A 96-hour bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Monday to press for Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills has been withdrawn.GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI from Delhi that the decision was taken after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley urged that the shutdown be called off for a normal situation to prevail before the tripartite talks begin in Darjeeling on December 21.However, the indefinite fast will continue.
It was after a long gap that an aggressive and united Congress took the Bharatiya Janata Party head on in both the Houses of Parliament over the WikiLeaks exposure on the cash-for-vote scam as the party fielded its brightest and the best.
When Prime Minister Modi travelled to the US last year Home Minister Rajnath Singh was officially put in charge of the government. But the BJP's national executive in Bengaluru made it clear who now matters in the party and in what order. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports
The BJP has dubbed the seer's arrest as an "assault on religion".
India will launch an all out effort to isolate Pakistan and all diplomatic efforts will be launched in this regard
Rediff.com's Dominic Xavier introduces you to the new look CCS, the most elite club in government.
Kaul had been Vajpayee's constant companion of many years and the mother of his adopted daughter Namita Bhattacharya
Jaitley gathered a group of people and burnt an effigy of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, making him, in his own words, the 'first satyagrahi' against the Emergency.
Seeking a consensus on Narendra Modi's projection as the prime ministerial candidate, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has held confabulations with top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including L K Advani, who is said to have reservations on the issue.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday termed as "dishonest" and "mischievous" the government's contention that she had supported the ordinance on convicted lawmakers.
We ask you to rate the pradhan sevak and his ministers on four criteria: Vision. Execution. Efficiency. And their response to the public.
At a time when tensions are high over the repeated ceasefire violations perpetrated by Pakistan's troops at the Line of Control and China's incursions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the country's top military officers at the defence ministry.
Terming the ordinance on convicted members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly as "immoral and unconstitutional", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said President Pranab Mukherjee is not "duty-bound" to give assent to it and suggested to him that he should send it back to the government.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said letters written to British authorities on Lalit Modi case during UPA rule should be released as they will answer the former IPL Commissioner's accusations against him and Congress.
The BJP stalwart's body was later brought to his residence at Kailash Colony.
BJP on Thursday alleged the government is trying to spread disinformation that the opposition had initially supported the bill on convicted lawmakers but did a volte face later and insisted that it has been against the move from the beginning.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY '25 that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government's priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat. Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other top officials. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
'Nobody would dare directly target Modi, and while there are murmurs about Amit Shah after Bihar, nobody is willing to say this openly. Arun Jaitley, in some calculations, is most expendable for Modi,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The suspense over the possible composition of the National Democratic Alliance cabinet is nearly over.
Joshi has issued a brief statement for voters in Kanpur, from where the 85-year-old leader had won in 2014.
Will it be home or defence for Amit Shah?
The Prime Ministers Office is upset that the Congress party was deliberately playing up the Saeed-Vaidik meeting in Parliament to detract attention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with the Chinese president. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
Alleging that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's mindset has led to "decay" of key institutions including Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it poses a serious issue before the next Lok Sabha as it is threatening the survival of democracy in the country.
Congress on accused senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushama Swaraj of "misleading" the people and "misquoting" the November 4 speech of Sonia Gandhi during the debate on FDI in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Breaking his silence, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday came out in strong defence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the 'Modigate' saying she acted "bona fide" and with "good intentions" and the entire government and party were one on the issue.
On Thursday, in a big win for India, the International Court of Justice stayed the execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav. The ICJ instructed Pakistan to take all "necessary measures at its disposal" to ensure that Jadhav was not executed pending a final decision by it. Following the order, reactions poured in from all over celebrating the big win.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday continued with its efforts to placate L K Advani, who is sulking over the party's decision to field him from Gandhinagar despite his wish to contest from Bhopal, with senior leaders, including Narendra Modi, meeting him.
Sushma Swaraj startled Modi when she said she would like to be defence minister. That set the PM thinking, says Rajeev Sharma.
The minister clarified that she had not favoured the former IPL chief and all such allegations were 'baseless'.
'One won't find a lawyer in any court in the country willing to believe that a talented lawyer like Bansuri Swaraj would appear in a case for free, that too in a metropolis like Delhi.' These and other Sheela Bhatt takeways from the August 12 proceedings in the Lok Sabha.
Singh, son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, has been under attack over media reports that his company received Rs 11.63 crore in investments from Modi in 2008.
Opposition parties on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain on the issue of the help provided by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to scam-tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi and also sought her resignation in the matter.
The timing of these events give rise to the strange impression that the defence ministry has been co-opted for the run-up to the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will also hold a meeting with leaders of all political parties on Wednesday evening to seek their cooperation in proper functioning of the House.
'Jaitley was one of the earliest politicians to sense the changing political scenario in Delhi. He had closely watched the rise of the BJP and declining fortunes of the Congress party during the L K Advani era. But it was between 2009 and 2014 as the Leader of the Opposition that he began to read the tea leaves. 'And thus it was that he introduced Modi-Amit Shah duo to Lutyens Delhi,' says senior journalist R Rajagopalan who had known Jaitley since 1975.
The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party went into a huddle on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of the party forming the government at the Centre and changes in the organisation ahead of counting of votes on May 16.
Top ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders joined a crucial three-day meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates that began in New Delhi on Wednesday to brainstorm over key social and economic issues including those confronting the Modi government.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in New Delhi on Thursday on a three-day visit and is expected to discuss regional security situation, defence deals worth over Rs 20,000 crore and joint military hardware development projects with the Indian political and military leadership.
In the first interaction between India and the Russian Federation, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will meet visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry O Rogozin on June 18.
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