Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani on Monday said that the United Progressive Alliance government was in an unenviable mess 'of the Congress' own making'.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister AK Antony and Congress president's political secretary Ahamed Patel were present at the Congress core group meeting in which the Lokpal issue was discussed, sources said
With the attacks on the Congress allies increasing, whether it be Sharad Pawar in the IPL goings on or A Raja, the Union telecom minister who is alleged to be the beneficiary in the allocation of 2G spectrum, the government has had to put up a brave face in addition to mobilising its artillery to defend its ministers.
The United Progressive Alliance government's proposed Food Safety Bill is nothing more than a vote catching tool for the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya said on Saturday.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress were locked in a battle of attrition, a day after the regional party announced pulling out its ministers from the United Progressive Alliance government with neither party making any moves to break the deadlock in the aftermath of failure of seat-sharing talks for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
Changing his stand, Anna Hazare on Friday said he will campaign against Congress in the five poll-bound states if the United Progress Alliance government fails to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed in the winter session of Parliament.
On Sunday, Rashtiya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh was sworn in as Union Cabinet Minister. And the next move of the Congress, in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh elections, is to grant reservations to Jats in the central list of Other Backward Classes. Neerja Chowdhury analyses
United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said he has been making appeals to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee every day asking her to vote for him.
The Prime Minister held the meeting with senior ministers, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, and Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
Former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has argued for replacing the existing collegium system for judicial appointments, asserting that public sentiment leans toward an alternative mechanism, potentially resembling the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). He believes that the government has the authority to propose a revised constitutional amendment for judicial appointments that would withstand judicial scrutiny. Kumar also urged the Supreme Court to establish a robust internal process to address concerns within the judiciary, including allegations against judges.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, an influential political party in Andhra Pradesh, pulled the rug from under the feet of the ruling Congress government on Monday after terming it "communal, a stooge of Sangh Parivar and anti-people".
The political situation in the country is fluid and could change significantly. But as things stand, India could be headed for an unstable minority government dependent on uncertain "outside" support, says Praful Bidwai.
Lalu said that the BJP at the Centre is trying to destabilise the grand alliance government in Bihar. M I Khan reports from Patna.
With most United Progressive Alliance constituents disfavouring early polls, Congress on Friday said it wants to take the Left allies along while pushing the Indo-US nuclear deal and that there would be "no loss of face" if the agreement fails.
The Congress on Saturday ruled out any change of leadership in the United Progressive Alliance government in view of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's illness, saying the question was 'most irrelevant'. There cannot be two prime ministers and under the Constitution, senior party leader M Veerappa Moily told reporters after releasing a report of the Administrative Reforms Commission on e-governance."The question is most irrelevant," he said.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday pulled the plug from the United Progressive Alliance government over the issues of FDI in retail and the recent hike in diesel prices. Following is her statement
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patel said when the Congress decided to postpone its rally, earlier scheduled for February 28, following the terror attack in Pulwama last month, the PM was busy addressing gatherings across the country.
The game changer could have been cash transfers of the cooking gas subsidy.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has written to chief ministers of Odisha, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, stating opening the multi-brand sector to the foreign direct investment would 'bring in investments, technologies and efficiencies to unlock the true potential of the agricultural value chain'.
The senior Paswan sought an appointment and waited for more than three months but Rahul Gandhi did not relent, said Chirag Paswan, who at that time too was keen to leave the UPA and join the National Democratic Alliance.
Moderate turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling across five assembly constituencies across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala where bypolls are underway on Thursday.
The ruling Congress suffered a setback in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday as three Members of the Legislative Assembly from the coastal region quit the party in protest against the bifurcation of the state.
Sheela Bhatt, who attended the United Progressive Alliance's fourth anniversary event on Wednesday, shares some gupshup picked up from 7, Race Course Road.
It is Andhra Pradesh and not Uttar Pradesh which is the real litmus test for Rahul Gandhi's political leadership, says Shashi Shekhar.
Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Thursday sanctioned Rs 1,846 crore to Tamil Nadu under the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and appreciated the efforts by the Tamil Nadu government in accelerating the programme.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Monday indicated the party is looking at the Aam Aadmi Party-Congress "alliance" to form a government in Delhi with the Congress support as an attempt by the ruling party at the Centre to contain it in the national capital and adjoining areas in the Lok Sabha elections.
A blame game began in the Congress on Tuesday as it failed in its bid to come back to power in Haryana after 10 years, with senior party leader Kumari Selja saying the party high command should assess all reasons that led to the disappointing result and identify the people responsible.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday tore into United Progressive Alliance accusing it of economic mismanagement during the 2008 global financial crisis, saying the Congress put the 'first family first' and brought the economy down to 'fragile five'.
'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.'
Jitin Prasada was once considered as among Rahul Gandhi's 'young Turks' and was a minister in successive Manmohan Singh governments but defected from the Congress to the BJP in 2021, where he has again established himself as a prominent Brahmin face of Uttar Pradesh.
He served as an effective link between the party and government during the two terms of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between 2004 and 2014. As political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he had access to leadership that no other leader in the party had and worked the channels to work out various issues.
Sitaram Yechury strived to have the country's Left movement shed its doctrinaire approach to India's socio-cultural complexities and stitch electoral and social alliances to fight the Sangh Parivar.
He had also said Gandhi's statement was far distanced from his reflections as delegitimising the judiciary is beyond his contemplation.
Akhilesh's fielding candidates from a broad spectrum of castes, not just Yadavs, and with the BJP losing in several seats in Purvanchal, suggests that smaller OBC communities shifted from the BJP to the SP in the region.
'Congress leaders who are making strategy for the Congress to win elections have not even won a class monitor elections.' 'When you have not contested school monitor elections, what will you know about the ground reality?'
'Don't play the American game... India is too big for a US game.'
China and Pakistan are in a tight strategic alliance. India must deal with them one at a time, but be prepared in case they decide to collude, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Speaking at a public function at Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan's Banswara, Gehlot said India has scripted history in the world as democracy in alive in the country even after more than 70 years since it achieved independence.
The Congress and the NCP are not comfortable with the name Maha Shiv Aghadi (a grand alliance comprising the Shiv Sena)
The Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday pledged unconditional support to the Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress alliance for the August 21 bypoll to 10 assembly seats in Bihar to keep the Bharatiya Janaat Party away from power.
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