The Congress party experienced a significant decline in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, winning a mere 15 seats out of 227. Analysts attribute the poor performance to strategic missteps, infighting, and a failure to connect with voters amidst linguistic and religious polarization.
Prince Andrew, also known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, according to reports. The arrest is linked to allegations of sharing confidential information during his time as a trade envoy.
The Centre has rejected claims that the new definition of the Aravalli range will allow large-scale mining, asserting that 90 per cent of the region will remain protected and citing a Supreme Court-ordered freeze on new mining leases.
'It would have polarised the Marathi-non Marathi divide further. 'Fadnavis had a very clear strategy: Let all Marathi people campaign for us (the BJP), and whatever results we get will be delivered by Marathi people only.'
'It interferes in administrative matters of institutions, robbing them of their independence in day-to-day affairs and appointments.'
Despite his influence, Pratik Jain avoids the spotlight. Credit is routinely passed on to colleagues. He maintains no visible faction within the TMC, no personal coterie.
The Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, are meeting in Delhi on Thursday to hold a strategy session in the backdrop of an united Opposition's demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam. The meeting of the Congress Core Group is being held amid a deadlock over the issue in the Winter Session of Parliament, which started last week.
Congress leader and Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, facing multiple sexual misconduct allegations, was suspended from the primary membership of the party on Monday, KPCC President Sunny Joseph said.
In a fresh twist to the ongoing power struggle in Karnataka, caste groups backing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar on Thursday threw their weight behind them, with one warning Congress against unseating the incumbent CM while the other community strongly batted for Shivakumar's elevation.
'The question for the TMC is not whether it can hold its bastions, but whether it can expand effectively into regions where the BJP already possesses a good ecosystem.'
The Centre's move on Chandigarh has raised the hackles of various parties in Punjab, with Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal terming it as a "direct attack" on Punjab's identity and constitutional rights.
'...than free Sonam Wangchuk.'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday held a meeting at 6.30 pm at the PM's residence in the capital. The Congress leaders discussed the next course of action over the Women Reservation's Bill, which will be debated in the Parliament on Tuesday.
Opposition parties allege the Modi government is attempting to turn India into a 'dictatorship' with the introduction of three Bills that seek to provide for removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers arrested on serious charges, and vowed to oppose it 'tooth and nail'.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had a rare smile on his face when he categorically ruled out his resignation. He had just returned from Teheran when he outright rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for his resignation.
In its draft policy released last month, the CBSE had proposed conducting Class 10 board exams twice in an academic year from 2026.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party deciding to move its Karnataka battleground to Delhi to parade its 105 MLAs before President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday, the Congress core committee, which met on Monday evening, decided to wait and watch the situation and not take any decision in haste.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
'The continuous and mysterious praise of the BJP and the chief minister by AIUDF leadership and senior members have affected the public perception of the Congress party'
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
Carving out Rayalseema is aimed at reducing the clout and weightage of Jagan Mohan Reddy, who commands strong support in the region.
'Let's see how this love story shapes up in the run up to the municipal corporation election.'
Pakistan football has been run by a FIFA appointed Normalisation Committee since June 2019 which was tasked with holding elections and cleaning up parallel groupings in the football set-up but it has failed to execute these plans properly.
The suspension came minutes after the party core committee that met in Hubballi recommended his suspension to its national president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, who is also Revanna's grandfather.
A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" here.
We have nothing to gain by raising our concerns internationally as our narrative has got entangled with several controversial concepts in the United Nations, asserts Ambassador T N Sreenivasan.
Can a culture survive as a way of life, even as the language and writing at its core, alter with time? Can we be rational and Malayalee or do we have to necessarily be religious and proudly cultural to be Malayalee? asks Shyam G Menon.
Following the week-long standoff between the Nagas and the Manipur government over Thuingaleng Muivah's visit to his native village, the Congress core committee decided not to allow the separatist leader to enter the state. After prolonged deliberations, the party top-brass on Wednesday felt that the visit of the country's top rebel leader from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-IM might worsen the law and order situation in Manipur.
'Mrs Gandhi had nothing to do in the day-to-day working of Dr Singh's government.' 'People say Mrs Gandhi's office used to give orders, which is nonsense.'
Pushed to the corner by the deteriorating health condition of Telangana Rashtriya Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Congress on Wednesday night agreed to pass a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh assembly for the creation of a separate Telangana state, in a bid to defuse the current volatile situation. Addressing a press conference late on Wednesday night, Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "The process of creating a separate Telangana state will be initiated."
Andhra Pradesh may witness a spell of President's rule in the wake of the resignation of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar faced criticism from within the party for his participation in Mahashivaratri celebrations in Tamil Nadu, which was also attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Shivakumar defended his attendance, asserting his Hindu faith while emphasizing his respect for all religions. He also clarified that he had not met Amit Shah and refuted claims of aligning himself with the BJP.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said that his party's top brass will discuss with Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar his much-debated meeting with politically estranged nephew and state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar when the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) holds its conclave in Mumbai later this month.
The Congress core committee has rejected the demand made by Team Anna to withdraw the Lokpal bill from Parliament and replace it with the Jan Lokpal bill.
The 49-year-old entrepreneur oversees the media and real estate arm of Dempo Industries as its executive director.
'Perhaps, he must have thought that it was time to pass on the baton to the younger generation.'
In the coming assembly election, negotiations over seat-sharing will be as important as actual outreach to voters.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
Devendra Fadnavis will lead the new Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. The Mahayuti coalition won the recent assembly elections by a landslide, securing 230 out of 288 seats.