'This government is not cohesive. Earlier, the norm was to take a decision and then to announce it. Now what they are doing is to announce the decision first, before it is taken. When there is reaction, they say they will think about it. Then they set up a GoM and put the matter in cold storage. Perhaps there was pressure of showing something in the first 100 days.'
Political tributes poured in after the former external affairs minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj passed away into the ages on Tuesday night.
The prime minister spent about 20-25 minutes at Jaitley's residence.
A combative External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said she was ready for a debate in Parliament over Congress allegations about her links with controversial former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley elaborates his party's traditional belief on the Kashmir tangle and spells out its future position.
The Padma Vibhushan for this year has been awarded to a total of seven prominent personalities, while 16 have been given the Padma Bhushan, 118 have been given the Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day this year, they said.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj is a fighter who follows her own code. Those who think she's a pushover are making a mistake, says Aditi Phadnis
BJP sources said their party has consistently maintained that while it is committed to the formation of a separate state of Telangana, it also wanted the concerns of the Seema-Andhra region to be adequately addressed. Oddly enough, Sushma Swaraj did not press this issue in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Anita Katyal reports.
Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com decodes why Modi has decided to retain her in the Union Cabinet despite this controversy and their many internal differences.
'For the Hindutva lobby, there is cause for worry.'
'No more than 43 per cent of the people who were asked by Sushma Swaraj to say whom they supported stood by the trolls.' 'As many as 57 per cent do not approve of the minister's traducers,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The Congress party has accused the BJP government of disrespecting opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge by seating them in the third row during the Republic Day parade. BJP leaders have responded by questioning Rahul Gandhi's attendance at other important events.
BJP workers and mourners queued up in large numbers outside the party headquarters since morning to pay their last respects to the leader.
National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon on Tuesday briefed senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley on the ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control.
Right now, in Modi's Cabinet and in the BJP, there is no challenge whatsoever to Modi's leadership but even those leaders who have some potential, who the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh can think of backing in an unforeseen circumstance, are fast turning into damaged goods, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
For months Anurag Thakur, chief of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, toiled hard to work out the details of the Ekta Yatra and also gathered massive support for the same. But during the crucial moments of the yatra, the senior BJP leaders -- Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar -- sidelined Thakur, feel BJYM activists.
"The ministry of external affairs would convey the time of the meeting in due course. It could take place on November 8 as per the schedule of the visiting dignitary," party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
The government will "play by the rule book" and make sure that absolute standards of probity are maintained, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said as the Opposition continued its attack over the Lalit Modi controversy.
Venkaiah Naidu said several more spokesperson would be appointed till the end of the general election.
Suspended Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday mounted a fresh attack on party President Nitin Gadkari, accusing him of dragging the party on a suicidal path and took potshots at Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj over the appointment of new CBI Director.
Jaitley will be cremated on Sunday afternoon at the Nigambodh Ghat, BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal said.
With her remarks on Arun Jaitley regarding Reddy brothers threatening to snowball into a major row, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Saturday stepped in to virtually snub Sushma Swaraj, saying any debate on the choice of ministers in Karnataka in the media is "totally unnecessary".
Police on Wednesday arrested seven Bharatiya Janata Party activists as they made a vain bid to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, which had been turned into a fortress to foil the party's plan.
Bharatiya Janata Party workers have begun their attempt to cross into Jammu from Lakhanpur in Punjab.
It is a measure of the overwhelming presence of the leadership of the original duo, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, in the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party that the party has had some difficulty in making the transition from the Vajpayee-Advani era. But in choosing Sushma Swaraj for the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has put its best foot forward.
Slamming the Jammu and Kashmir government for stopping them from entering the state, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday rejected Centre's appeal to turn back and vowed to go ahead with the proposed flag hoisting at Srinagar's Lal Chowk on Republic Day.
While the Modi government had jump-started its second innings taking one major decision after another, there is a deep sense of loss in the party over the demise of Swaraj and Jaitley.
The flight carrying senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders which developed a mysterious snag in New Delhi on Monday was reportedly registered with a subsidiary of the DB group, owned by Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, whose alleged role in the 2G spectrum is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Master archer Sonia. Lobbying for the vice-president. A taste of MSY. All this, and more, in Dilli Gupshup....
In the midst of speculations over who will succeed Rajnath Singh, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday clarified that it was not against four Delhi-based senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, who the RSS chief had virtually ruled out as party president. RSS All-India Propaganda Chief Manmohan Vaid said, "Reports that the Sangh is against four leaders of the BJP are completely false. M Venkaiah Naidu,Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar are all senior leaders".
The BJP legislature party in Karnataka will meet in Bangalore on Wednesday for the first time after the party's central leadership brokered peace between Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and dissidents recently.
The public would tend to believe that retired IPS officers appointed to head the investigation division of the NHRC would not be fair and impartial, points out B Raman
Unhappy over the treatment meted out to party colleagues Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley at Jammu airport, senior Bharatiya Janata Partty leader L K Advani on Monday talked to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to lodge a protest over the developments which had "never happened" earlier.
Among the new entrants in the council headed by the Prime Minister, which will now have 147 members, are Ambika Soni, Dayanidhi Maran and Salman Khursheed have made their entry as Union Ministers while BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have come in as Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively.
The generational shift in the Bharatiya Janata Party was complete on Tuesday with its founders Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi being dropped from the Parliamentary Board, the highest decision-making body, which has the stamp of Prime Minister Narendra Modi all over now.
In seniority in the BJP leadership team, V K Malhotra, who passed into the ages this week, was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, notes Sudhir Bisht.
However, BJP has not given any assurance of support and conveyed to the Finance Minister that the matter will be discussed within the party and take a call, sources said.
The suspense over the possible composition of the National Democratic Alliance cabinet seems to be nearing climax as sources informed that a list of names is being finalised to be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee on the sidelines of Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani is understood to have indicated that he will not complete his five-year term as the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and make way for his deputy Sushma Swaraj. Highly placed party sources said Advani also conveyed to Arun Jaitley that the latter would continue to be the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Though Advani did not specify when he would hang up his boots, he is unlikely to continue for long.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances