PM blames 'circumstances beyond control'; FM says urged states to consider 25% cut in petrol taxes
A bench headed by Justice R M Lodha, which three-days back had allowed release of 2 TMC water, increased by 0.44 TMC the amount of water to be provided to Tamil Nadu on the recommendation of the Central Water Commission (CWC).
Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu likely to be India's most water-scarce states this summer
United Progressive Alliance's Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee, the senior-most member of the Congress Working Committee, will be given a farewell by the party's top brass on Monday, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi.
'If Rahul Gandhi is doing so much for the country and the party without thinking about his own health, then I realised that the only way to impress upon Soniaji and all those who are campaigning against him about how ordinary party workers are looking up to Rahulji was to write a letter in blood.'
In the run-up to Budget, Congress leaders have urged Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take steps to appease the 'common man' - to raise the income tax exemption limit, reduce interest rates and provide greater Budgetary allocations for poverty alleviation programmes.
Even as the Congress Working Committee met on Monday morning to salute its seniormost member Pranab Mukherjee (who became a CWC member in 1978) and put on record its appreciation of his services both in the party and the government, the union finance minister spent his day tying up loose ends and saying his goodbyes.
A special meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the party's top decision making body, has been convened on Monday when it is expected to pass a resolution acknowledging Mukherjee's four decades of service to the party.
Patole wrote that he was resigning as the chairman of the Kisan Congress and 'dismissing' the unit.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh and several Congress leaders are against the formation of a separate state but are supporting the decision in the hope that it would win the party seats in the region. Renu Mittal reports
With the Lok Sabha elections schedule set to be announced soon, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be holding consultations with senior party leaders on Friday at an informal meeting of the Congress Working Committee. Renu Mittal reports
Aaditya claimed that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to grant more time to the Sena to muster numbers.
Prime Minister Modi will be conferred with the Maldives' highest honour "Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen".
The best teams, the best batsmen and the best bowlers coming into the cricket World Cup
Sachin Tendulkar is the sixth Indian to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Congress members don't want Rahul Gandhi back as party chief. But the problem is that Sonia Gandhi won't have anyone other than her son to take over the Family Firm, notes Virendra Kapoor.
'Leave alone top gear, we are in the neutral and when we are applying gears, we are applying reverse'
The world body is unlikely to even discuss a possible boycott of Pakistan when its Chief Executives Committee (CEC) meets in Dubai on Wednesday.
A party source said most of the leaders, however, are hoping that Gandhi will continue to lead the party as the Nehru-Gandhi family acts as a "glue" that binds the party together.
'This is a fascinating side to Sonia Gandhi, the way she disarms her opponents.'
The Congress Working Committee is likely to take a final decision on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a state of Telangana on Tuesday.
Two days after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) witnessed Pawar-bashing at the hands of senior Congress leaders, the party once again attacked the Union Agriculture Minister, saying that prices were responsibility of the Agriculture and Food Ministry and "it is natural for the party to articulate the concerns of millions of people".
The issue of separate Telangana could cast a shadow over the All India Congress Committee meeting on Friday with Congress leaders from Seemandhra region on Thursday threatening to hold a dharna outside the venue over denial of entry to them.
'In spirit, and more importantly in its DNA, this is the Congress Inc, or Incorporated, a family-run entity,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The concern of the Congress leadership over the situation could be gauged from the fact that Chidambaram was specially called to the meeting despite not being a CWC member.
Giving a clear indication that some senior leaders would be dropped from the party's highest decision making body -- the Congress Working Committee -- Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that some leaders would have to face disappointment, reports Renu Mittal
"This is the Jadeja we haven't seen before. Today he was brilliant," Manjrekar said in the video.
A one day meeting of the All India Congress Committee is being held on Tuesday at Delhi's newly refurbished Talkatora stadium even as Sonia Gandhi, the president of the 125 year old Indian National Congress is all set to once again be authorised by the members to nominate the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the congress party.
The demand for turning Hyderabad into a UnionTerritory on the lines of Chandigarh and make it the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana may be considered by the government.
Virtually cocking a snook at the Congress Working Committee which had criticised Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar failing to control the price rise, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh praised the Pawar for doing a splendid job. The praise came just a day after the CWC meeting, when the prime minister addressed the chief ministers during a conclave on price rise.
Even as floods play havoc in Uttarakhand, several states have opposed the provisions of a 38-year-old Model Flood Bill aimed at minimising losses to life and property in the natural calamity.
Dikshit is said to have issued a letter to all ministers and Congress MLAs asking them to follow the decision of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and party president Sonia Gandhi in practicing austerity.
Priyanka said the Modi government did not fulfil its promises of providing jobs to crores of people in the country.
His sudden sabbatical to reflect upon the future course of the party may be a prelude to his elevation as Congress president.
Apart from taking stock of the political situation in the country, the CWC discussed the upcoming presidential and vice presidential elections.
With a series of Assembly elections scheduled in the next few months to be followed by the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress Working Committee met on Saturday to take stock of the political situation and discuss possible alliances to hammer out a winning strategy.More than 150 delegates, comprising party General Secretaries, Secretaries, CWC members, Pradesh Congress Committee Presidents, Congress Legislature Party along with union ministers deliberated on the political scenario.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee, to be held on August 19, is scheduled to discuss price rise and drought. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already held intensive discussions with chief ministers from across India and senior ministers in his Cabinet on drought, price rise and the measures that need to be taken by the government to minimise the effects of drought.It was initially decided that the CWC would be held last week.
Asked if it would not result in UPA disintegrating, Dwivedi snapped back: "Of course, there is UPA. But UPA does not fight elections. It is the political parties in UPA which contest elections."
Khai Muk, the tropical cyclone in the south-east Bay of Bengal which was threatening to strike coastal Andhra region since Friday, has weakened, the Cyclone Warning Center at Visakhapatanam said on Saturday. "It is likely to weaken further into a depression or even low pressure," S Venkateshwarulu, director of CWC, told rediff.com.Earlier, the state government had put the administration in all the nine coastal districts on high alert to deal with the situation.
Khurshid also asserted that the Congress was going through a "transitional process", but there was no leadership crisis plaguing the party as Sonia Gandhi was there at the helm.
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