'Whoever is questioning the government on the Adani issue is being harassed'
Amidst raging protests across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government of showing "utter disregard" for people's voices and using brute force to suppress dissent that was "unacceptable" in a democracy. Condemning the government's action, she expressed Congress's solidarity with students and citizens in their just struggle.
'He had to change them because he recognises that even with his popularity....could lead to a problem. So, democracy has this way of offering corrections and telling the ruling party or the prime minister that you need to take some steps to compensate for excesses'
India will probably unveil bold reforms in its budget on Thursday in a bid to turn around an economy growing at decade lows.
'Wrong feedback was given against Parasji to the top BJP leadership in New Delhi by a senior BJP leader, who is also a Union minister from Bihar.' 'He deliberately provided wrong information about the RLJP to the BJP leadership to help Chirag Paswan.'
In its response, the Ministry of Defence issued a statement saying tableaux proposals from states and Union territories and central ministries or departments are evaluated by an 'expert committee' comprising eminent persons in the fields of art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture and choreography among others.
FDI inflows into the country have been declining over the past two years despite policy easing in about a dozen sectors.
Seeking to fish in troubled waters, the Congress on Saturday extended an olive branch to the Janata Dal United, describing it as a "secular and like-minded party", on the eve of a possible decision by Nitish Kumar's party to snap ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
'Reports of the JD-U joining hands with the BJP again is baseless.'
Parliament failed to function for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday with the Opposition insisting on a joint parliamentary committee probe into 2G spectrum allocation and Congress and Janata Dal Secular hitting back, alleging land scams involving the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Karnataka. Rajya Sabha adjourned almost immediately after it met for the day with Opposition members creating an uproar, while Lok Sabha was first adjourned till noon.
Reiterating his determination to wipe out the Congress, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday challenged the United Progressive Alliance to a direct debate on its performance at the Centre compared that of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
After weaning away Biju Janata Dal from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, the Left parties are now eyeing another National Democratic Alliance ally with senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday holding discussions with Janata Dal-United leader and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is projected to get 227 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, while Congress will be reduced to 84 seats, according to an opinion poll.
In a poor village of daily wage earners in Siwan, Bihar, people speak about their hard lives and why they vote.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has again targeted Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra, albeit indirectly so, by urging the National Democratic Alliance to declare its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Alloting more funds for MNREGA and PM-KISAN could wipe out the entire additional money that the Centre may have for FY25.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is poised to cross 220 seats, well ahead of the United Progressive Alliance and within striking distance of forming a government in 2014 if elections are held today.
Parliamentarians of Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance on Friday met President Pranab Mukherjee to express concern over Chinese incursions into Ladakh and the manner in which the case of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh was handled by the government.
The Congress on Friday claimed that a 'silent undercurrent' is brewing across western Uttar Pradesh against the 'failures' of the Modi government, as it flagged issues such as 'neglect' of sugarcane farmers and examination paper leaks.
The chief minister met Shah on Wednesday night and held discussions regarding the supply of rice to the state, for its Anna Bhagya scheme, which provides an additional 5 kg of rice for each member of below poverty line families.
In addition to participating in the swearing-in ceremony, the leaders will attend a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, it said.
At the outset, all eyes will be on the Lok Sabha Secretariat on Monday when it is expected to review the stay granted by the Supreme Court on the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the 'Modi surname' case and decide on the revocation of his Parliament membership.
'We must do all it takes to protect the rights and freedoms that our Constitution guarantees'
While trends suggest a whopping 340 seats for the NDA -- a direct endorsement for BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi -- the results have also showed a clear drubbing for some of the biggest political forces in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is projected to form the government at the Centre with exit polls on Monday night giving between 249 and 290 seats to the Narendra Modi-led grouping, which is close to the half-way mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The UGC chief said the NCERT is fully justified in carrying out rationalisation of its textbooks' contents.
Senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi on Tuesday invited nationalist President Sharad Pawar to join the Nationalist Congress Party, saying "he would be able to end quarrels within the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance and could also become Prime Minister".
Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections has begun across states and Union Territories, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told PTI.
Temporary relief for Bharti, Vodafone and former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh
Will numbers 1 to 8 in the BJP pull together so that it is a strong and formidable BJP which makes for a BJP-led NDA and not an NDA where the multiple docked tails are wagging the dog, asks Radha Rajan
The Bharatiya Janata Party -led National Democratic Alliance on Friday indicated that it will try to mobilise support of non-Congress parties for A P J Abdul Kalam, whose name has been floated by SP and Trinamool Congress.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko on Wednesday criticised the Centre as well as Bharatiya Janata Party-led Madhya Pradesh government for inviting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to a function in Sanchi near Bhopal.
In the course of the investigations, CBI has found irregular allocation of additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz to 10 MHz to GSM operators, including Bharti and Vodafone during Mahajan's rule.
Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
Both Houses of the Parliament were adjourned minutes within the proceedings began on Thursday with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led opposition sticking to their demand for Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh''s resignation over the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on coal block allocations.
As National Democratic Alliance leaders joined Yoga guru Ramdev in his protest against black money, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition disrupted Parliament over the issue on Monday by demanding that the government should announce a time-bound plan to bring back such unaccounted money stashed abroad.
The Congress has 40 MLAs while the BJP has 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance on Saturday demanded to know how the Joint Parliamentary Committee's draft report on 2G spectrum allocation issue had exonerated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram without examining them and appealed to all members of the committee to reject the document.
A Left-Right tactical unity is emerging as the Opposition's strategy to deal with a resurgent Congress, writes Sanjaya Baru