"The two former defence ministers had some clarifications and doubts on the situation which were clarified by the CDS and the Army chief," sources said.
The tussle for No 2 position in United Progressive Alliance-II has put the spotlight on the political careers of A K Antony and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar, which show striking similarities.
Exigencies of electoral politics and individual ambitions often stoke family feuds and sibling rivalries.
Ahmed Patel also is learnt to have held telephonic conversation with Pawar over working out modalities with the NCP on government formation.
Defence Minister A K Antony on Saturday said all members of the Union cabinet are equal, comments that come in the midst of a stand off between the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress on issues including the Number 2 slot to Sharad Pawar.
Some lawyers in the Congress argued against upsetting the judiciary. It was a tongue lashing from Sharad Pawar that spurred the Congress and other parties to go ahead with their move.
"It is a much more serious issue and is not like what the media is making it out to be, that Sharad Pawar is angry at being not made No 2. Being such a senior politician and minister, he has never asked for higher posts," says NCP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member D P Tripathi
Making it clear that his party had not sought Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's removal from the post, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that he was, however, not averse to the idea. "NCP has not demanded (to Congress) that Chavan be replaced," Pawar said.
Not all ministers are on board on certain critical provisions, want revision.
With the exit of Pranab Mukherjee from the Council of Ministers, Sharad Pawar's name was listed after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the official website of the Prime Minister's Office, triggering speculation on Thursday as to whether he was now the number two in the government.
Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
Home Minister P Chidambaram was on Friday appointed the head of the Empowered Group of Ministers on spectrum auction that was reconstituted after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar declined the job.
Rediff.com takes a look at the revamped Cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:
Asked whether Pawar was not alluding to the possibility\n\nof Karuanakran quitting the Congress when he referred to 'a\n\nsenior leader from Kerala', Karunakaran quipped by saying "did\n\nhe say the seniormost leader?"
The government formation exercise for Maharashtra gathered momentum on Thursday with the top Congress leaders meeting their alliance partners, the Nationalist Congress Party, in New Delhi to settle on a power sharing agreement in the state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assets worth around Rs 10.73 crore, double that of last year, but a number of his cabinet colleagues are much richer than him.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has taken a major share of the pie of the Empowered Group of Ministers and Group of Ministers after the exit of Pranab Mukherjee.
The 10-member GoM headed by external affairs minister and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will include defence minister A K Antony, Home Minister P Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, communications minister A Raja, railway minister Lalu Prasad, chemical and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan, law and justice minister H R Bhardwaj, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
'Antony and I have been friends for over half a century, and I know the man does not tell lies. The problem is that what he believes to be the truth might not actually be true. He may believe that India needs the Congress, and that the Congress in turn needs the Nehru-Gandhi family, but that does not mean that India shares those articles of faith,' says T V R Shenoy.
The ruling Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra clarified on Sunday that it had received no proposal from the Congress for a merger nor did it have any such plan in the run-up to the election to the 288-member state assembly slated for September-October.
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
Although it saw a veritable who's who of the Oppostion leadership, the Samajwadi Party stayed away from the Iftar dinner hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
Brushing aside speculation about a leadership change in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan virtually confirmed on Thursday that he is not going to be replaced.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithivraj Chavan said on Friday that he was not aware of any decision by the Congress high command to change the leadership of the state after the party's electoral rout in the Lok Sabha elections.
'The Congress cannot appreciate people with an independent opinion.' 'That's why many people left the party.'
It was after a gap of two decades that saw such an occasion where MPs of the upper house enthralled their fellow colleagues at a dinner hosted by Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for 72 retiring members.
Sources said Rahul's meeting with Pranab follows the former's participation in the Congress Core Group meeting for the first time on July 12.
Aaditya claimed that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to grant more time to the Sena to muster numbers.
The Congress and the NCP are not comfortable with the name Maha Shiv Aghadi (a grand alliance comprising the Shiv Sena)
The move is being seen as an attempt to forge opposition unity to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
President's Rule can be revoked before the six-month period if a situation emerges for formation of a stable government.
Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde left for New Delhi on Monday, where he is expected to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi and submit his views on the change of leadership in Maharashtra and also suggest measures to revive the party ahead of the assembly elections slated for September-October.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday constituted a Cabinet committee to oversee reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
Studied silence at high command won't help party revival to face assembly polls. Sanjay Jog reports.
Rahul Gandhi is neither Congress president, office-bearer nor Congress leader in Parliament. This technical leeway provides adequate cover for Shiv Sena-Congress ties taking a nosedive, says Rasheed Kidwai.
After a meeting in the Parliament Library, the leaders of these parties issued a joint statement, expressing concern over the prevailing security situation in the country.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday held parleys with the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana amidst the possibility of a change of guard in some of the states where it is in power as the party prepares for a massive rejig in the wake of its unprecedented debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
Sonia Gandhi's iftar was meant to be a powerful show of unity of Opposition parties to take on the Modi Sarkar, but that was not to be...
