We had asked our readers to suggest ways to resolve the stand-off between the United Progressive Alliance government and Team Anna Hazare on the proposed Lokpal Bill draft. The responses.
The much-awaited and debated Lokpal Bill was finally introduced in the Parliament on Thursday. While Anna Hazare and team burnt copies of the bill calling it 'anti-poor', 'anti-Dalit', the Bharatiya Janata Party raised several objections to the proposed bill, mainly objecting to exclusion of prime minister from the purview of the proposed legislation.
Probably for the first time in the history of independent India, a struggle has been given respect due to a peaceful protest by the people, says Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey
Justice Santosh Hegde has become a very popular face at the protests against corruption at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
Justice Santosh Hegde has become a very popular face at the protests against corruption at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
After Anna Hazare and his team, it is now the turn of yoga guru Ramdev to kick up a controversy by attacking MPs calling them "dacoits and murderers".
Noted social worker Swami Agnivesh differed with Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejiriwal -- members of the civil society on the Lokpal Bill drafting panel -- that the talks with the government failed to yield substantial results.
Replying to a a questionnaire consisting of 20 questions on key issues on Lokpal Bill sent to him by the NGO India Against Corruption, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has given his thumbs up for the draft version put forward by Anna Hazare and his team.
Team Anna has been granted permission by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to use its ground in Bandra-Kurla complex from December 27.
Aiming at devising a strategy for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament, the two-day meeting of the core committee of Team Anna began in Ralegan Siddhi on Saturday.
'The BJP was supporting him from behind in order to bring down the Congress government.'
The keenly watched by-election in Hisar has turned into a war of words between Team Anna and the Congress. Though the anti-corruption crusader is not present in Hisar, his posters and 'Main-Anna-Hoon' caps are as visible as the campaign posters of the three main candidates in the election, reports Sahim Salim.
Former Supreme Court judge P B Sawant died due to cardiac arrest at his residence in Pune in Maharashtra on Monday morning, family sources said. He was 90.
Days after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kiran Bedi today said that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi the party has with it the "world's most beautiful face" as she rebutted AAP's claim that she was brought in by the saffron outfit because it does not have a face of its own in Delhi.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid, a key negotiator with Team Anna, on Sunday said there may have been "errors of judgment" in handling Hazare's fast but there were no mistakes.
Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi's seventh chief minister on Saturday at historic Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, capping his party's stunning electoral debut in the December 4 assembly polls. The date for the swearing-in ceremony was finalised at a meeting Kejriwal held with Chief Secretary D M Spolia.
Team Anna on Saturday launched a blistering attack on the Congress ahead of the October 13 Lok Sabha by-poll in Hisar, Haryana, asking voters to inflict a "historic" defeat on the party for not getting the Jan Lokpal Bill passed.
A rare Bharatiya Janata Party leader with no Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh link, Kiran Bedi, the party's chief ministerial nominee for Delhi, described the Sangh as "very nationalistic" that has kept India united.
Asserting that there was no comparison between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, the Congress on Sunday said while the Gandhi scion was an undisputed leader, the Gujarat Chief Minister was a "leader of all disputes".
Allies, Opposition increase volume of criticism; hope in Kashmir, Assam
A day after dropping hints of joining politics, former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on Wednesday said she was ready to become the Bharatiya Janata Party's chief Ministerial nominee in Delhi if such an offer was made to her.
"Feel nostalgic when I see this picture. We had burnt government's 'jokepal' at that time," Kejriwal tweeted, attaching a picture of him holding a burning copy of the draft Lokpal back in 2011.
'Whatever happens in Delhi happens in India,' says Kiran Bedi.
Addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters, senior party leader Manish Sisodia, who was the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, said the cabinet ministers will also take oath along with Kejriwal.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
A relatively quiet foray by actor Vijay into politics through the TN rural local body elections last month has captured the attention of many, reports Shine Jacob.
Prakash Jha delivers a potion that is but a terrible hodgepodge of his earlier films.
'The main ploy of the BJP's pre-poll proclamations on corruption was so cacophonous and resounding that it unexpectedly worked out to its greatest advantage. But there seems to be a lull after the sound and fury over corruption,' says Ram Ugrah.
On the eve of the winter session of Parliament, rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt narrates how the Congress party views the issues of corruption, Team Anna and Lokpal bill.
'I did not come here to contest elections and so I am not going to quit if I lose, television anchor and AAP member Ashutosh tells Rediff.com's Athimuthu Ganesh Nadar.
The Parliamentary by-polls in Hisar, Haryana, have made headlines thanks to the war of words between Team Anna activists and Congress leaders. But the different communities which inhabit Hisar have other issues on their mind. The most important issue for the Jat community is reservation in government jobs under the Other Backward Classes quota. Members of the community had paralysed rail and road traffic in many parts of northern India for several days.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
From journalism to anti-graft activism to the number two position in the Delhi government, Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia has come a long way to emerge as a prominent figure in Delhi's political scene.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned for nearly nine hours by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday in the excise policy case, amid protests by his party as the Aam Aadmi Party chief claimed that the allegations of scam were false and the agency was acting at the Bharatiya Janata Party's behest.
Continuing with his praise of Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said that Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi should learn austerity and humility from the Aam Aadmi Party leader.
Team Anna met the members of the Standing Committee of Parliament headed by Abhishek Singvi on Friday to discuss the Jan Lokpal Bill and pressed for as many as 34 fresh additions to the proposed Lokpal Bill that have already been incorporated in the Uttarakhand Lokayukata Bill. They renewed their demand that constitutional amendments bringing violation of citizens' charter and conduct of legislators in Parliament within the purview of the Lokpal also be introduced.
On the last day of his agitation on Tuesday, Ramdev got surprise support of erstwhile Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal who urged people to back the yoga guru in his protest but warned him against political parties "which are neck-deep in corruption".
The indefinite fast by Team Anna against the United Progressive Alliance government on corruption issue entered the second day on Thursday with a thin attendance at the venue.
A day after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kiran Bedi on Friday said she was ready to contest against Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party chief and her former Team Anna colleague, in the Delhi assembly polls, if her party wants.
'They also think that if all opposition parties rally behind him, then 2024 will be Rahul versus Modi and that will be advantage BJP'