On Saturday, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers had pulled out from the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. The DMK had also issued an ultimatum that they were willing to give the Congress 60 seats in the forthcoming assembly elections. If the Congress were to accept this offer then the DMK ministers would withdraw their resignations. If this offer was not accepted the DMK would prefer to give the Congress issue-based support in Parliament.
In a coalition era, the smallest of parties gets almost blackmail power and that power is in direct proportion to the weakness of the senior coalition partner. Which is why, for instance, even in an era of coalitions, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a lot more powerful than Manmohan Singh is.
Sources in the Samajwadi Party said that Mulayam Singh Yadav, his cousin and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and another senior leader Naresh Aggarwal have held at least five rounds of discussion with Congress leaders
If the Congress reached 90, it would have a pretty good chance of holding the BJP below the 272 mark. A hundred seats will rock national politics, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Sources in the party say the Congress ranks are divided over the issue. While one group of leaders backs Pranab for the prime minister's post and feels that this should have been done way back, another section is glad that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh didn't pass over the baton to the External Affairs Minister.
In signals that he could well be the next prime ministerial candidate, the Congress on Monday declared that Rahul Gandhi will lead the United Progressive Alliance's campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and take up an "important responsibility very soon". Congress spokesperson P C Chacko appeared confident about UPA-III, with the party planning to go for ties-ups before and after the polls in a big way.
Election Commission of India is set to announce the poll schedule for Karnataka next week. While the Congress is hoping to regain some of its credibility, the BJP already seems to have resigned to its fate. Sunita Moga reports
In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said, in the recent past he has been finding himself 'lacking in passion', while his own performance has been 'listless and perfunctory'.
After having shaken up the United Progressive Alliance government through his fast at the Ramlila Grounds, Anna Hazare has now decided to focus on the Congress party as his enemy number 1.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party were on the same page on Sunday in their criticism of the Centre and the Congress over the handling of the Telangana statehood issue, which has spawned a crisis in Andhra Pradesh.
The fiasco over the Left alliance, among others, exposes the party's weaknesses.
The Congress party on Wednesday gave a deadline to Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan up to September 23 to decide whether it wanted to come with Rashtriya Janata Dal-led United Progressive Alliance in the coming Bihar Assembly polls.
Just two more working days, August 6 and 7, and the Budget session of the Parliament comes to a close.
The JMM would contest 35 seats and the Congress 33. The remaining 13 seats in the 81-member house have gone to the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Left parties.
After the debacle in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is now facing the problem of some of its chief ministers being in a state of crisis, due to "decision deficits" and dissidents.
If you were present at the 83rd Congress plenary in New Delhi on Sunday, you would have thought that there is nothing wrong with the UPA-2 government, the government is not responsible for any corruption scandal, B S Yeddyurappa is the only corrupt politician in the country, and the BJP and the RSS are responsible for all that ails the country.
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.
Referring to the CPI-M's terse warning to the UPA government over the nuclear issue, Ghosh said, "All Left parties will take a common stand (on the issue)."
The Congress, which is in minority in Rajya Sabha, is expecting a major crisis during the next Parliament session as it proposes to get government bills passed.
When Mamata Banerjee registered strong, vocal and public objections over the proposed Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, it was dismissed by the other allies in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as another one of her eccentricities.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday ruled out any "damage" to the United Progressive Alliance government in the wake of electoral outcomes in which, she said, wrong choice of candidates and weak organisation in Uttar Pradesh played a role in the party's dismal performance.
Justifying the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's proposed move of providing a sub-quota for minorities, a Union minister on Saturday said that condition of poor Muslims and Buddhists in the county was "worse" than Dalits.
Amid escalating row over the Centre's proposal for the setting up of a National Counter Terrorism Centre, the Congress on Saturday struck a conciliatory note, saying the government will definitely try to address concerns raised by United Progressive Alliance ally Mamata Banerjee and chief ministers of non-UPA states on the issue. "If so many chief ministers have expressed their concerns, the central government will talk to them, will certainly try to resolve their concerns."
Parliament will resume on Wednesday for a brief sitting in which the government is expected to seek a political consensus on initiatives to fight terrorism. The ten-day sitting, the third part of the session that began on July 21 for securing the trust vote, is being held at a time when the assembly election results have comes as a booster for the Congress, which heads the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre.
The frenetic activity currently being witnessed in the Congress combined with the United Progressive Alliance government's move to postpone the monsoon session of Parliament till end-August has once again fuelled speculation about the possibility of an early election, says Anita Katyal.
As the Delhi High Court legalised gay sex among consenting adults in a path-breaking judgment on Thursday, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government reacted cautiously by stating that it will have to examine the judgment in detail before taking any decisions. "We need to examine the details of the judgment. Let me examine it," Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily told reporters in New Delhi.
Apparently referring to ally Trinamool Congress, United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday once again appealed to those who have not yet decided on supporting him to do so.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said Parliament's Monsoon session is like a 'Vijay Utsav' as the Indian armed forces achieved their objectives under Operation Sindoor 100 per cent, and expressed confidence that the MPs will articulate this sentiment in one voice.
In a bid to woo youth in the state ahead of polls, the Gujarat Congress has decided to install stand-alone kiosks highlighting the achievements of the party-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
"Jairam Ramesh may not be the only minister to resign from the government and join the party for election work. You will know in the next one or two days", Sonia Gandhi said, minutes after attending the valedictory function of the 14th Lok Sabha where the strains of Vande Mataram brought the curtains down on five eventful years of the Congress heading the United Progressive Alliance coalition government.
Skating on a razor-thin majority in the Lok Sabha, the Congress managers have zeroed in on Ajit Singh and his five Members of Parliament to lend support to the United Progressive Alliance government to give the government a much needed cushion, and also to help the party get a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.
A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi dubbed her government as 'non-operational', Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday hit back accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of being responsible for the state's dismal power scenario and released a "white paper" on the issue.
Asked whether his party would support any decision taken by the Congress, Karunanidhi said: "Oh yes."
Yadav had spoken of the possibility of non-Congress parties, including the BJP, coming together under a CMP and asked the Left parties to lead such an alternative.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has put the Manmohan Singh government in the dock with the party standing by former telecom minister A Raja who was arrested on Tuesday and making it clear that just because a person is arrested, it does not mean he is guilty.
Food prices are under control and international crude prices too have started to decline. These factors are giving renewed confidence to the Congress brass to go for an early election.
Gearing themselves up to take on the Congress in the coming assembly polls, the Left parties Sunday charged it with plunging the country into "economic and political turmoil".
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday hit back at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and its chairperson Sonia Gandhi over her remark that R P Singh's revelations have "exposed" the BJP. The BJP alleged that Gandhi's statement and the demand for a discussion on the issue from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have exposed the government's intentions.
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