Hoping to sway the electorate with the charisma of former prime minister and senior party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday issued an appeal from the ailing leader to the voters of Maharashtra and Haryana to vote for the party.
The 'Pran Pratishtha' of the idol of Ram Lalla -- the childhood form of Lord Ram -- will be attended by people from all walks of life, including representatives of major spiritual and religious sects of the country and of various tribal communities and prominent personalities.
No confidence motions have been moved in the Lok Sabha 27 times in the past, and all of them have either been defeated or remained inconclusive, data compiled by a think tank shows.
The BJP game-plan: Take the top slot, or a close second, either for the 'Lotus' or the larger NDA, if it can and push the AIADMK to the third place, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Police, however, said a link between the social media post and the assault has not been established yet.
The meeting will take place at Hotel Renaissance, where the BJP is holding its three-day national executive.
As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mounted pressure on Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishenchand Advani to resign, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday came out in support of Advani, saying he could continue in both posts.
As the old Parliament building hosted a session one last time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday bid a poignant farewell recalling the country's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru's iconic 'tryst with destiny' speech for continuing to inspire everyone and another predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 'governments may come and go' remark.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and one of the most-respected politicians across parties will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, today.
Of late, the former prime minister has been seeking an internal debate in the BJP on the Gujarat riots saying they were partly responsible for the setback to the party.
'He should declare whether he belongs to the Sangh Parivar, and if he believes so he has to abide by its discipline,' Ashok Singhal said.
The former prime minister said he anyway does not do much work in the party now.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday congratulated the Indian cricket team on their victory over Australia in the second Test match at Adelaide.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, is fully conscious and is breathing on his own, a senior doctor said on Sunday. "He is breathing on his own and he is fully conscious," Dr Sampath Kumar, chief of the Cardio Thoracic Vascular Sciences Department at the hospital, said. Vajpayee's basic parameters like heart, kidney, liver and blood pressure were normal and he had recovered from pneumonia.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
"He [Vajpayee] did not do anything effective. I had sent him letters. I had talked to him directly," Narayanan said in a freewheeling interview to Congress MLA P T Thomas carried in a recent issue of Malayalam magazine Manava Samskriti.
The prime minister said public opinion in India and Pakistan should lead politicians to 'pragmatic and acceptable' solutions to their problems.
The outfit's chief also took the English press to task for apparently keeping the Gujarat riots 'alive'.
Mani Shankar Aiyar says the Congress party and not then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for unlocking the Babri Masjid gates and claimed that the "Bharatiya Janata Party-planted" Arun Nehru was behind it.
The golden run of "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Oscars and A R Rahman's double win brought smiles on the face of ailing former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who watched the awards at the AIIMS' ICU and even gestured to the staff to have a look at the television.
False and acrimonious debates such as Modi versus Manmohan might allow for victories that are political and partisan. But the real loser is the nation, India and Bharat, notes Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the Modi government in its first term.
The prime minister will arrive in Islamabad on Saturday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.
This was Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first appearance at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium and he was certainly showered with a lot of love
His meeting with Vajpayee was described as a 'courtesy call'. Manmohan Singh called on the President to inform him about the Cabinet decision to request him to address both Houses of Parliament on June 7.
"The pneumonia is under control with the prognosis being good. Gradually his oxygenation (amount of oxygen in blood purified by the lungs) level has shown improvement and there is no spread of pneumonia," Head of AIIMS Cardiac Thoracic Vascular Sciences Department Sampath Kumar said. The 84-year-old leader was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday last with complaints of fever and chest congestion. Doctors later found that he was suffering from pneumonia.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, whose stature has touched a new high after declining one of the most powerful jobs in the world, looked elated.
The condition of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences following respiratory infection and fever, was stable on Wednesday. The 84-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader was admitted to AIIMS on Tuesday night. He is being given appropriate treatment to deal with complaints of fever and respiratory infection, Dr Sharma said. Vajpayee is also suffering from hypertension and diabetes, he added.
'Vajpayee is the tallest leader of the BJP...' Venkaiah Naidu said, adding that the party held him in 'high esteem'.
Vajpayee, now chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party, said he and his party colleagues will play the role of a constructive opposition, raising important issues in the interest of the people in Parliament.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has threatened to invoke provisions of POTA against the Union minister for his speech allegedly supporting the LTTE.
He was in Mumbai to flag off the Deccan Odyssey, via video conferencing from the Darbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan.
The prime minister said the atmosphere is changing in the state.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is likely to be discharged tomorrow from AIIMS as doctors have today declared him fit to go home after 26 days of stay at the Intensive Care Unit.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj expressed disappointment over former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not getting the Bharat Ratna this year, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party was expecting it. She also said the sanctity of these awards should be maintained as even some failures have been conferred with the honour.
It sent shock waves in the party -- a political greenhorn had taken on Modi in his home turf of Gujarat. Smriti had clearly tried to choose sides, in this case Vajpayee's camp. Many felt that this would end Irani's career. A revealing excerpt from Nidhi Sharma's new book She, The Leader: Women in Indian Politics.
The deputy prime minister's comments come after the prime minister's remarks that he was 'fit and ready' for elections.
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