With jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad disqualified as Lok Sabha member, ally Lok Janshakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan met Rabri Devi in Patna on Tuesday and mooted an alliance of secular parties, including Congress.
In a significant move, the Centre on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be part of the next population census, with the inclusion of caste details for the first time since independence hailed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as a historic step to help design truly equitable and focused policies.
'The Modi-Shah duo won't leave the war zone without putting up a tough fight.' 'Modi's slogan for 2019 could well be, "I have done much. Give me one more chance to do even more".' '2019 will be tough for the BJP.' 'But it will be even tougher for the Opposition -- united or otherwise,' says R Rajagopalan.
Is there trouble brewing in Sonia Gandhi's paradise? And is there a clash of personalities between the two top leaders in the government, an echo of which is being heard in the corridors of the United Progressive Alliance?
Bharatiya Janata Party has claimed that it exposed the United Progressive Alliance government during the Budget session, which ended on Friday, and brought out the internal contradictions within the ruling alliance by exposing scams and the ineffective handling of law and order situation in the country.
Signaling its keenness to create a third alternative along with the United National Progressive Alliance, the Left Front on Thursday announced that they will coordinate with the alliance against the government over the India-United States nuclear agreement and other issues. The Left, which provides crucial outside support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance, dropped hints of its intention to stitch a non-Congress and non-BJP alliance.
'If the BJP detoxifies the nuclear liability law, it will bring economic, environmental and, most of all, strategic benefits.' 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this Budget promise is met soon -- ideally, before Mr Modi heads to his first meeting with Trump 2.0,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The mortal remains of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh were consigned to flames at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday amid the chanting of religious hymns. The funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh.
Has President Pratibha Patil become an embarrassment to the United Progressive Alliance government? The answer is in the affirmative, if judged by reports emanating from the highest corridors of power.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's reply last week to the debate in Parliament on the Liberhan Commission's report would largely be seen as the United Progressive Alliance government's comprehensive indictment of the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders in the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
The decision on whether to remove the LJD from the UPA will be taken by chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The BJP top leader's Tamil pitch assumes significance Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had some days back alleged that the saffron party had no respect for Tamil language and culture.
Shiv Sena will support National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, party president Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday.
She said that earlier governments used to sell dreams to people while the present regime is fulfilling the dreams.
The Congress on Monday alleged that a Chinese national played a 'dubious role' in the Adani Group's activities and asked the government if it was not concerned that the conglomerate may be involving that person in important defence contracts.
Even as the big prize of pushing through the women's reservation bill providing 33 per cent reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies continues to remain elusive, the United Progressive Alliance government is going full steam ahead in empowering women at the lower level.
Hazare in a statement accused Kejriwal of betraying the trust of crores of countrymen and rued that political ambitions destroyed the 2011 anti-corruption movement.
The road for the Opposition is full of 'ifs' and 'buts', reports Sunil Gatade.
Banerjee said the two leaders discussed the current political scenario and strategies to oust the BJP in assembly and Lok Sabha elections at the 20-minute meeting at Gandhi's residence.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said the two-day national executive meet beginning in Mumbai on Thursday will discuss the strategy of the party to prepare itself as a viable alterative in 2014 general elections.
Attempting to form a "secular and democratic alternative" to dethrone the Congress from power at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India on Sunday announced their decision to enter into an alliance ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Vadra said that he will also be present with his mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi and brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi during their filing of nominations.
Azad was always a reluctant chief minister; coping with the swine flu scare might make him yearn for his former job.
Amid threat to pull out Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ministers and quit the United Progressive Alliance coalition on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, party chief M Karunanidhi made a fresh demand insisting that Parliament adopt a resolution incorporating the two amendments he had suggested to the government to be moved on the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC.
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.
"I cannot say whether the crisis has been averted," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday about the tussle with his coalition partner, the Congress, over the creation of new administrative units in the state.
He also said the governments of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the BSP and the SP that have ruled Uttar Pradesh in the last 32 years, when Congress was not in power, failed to live up to the expectations of the people and the Congress was set for a comeback in the state.
The United Progressive Alliance government on Wednesday said a solution to the contentious Telengana issue is 'under discussion' but refused to set a timeframe for it.Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said the issue is under discussion but the government has not yet arrived at a decision to the issue, which hogged the limelight following violent protests by the Telanagana Rashtriya Samiti and an indefinite hunger strike by its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.
A day after failing to topple the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government during the trust vote, leaders of the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the United National Progressive Alliance met in New Delhi to chalk out their future course of action.The meeting, held at the residence of BSP supremo Mayawati, was attended by Communist Party of India Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja.
The United Progressive Alliance government seems to have adopted a go-slow approach on whether it would move to dismiss the Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka and is likely to let the Bharatiya Janata Party sweat it out and keep the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
To repeated questions, the SP chief asserted that the Congress was 'very much in the alliance'.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
With Bharatiya Janata Party set to accomplish its Mission 25 of winning all seats in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje on Friday said 'good days' have arrived as the country is now 'free' from Congress.
Releasing the manifesto titled 'Badlav Ka Sankalp' (commitment to change) in the presence of All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and other Mahagathbandhan leaders, Tejashwi Yadav said their government, if elected, would first approve the process for appointments on about 10 lakh jobs in the government.
In future if the party wins, people would say 'INDIA has won,' but if the party loses, then people would say 'INDIA has lost'
He was elected as a local body councillor in 1976 in Bharuch Municipal body of Gujarat at the age of 25 years and became the political secretary of Sonia Gandhi and remained a bridge during UPA-I tenure between the party and the government.
The DMK, the NCP, the LJP and the RJD would like the Congress to give something in return if they "sacrifice" their demands. The Congress -- and the Indian electorate at large -- is expected to politely ignore the fact that the demands are a load of unrealistic bunk that never had a prayer of being realised
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday declined to disclose who will be Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's successor and whether the United Progressive Alliance government will have new partners. "I have been churning it in my mind," said Dr Singh when asked whether he has thought of Mukherjee's successor after his nomination as UPA's candidate for the Presidential elections.
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