In spite of his trying hard he is unable to connect not only with ordinary voters but with most party colleagues as well, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Diwali fashion is taking a new meaning this year.
Despite recent developments that have accelerated the impending extradition of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who has been in custody in London's Wandsworth Prison for over two years, the last month has seen his uncle Mehul Choksi dominate the headlines instead with his circus-like exhibition in the Caribbean that has involved red herrings such as a "girlfriend", to whom his wife seemed to have no objection, and possibly concocted stories of being kidnapped and manhandled. Choksi was widely regarded as Modi's Svengali in Mumbai when he returned from Belgium to expand his business. He had fled to Antigua well before news around how Modi finagled thousands of crores from Punjab National Bank (PNB) and other institutions through a series of allegedly coordinated and fraudulent actions involving letters of undertaking, or LoUs.
'He always avoided eating non-vegetarian food in presence of his deputies if they were fasting for the month of Shravan.' 'There were no Hindu, Jain, Parsi and Swaminarayan festivals he would forget.' 'He was a conservative Muslim and therefore could get along well with conservative Hindus.'
'Delhi voters have liked the politics of performance over noisy rhetoric and empty promises,' points out Vijaya Pushkarna.
Given Nitish's track record as an accomplished trapeze artist who can dump the BJP overnight and embrace the RJD, he can leave the saffron party stranded should he fail to get the chief ministerial crown for the fourth time, notes Virendra Kapoor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he has asked soft drink makers like Pepsi to try and mix aerated drinks with 5 per cent fruit juice to help distressed farmers find a new market for their produce.
Vinai Kumar Saxena's current job as lieutenant governor of an Opposition-ruled state will raise the bar -- not just for him, but also for the Aam Aadmi Party government, which never says no to a fight with the representative of the central government in India's capital.
Since its launch back in 2002, the Mahindra Scorpio has never had to piggyback on a brand ambassador to sell itself.
Amid a political uproar over bomb blasts at Narendra Modi's rally venue in Patna, Congress on Monday appeared to suggest that his brand of politics was allegedly providing an opportunity to disruptive elements to engage in such activities.
Despite criticism of a lack of transparency and communication from the Modi-led government, BJP leaders point to "good beginnings" on several fronts to defend its performance. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports.
In the first such move involving Narendra Modi during the current poll campaign, the Election Commission on Monday ought the CD and transcript of his speech in West Bengal in which he raised questions on the sale price of a painting of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The advent of technology, the widespread use of smart phones across the country and the increasing popularity of the social media has caused the mushrooming of media platforms and led to the gradual disintermediation of the mainstream traditional media. The BJP leadership has only caught on to this trend quite fast and has used it to counter the influence of the mainstream media, says A K Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cautioned against "commodifying" yoga, saying using it as some sort of business will do great damage to this world heritage.
There are limitations to milking national security, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by majority population
There is nothing to suggest that the DMK stands to gain from the AIADMK split nor is there anything indicative of an extraordinary advantage for the BJP, independently or in the company of the AIADMK, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
made it clear that shops in market places, multi-brand and single brand malls located in municipality areas shall continue to remain closed till May 3.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Thursday said if actors Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar do not take a stand on the issue of fuel price hike, then screening of their films and shootings would not be allowed in the state.
Kia's Seltos SUV has already crossed the 40,000 mark while the slightly pricier MG Hector has sold nearly 13,000 units.
'When Modi was CM, Gujarat won 128 seats.' 'Now he is PM. Modiji is revered by people in Gujarat.' 'So as PM he will get 150 seats,'
What could be more uncertain than Virat Kohli's agonising wait for a century for over two years? Perhaps it's what you will pay tomorrow morning to fill your vehicle's tank. Pump prices have joined cricket scores as the country's favourite discussion topic. Steep increases invite widespread protests, while moderate additions make the government anti-reformist. The ongoing fuel price conundrum is no different.
Out of nearly 30 public sector undertakings and assets under 'strategic sale' plan, only the ONGC-HPCL plan has been completed
Indian businesses' weak ability to compete overseas says much about the infirmities imposed by the intensity of government dominance of economic policy and the nature of this dominance, observes Kanika Datta.
The US tech major is planning to begin local production of its upcoming iPhone 12 by next April - within six months of its launch.
The jobless armies of youthful India are getting angrier and desperate, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold discussions with public sector banks (PSBs) and financial institutions to draw up an action plan for banking reforms
Protests by various parties could be seen as they demanded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled back the demonetisation scheme.
Demonetisation hit informal sector hard and caused job losses which was not addressed by the budget, Moily said.
In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio broadcast, Modi wished people on Dussehra and said that with various festivals coming up, they need to show patience and follow health guidelines in celebrating these auspicious occasions during the COVID times.
The manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from July 1, 2022: ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene (thermocol) for decoration; plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays; wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards, and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers, the notification read. The provisions will not apply to commodities made of compostable plastic, the notification said.
The Varanasi versus Azamgarh story is about the fears and insecurities of two of our strongest leaders, Narendra Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav, says Sheela Bhatt.
'My wife was asked to get out of an autorickshaw because she was married to me. My children were targeted and branded a traitor's children. In spite of the Supreme Court and the NHRC having cleared my case, the state government is yet to close it. Local politicians are behind this. Why can't they close the case, give me compensation, accepting gracefully that they have wronged me?' Dr S Nambi Narayanan, the scientist who was accused and then exonerated in the 1994 ISRO spying case, speaks to Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier about his continuing travails and his recent meeting with Narendra Modi.
'Modi has missed the bus in Kashmir.'
'Narendra Modi is one person who came up fighting many injustices. So, he is a fighter all the time, and that makes all the difference.'
If there is a morality tale here, it is that debt and death spare no king.
When you say, Make in India, it means, Indians will work for you, but we should create our own brands and create a market for them internationally. Only then, money will come back to India.
Does Uddhav (and indeed the Sena) have the pizzazz and staying power to continue to be an actor in Maharashtra politics as a paler version of the NCP and an orange rather than saffron version of the BJP, asks Aditi Phadnis.
"We now realise that the so-called farmer agitation hardly remains a farmers' agitation. It has almost got infiltrated by Leftist and Maoist elements, a flavour of which we saw over the last two days when there were extraneous demands to release people who have been put behind bars for anti-national (and) who have been put behind bars for illegal activities," Goyal, the Minister for Railways, Commerce and Industry and Food and Consumers Affairs, said at FICCI's annual meeting.
Sonia Gandhi alleged it was a mockery of the consensus building exercise by a "myopic" Modi government which was "bending backwards" to favour industrialists.0
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