A democracy is one, only if it has a robust Opposition. And as its actions show, the Modi-BJP combine gives two hoots for that. So, the Opposition must learn to convince people why the BJP must go. Else, it can count down to 2029, points out Shyam G Menon.
Trinamul Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi on the violence in Nandigram.
The Trinamul Congress on Sunday night formed an alliance with the Congress in West Bengal to fight the Left Front in the Lok Sabha elections in a significant development that gave the UPA one more ally weaning Mamata Banerjee's party away from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
A college student was killed and several others injured in a clash between supporters of CPI-M and Trinamool Congress at Nakkatigachh in Cooch Behar district, the police said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the government will have to find some solution to the feisty issue of opening up of retail sector for FDI.
With key UPA allies -- the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamul Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members -- clearly expressing their resentment to a new state, sources say the Congress is now looking to find a way out of the situation.
Sources said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi too felt that staying away from the government would not help in the party's growth in the state. She also felt that many party leaders may be lured away by Mamata, who has grown at the Congress's cost, if it stays away from power.
Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee's ultimatum of "48 hours" to finalise sharing of seats in West Bengal worked. Without asking for more seats, the Congress on Thursday talked of "larger perspective of defeating the Communist Party of India-Marxist" in deciding to contest only 14 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the remaining 26 seats in the state for her party.
Mukesh Ambani doesn't need my support but the agitation against Reliance shops in UP and West Bengal does draw attention to a certain sneaky trait in Indian life.
The Trinamool chief has so far said she will not part ways with ally BJP.
NCP spokesman D P Tripathi said Sangma would also be attending the party's National Convention, which will be held in Surat on June 10.
Justice V Gopala Gowda's name has been considered positively by the Trinamul Congress as well as the Left.
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
Here is the detailed procedure of how the AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj 'tampered' an EVM.
From lining up allies to having them accept him as the Opposition's prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's real challenge has just begun, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
It is not in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a clear majority, but the Rajya Sabha that the Opposition has ganged up to checkmate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plans.
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