May 17. Arindam Majumder reveals what he discovered on the election front on a long rail journey.
After the screening, the shortlisted candidates will be vetted by an external committee, to be headed by former RBI governor, Bimal Jalan.
Arch-rivals Left and Trinamool, SP and BSP come together for Sonia's lunch
Bihar became the first non-NDA state and overall second after the BJP-ruled Assam to pass GST bill.
Empowered in the Modi government, junior ministers have enough on their plate.
Political parties slammed the government in the Lok Sabha on Thursday over the sliding rupee, which has breached the Rs 68 to a US dollar mark, and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh make a statement on the issue.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi had a two-hour luncheon meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday afternoon, disclose highly placed sources at the President's house.
The BJP, on the other hand, learnt from past mistakes to clinch power.
'The family is the final court of appeal, the first among unequals. If there is no family, all leaders are equal. If all leaders are equal, anyone can lead the Congress. So every time the family has stayed in the background, the Congress has split.'
What Shekhar Gupta would have really liked to know from Pranabda: Why did Sonia prefer Dr Singh to him as PM? Why did he deny finance first, why did he accept it 5 years later, and why did he make such a mess of it? How did he force Sonia to nominate him for President and not Hamid Ansari? And how does he justify that most toxic legacy -- the Vodafone tax amendment?
'This is a new phenomenon,' says Shekhar Gupta. 'Does it point to the rise of egomania, and could it also be a reason our politics is broken and Parliament non-functional? Where our biggest leaders talk not to, but at each other.'
Fifty-six months on, the government's record in implementing these schemes and projects has been mixed, report Arup Roychoudhury and Indivjal Dhasmana.
The new Insurance Bill may take little time to see light of teh day.
'We are a plural society that for centuries, not for 70 years, has lived in a certain ambience of acceptance.' 'It is under threat,' outgoing Vice President Hamid Ansari tells Karan Thapar.
Sources reveal that the Assam chief minister may be on his way out even as it seems that his Haryana and Maharashtra counterparts will survive the crisis. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports.
As the news of Kalam broke, condolences and tributes poured in from all corners of the country, reflecting the huge popularity he enjoyed both in and out of the highest office of the country that earned him the sobriquet of the "people's President."
Even if they score administratively, state governments ruled by the party suffer from an inability to communicate positively, say observers.
