Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee will hold another round of discussions with the Opposition on Monday in yet another bid to break the logjam in Parliament over the telecom scam. This was decided at a meeting of Congress core group attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party President Sonia Gandhi, as Parliament meets on Monday after a virtual washout for the last two weeks. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram also attended the meet.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
A day after the all-party meeting discussed Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress's Core Group deliberated the strategy for the troubled state and a blueprint for the road ahead.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are expected to meet on Friday evening in the backdrop of opposition demand for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee into the Indian Premier League controversy.
The Prime Minister's Office on Friday rubbished the claim by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi that Rs 1,880 crore were spent on overseas visits of United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, saying it was "untrue and misleading".
As the DMK decided to withdraw support, the government on Tuesday moved to bring a resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue in Parliament in an attempt to placate the key ally which has set it as one of the conditions for reconsideration of its decision.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The United Progressive Alliance on Sunday decided not to oblige the opposition by asking for the resignation of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, whose nephew was arrested in a bribery case, as also Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who is in the eye of a storm over the coal-gate controversy.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late on Sunday night, the second time in a day, amidst speculation that he may resign.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday night said the government was confident of addressing the Left concerns on issues of national interest, including the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiormani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
No single individual, institution, or action is to blame for this. The BJP is responding in kind -- definitely not without checking with its government. And they wait for Mr Trump, notes Shekhar Gupta.
In the wake of stiff opposition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka.
'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.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
Rammu Guru, the head priest of the temple, said, "Sai Baba was being worshiped without proper knowledge, which is forbidden according to scriptures."
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
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.
'Modi 3.0 will have more balanced policies like one saw in Modi's first term.'
Party chief Rahul Gandhi formed a nine-member Core Group Committee, a 19-member Manifesto Committee and a committee comprising 19 top party leaders who will look after the publicity during the elections.
Some elements are creating obstacles in the path of India's development and are fearful of its rise on the global stage, but they will not succeed, he asserted.
From putting up a decent performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh winning 10 seats stitching an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank in the current general elections, dealing a severe blow to its reputation of representing the voice of Dalits in the state.
Inching towards withdrawal of the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers, Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday grappled to work out a face saver in the wake of a huge political storm over Rahul Gandhi's public outburst against the measure.
'If you look at the average age of all our candidates, you will notice that their average age is between 35 and 40. It is a kind of revolution that the MNS is bringing in Maharashtra.'
'Mayawatiji no more controls the bahujan vote in UP.' 'In this election more than 40 per cent of the BSP's core voters blessed the SP without the SP even asking for it.'
'The inauguration of the Ram temple was the pinnacle of the BJP's religious politics.' 'Politics is dynamic. What goes up has to come down.'
Asserting that it was determined to ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since the United Progressive Alliance coalition was in minority in the Rajya Sabha, the onus of getting it adopted was with the main opposition. BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting of the party core group to discuss the Women's Reservation Bill.
The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
Ahead of the crucial Congress meeting on Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kirankumar Reddy on Friday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about the political situation in the state.
In the clip, Prasad and Sahni were seen enjoying fish and roti, with Prasad explaining that he eats quickly during election campaigns.
Though the contest is tough in Baramati, Sule has an edge over her rival as the locals may not break the pattern that she is meant for the Lok Sabha and Ajit Pawar for the state assembly, the political analyst felt.
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
'The Opposition parties will continue to woo Chandrababu Naidu even though he has said he will support the BJP.'
In a jolt to the Congress ahead of Himachal Pradesh polls, senior leader Anand Sharma on Sunday resigned from the chairmanship of the party's steering committee for the state, saying he was left with no choice after the 'continuing exclusion and insults'.
This appears to be a common refrain in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri Lok Sabha constituency where farmers want better prices for their produce and respite from the stray cattle menace and others want political leaders to talk about job creation instead of issues like the Ram temple and Article 370.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
A decision on raising diesel prices by Rs 3-5 per litre, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by up to Rs 50 per cylinder will be taken after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi returns from US, top government officials said.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting that the situation in Uttarakhand is better than what it was on Tuesday and Food Minister K V Thomas is taking steps to rush more food grains to the flood-hit Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Though the prime minister did not make any direct mention of these issues, he noted that nationalism has been the party's identity, sources said.
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