A hike in the prices of petrol and diesel is unlikely before June 15 as the Congress-led government does not want a showdown with its allies in the first session of Parliament beginning June 2.
India's net oil import bill has jumped 32 per cent to Rs 91,486 crore (Rs 914.86 billion) in the first 11 months of 2004-05 fiscal on back of high crude oil prices.
Opposition members said the former finance minister had misled the Lok Sabha on the Calcutta Stock Exchange payment crisis and the UTI fiasco.
'N Ram and I met on the lawns of Mani Shankar Aiyar's bungalow.' 'I pulled out a rolled printout from my jacket and handed it to him.' 'In the cut-throat world of journalism, this was like high treason.' 'But letting a story be killed because you can't publish it is a bigger crime than passing it to the competition,' recalls Shekhar Gupta.
The Congress will contest 42 seats and the INPT 18 seats reserved for STs. They will jointly campaign for their candidates.
Barring his own testimony, no one has seen Narendra Modi selling tea on streets, Union Minister R P N Singh on Thursday said, and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was a party of "dream sellers".
As a row erupted over his meeting with Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik, considered close to Baba Ramdev, on Monday rejected suggestions by Congress that he might have acted as government's envoy, saying he was "nobody's envoy but my own".
The movie presents a version of Modi that the bhakts wants the rest of us to see, feels Utkarsh Mishra.
Tension prevailed in the area with police seizing a large cache of ammunition from the site and arresting 320 people.
Modi said he will serve the country till his last breath.
Petrol will cost Rs 17.46 per litre and diesel Rs 18.07 in Delhi if all duties and taxes on the two fuels are removed, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Tuesday.
'He is a very colourful man with a great sense of style. I have not seen another politician that dresses so well.' 'He is so knowledgeable. He would talk to you about sports, technology, world affairs... there is no subject that he can't talk about.' Cinematographer Senthil Kumar on shooting Modi in 3D. Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com listens in.
The BJP alleged that former French president Francois Hollande is part of the "nexus" to sabotage the procurement.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Ram Madhav, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Tuesday asserted that journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik has no relation with the RSS, saying a person roaming around with Congress leaders is not from the Sangh fountainhead.
The results are expected to have a bearing on the 2019 parliamentary polls.
'Surprised and pained that my name has been dragged into Indian domestic politics,' says Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
Singh again hit out at his successor Modi on the eve of the second and final phase of the Gujarat polls.
'Scindia's willingness to consort with the BJP, a party he has rightly, and eloquently, excoriated in various speeches and statements in the recent past suggest a shallowness and hollowness of convictions and principles.'
Congress spokesperson Shashi Tharoor, who has come under fire from party leaders for praising Narendra Modi, on Friday, got a piece of advice from party general secretary Digvijay Singh "not to jump to conclusions".
Gandhi said Modi was frequently shifting his campaign plank in Gujarat.
He promised a complete loan waiver to farmers as soon as the Congress formed government in the state.
Modi, while speaking at a poll rally in Gujarat on Sunday, had sought to link the dinner meeting hosted by Aiyar for Pakistani dignitaries and attended by Manmohan Singh, among others, with the ongoing assembly polls and a conspiracy against the BJP.
The meme contained photographs of Modi, United States President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May engaged in a conversation.
Congress asked the government to clear its stand on whether it intended to hold talks with Pakistan.
A plea was on Friday filed in a Delhi court to seek its nod to examine Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi as witnesses in a private complaint case filed against Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde for his alleged "Hindu terror" remarks made at Jaipur.
Like Nehru, Modi is loathe to touch the public sector. His policy towards Israel leans towards 'non-alignment'. You can find other similarities: frequent public speeches, personalised leadership, total control over foreign and strategic policies, even stylised dressing, says Shekhar Gupta.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday alleged that Congress has exposed its "hidden malicious inclination" to check the stormy march of the party by contemplating to join hands with Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party, in the wake of BJP's lead in the Delhi Assembly poll results.
Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad stoked a controversy with his "Muslim" terrorists remarks, prompting the BJP to accuse the party "dividing the country on communal lines".
Bharatiya Janata Party and the Marumalarchi Drvaida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday officially announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha polls even as the former is said to be holding talks with two other regional parties in the state.
'It is clear that economic policy and reform under this administration will always be afterthoughts, something to be carried out only when no other political concern intervenes -- when, in other words, the government feels safe and comfortable enough to take a moderate risk,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
'His prowess in Aikido -- a Japanese martial art that focuses on harmony with the opponent to peacefully resolve conflicts -- gives Rahul Gandhi an advantage that fanatical adversaries lack,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
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Under constant attack from the press, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is being counselled by his well-wishers to appoint a personal media advisor to shore up his image in the run-up to the coming Lok Sabha elections.
The government's position on a meeting that a journalist had with 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed got endorsement from an unexpected quarter on Wednesday with Congress leader Salman Khurshid saying it was a "private initiative" and the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had nothing to do with it.
The visit of a Pakistani parliamentary delegation to the Lok Sabha on Friday created a flutter with its members claiming that the Speaker did not meet them after giving time.
'From his persistent fuelling of pan-Hindu nationalism to pandering to narrow Gujarati chauvinism, Rambo rides again, using fair means and foul -- and often foul -- to gain the battleground,' says Sunil Sethi.
At a press conference, the Congress president-elect also said, "What Modiji has said about former PM Manmohan Singh is not acceptable."
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