Nirmala Sitharaman's elevation not only to full Cabinet minister but also pitchforking her to the elite Cabinet Committee on Security group with the defence portfolio is undoubtedly the biggest takeaway from Sunday's reshuffle, says Rajeev Sharma.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari will head a committee which will reach out to social and volunteer organisations while his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj will head a group that will produce literature for the polls.
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 assemble constituencies, a more than 200 percent increase, in view of the COVID guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
'This government has huge respect for the Supreme Court and when there is going to be a hearing on the review petition, it is appropriate to refrain from taking any action till then.'
The couple said that that they were strolling near the railway station at the Fatehpur Sikri after a day in Agra when the group started following them and later attacked.
bureaucrat-turned-politician Alphons Kannanthanam said that beef would continue to be consumed in Kerala.
Prime Minister Modi will continue to take the nation by surprise, catching his political opponents offguard, says Shreekant Sambrani.
'The UP election results show that people voted not on caste and religion lines; they went above that and voted for development, honesty, pride in the country, etc.' 'If UP can show the way, the rest of the country also can follow.'
The blaze started on the second floor of the Arpit Palace Hotel in the heart of the national capital around 3.30 am, trapping many guests who were in deep sleep.
Protesting against the police action, BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Thiruvananthapuram district on Tuesday.
The Dalimia Bharat group, under the memorandum of understanding, would maintain the monument and build basic infrastructure around it and has committed a sum of Rs 25 crore for the purpose over a period spanning five years.
Take a look at the famous faces who exercised their democratic right.
Archbishop Anil Couto's instructions, though politically charged, are not unusual or unprecedented.
Her speech was laced with Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and even Tamil verses.
During his college days, Hardeep Puri was a student leader who was active in the JP movement.
The visual of a man kneeling down in muddy waters to help women step on to him to get into rescue boats went viral on Sunday.
Will voters in Ernakulam take to the Communist MP who asked 447 more questions and took part in 162 more debates than your average MP? Will Arun Jaitley's wish come true? Krishna Prasad, the renowned journalist and Outlook magazine's former editor-in-chief, reports from Kochi.
'It is true that we changed our opinion.' 'I feel the BJP or any other political party is guilty of not understanding the real mood of the people.'
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that it was the Centre which ensured the disruption by provoking All India Anna Dravida MUnnetra Kazhagam over the Cauvery issue.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam, meanwhile, 'rejected outright' the NCW's recommendation
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made it clear that the Left government was with the believers.
'I had always felt he was on par with international musicians.' 'Everybody realised his worth as a musician only after he left us.'
In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
'There is merit in appointing people with ability and energy, then leaving them to do the job.' 'The Modi government would have had a better record if it had stuck to this formula from the beginning,' argues T N Ninan.
An ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh will be given per person to the next of kin of those killed in the floods.
Sushma Swaraj startled Modi when she said she would like to be defence minister. That set the PM thinking, says Rajeev Sharma.
'If the school of bluffers includes those who get to the top not from deep knowledge but from delivering 'a clever quip or a leftfield surprise argument', then Modi is the undisputed Bluffocrat Emeritus,' says Sunil Sethi.
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.
'The days when less government, more governance were spoken of are well and truly behind us.' 'More government, it is now believed, means more governance,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The new Ministers of State sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan include Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former IAS officers Alphons Kannanthanam and R K Singh, former diplomat Hardeep Puri and ex-Mumbai police chief Satyapal Singh. Two other new faces are Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, and Shiv Pratap Shukla from Uttar Pradesh.
An estimated 223 people have lost their lives since August 8 in Kerala's worst floods in decades that has caused damage worth more than Rs 20,000 crore.
A total of 1.71 lakh earthen lamps were lit up at the grand event while a chopper decorated as the mythological 'Pushpak Viman' descended on the Ram Katha Park with artistes decked up to resemble Lord Ram, Sita and Laxman.
A photograph of Kumar snapped while scurrying across the bridge with the child two days ago, has gone viral on the social media with people showering praise on him.
Portfolios of more than half-a-dozen ministers are expected to be changed.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
The BJP president hit out at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging that the maximum killings of BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers have taken place in the latter's home district.
Shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in the state have been opened to drain out excess water.
