Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's battles. Ghulam Nabi Azad's DLF connection. Team Rahul avoiding Vadra spotlight. The Kejriwal angle in Cabinet rejig. All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup
The street-fighter is back and the introspecting, sparingly speaking avatar of Kejriwal has gone on an extended recess. In this grime of heightened Delhi politics, all the good work done by the Delhi government may go down the drain, warns Sudhir Bisht.
"The Delhi government will function on the principles of these two freedom fighters," Kejriwal said.
The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Thursday night could not have come at a worse time for the Aam Aadmi Party, which is already grappling with the absence of its top leadership from action.
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia walked out of Tihar Jail after 17 months behind bars on Friday and said he got bail due to the power of the Constitution and democracy, and this same power will ensure the release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Former Aam Aadmi Party MLA Jarnail Singh passed away in New Delhi on Friday due to COVID-related complications, his family said. He was 48.
Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has recommended an NIA probe against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding from the banned terrorist organisation 'Sikhs for Justice', Raj Niwas sources said on Monday.
Union minister RCP Singh, who was recently denied another term in the Rajya Sabha by the Janata Dal-United he formerly headed, should "heed the message" and resign from the cabinet, a key political aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said.
He was first called by the federal agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".
The politician, Rao Nadeem, who is also a property dealer, did not attribute any reason for selling off his property.
Trading in the equity market this week will be highly influenced by a host of important triggers, with quarterly earnings from IT majors TCS, Wipro, and domestic inflation and IIP data taking the centre stage in dictating the movement in equities, analysts said. Besides, global factors and trading activity of foreign investors will also drive markets. "We are approaching the first quarter earnings season, with HCL Tech, TCS and Wipro set to report their earnings this week.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Riding on a bull run, equity investors became richer by Rs 128.77 lakh crore in the 2023-24 fiscal, driven by robust fundamentals of the Indian economy, increased investment inflows and promising corporate earnings. After a muted performance in 2022-23, equity markets made a remarkable recovery in FY24, giving handsome returns to investors. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 14,659.83 points or 24.85 per cent in 2023-24.
Kejriwal, who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same case and later by the CBI which was probing corruption charges, stepped out after spending 155 days in Tihar jail. The AAP supremo, who was earlier granted three-week interim bail in the ED case, was given a resounding welcome by his party leaders and supporters who were drenched in heavy rain. Addressing party workers from the top of an SUV, Kejriwal, sporting a half-sleeve blue shirt, raised 'Inquilab Zindabad' and 'Vande Mataram' slogans.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) gave a huge blow to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance by winning 43 seats out of total 80 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, as per the Election Commission.
Delhi Water Minister Atishi on Friday began her indefinite hunger strike in south Delhi's Bhogal to press on her demand for more water from Haryana.
Several Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, hit out at the BJP government at the Centre, saying agencies are targeting those who raised their voice against the ruling party.
"Special circumstances" exist in Punjab, Wasnik said and added that in view of these, the AAP and the Congress have decided to fight the Lok Sabha polls separately in the state.
Embattled Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar Jail on Friday evening, hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a money laundering case to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, in a huge relief to his party struggling to gain momentum in the absence of its foremost leader.
Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, attended a news conference in New Delhi at which his appointment was announced.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have decided to raise the NEET issue in both houses of Parliament on Friday and members will give notices in this regard, sources have said.
'Leave aside the negative fallouts of phraseology like 'urban Naxals' and 'terrorists', both the BJP and the Congress have to re-discover themselves in the context of the 2024 election results, including those of the upcoming ones for Maharashtra and Jharkhand,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
He has been sent to the ED custody till April 18 by the court, they said.
'Kejriwal could have easily deputed someone to step in as chief minister, but being the authoritative and self-centered personality that he is, he chose not to do it.' 'If the AAP loses Delhi, where it has a huge majority, the only one to blame would be Kejriwal,' asserts Ramesh Menon.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
The Delhi government on Wednesday moved to remove DCW Chief Barkha Singh by proposing Hindi novelist Maitreyi Pushpa's name to head the women's commission even as Singh accused the ruling Aam Aadmi Party of targeting her for summoning Law Minister Somnath Bharti in the south Delhi raid episode.
National Democratic Alliance nominee Om Birla was elected as Lok Sabha speaker on Wednesday after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted through voice vote, capping intense debate on the issue with the opposition in a rare move proposing its own candidate.
All Indian athletes who've qualified for the paralympic games
'We don't have to go abroad for anything.' 'Anyone who thinks we have a lot to learn from the US needs to have his head examined.' 'We are in a new era.'
Today in 2024, the BJP jails its opponents during an election and still believes, or at least wants us to believe, that it is only following the rules of democracy, asserts Aakar Patel.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti on Saturday vowed to shave his head if Narendra Modi retained the prime minister's post while his party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would form a 'strong and stable' government at the Centre.
'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
The AAP said that the ED should wait for the court's decision instead of repeatedly sending summonses to Kejriwal.
Gandhi will now be seen in two upcoming OTT series -- Hansal Mehta's Gandhi, starring Pratik Gandhi in the title role, and Freedom at Midnight by Nikkhil Advani.
The election of Tytler as an AICC delegate drew strong reactions from Delhi's ruling AAP and the BJP, which said it exposed the opposition party's character of creating division and chaos in the country.
After the Congress' shock defeat in Haryana, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties flexed their muscles on Wednesday, accusing the grand old party of ignoring them.