Pledging to take corruption head on, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance on Sunday night promised to punish the guilty in scams and assured the people that it would demonstrate through actions and not words what it meant.
The image of a government which is all the time reticent, over-cautious and over-defensive has to be changed quickly, says B Raman
This is in view of the central government's decision to repeal Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
In the event of Left parties deciding to withdraw support forcing a mid-term poll for the Lok Sabha both the sides have a lot to lose, as the shadow-boxing between them will have an impact on the poll outcome, political observers point out. Knowing well that CPI-M is ideologically opposed to the nuclear deal and that it would not have a direct bearing on the electorate, the Congress party is confident of facing people, but not before bringing down the spiralling prices.
Samajwadi Party, which is extending outside support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Friday opposed any plans for scheduling United States President George W Bush's address to Parliament during his visit to India.
A senior non-Congress MP, while briefing about their focus in the JPC on the 2G spectrum scam, said, "This JPC is very important. We understand the issue and we will fight tooth and nail to corner the government. My question is: can you sell petrol, milk or even vegetables in 2009 at the price of 2002? This government did it in the name of continuation of NDA's policy. How can you sell a new product at the price of an old product, at old rates?"
A day after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced its decision to pull out of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the party said today that its ministers would submit their resignations on Monday.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was today confirmed killed in a helicopter crash in the state's dense Nallamala forest area, potentially weakening the Congress as well as investor sentiment.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday hoped the issue of providing 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures would be resolved soon.
Anti-incumbency is fast losing relevance as an election factor in India.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee debuted on Facebook on Saturday renewing her call for A P J Kalam as president, and saying that whatever else she had to say on the subject would be updated on the internet social network site.
Modi pointed out that it has been one year since the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence on Afzal Guru, for his involvement in the attack on Parliament, but the Congress has been protecting him. The chief minister was speaking at a well-attended election rally at Sola Road in Ahmedabad as part of his campaigning for the second phase of polling on December 16
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Saturday said that the time has come for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance leadership to "decide and tell people whether it would abide by the commitment to the US or to the Common Minimum Programme.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has demanded setting an inquiry commission to go in to the failure of various government agencies leading to the terrorist attack of Mumbai and a judicial inquiry in to the "political dimension" of country's biggest corporate fraud in Satyam Computers.
Congress-led UPA govt had 'manipulated' the CBI to enable the accused in the Bofors case to get an acquittal on technical grounds, said George Fernandes.
The party has 38 members in Lok Sabha and the withdrawal of support may not have an impact on the stability of the UPA government, which has the backing of more than 300 members in a House of 545.
The United States on Friday declined to comment on a WikiLeaks cable that sparked allegations that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government purchased the support of Members of Parliament to survive the trust vote over the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008. "I am not going to say if it (the cable) is classified or not, but certainly if it is classified, we wouldn't speak about it, and we are not going to speak about it in way, shape or form," said a spokesperson.
It was an eventful year for the Left parties capping over four years of love-hate relationship with Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition with which they severed ties on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre will have to face the electorate before operationalising the proposed civilian nuclear deal, Communist Party of India Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat claimed on Tuesday.''They will have to face the people's court before implementing the proposed deal as getting clearance from various agencies was a time consuming effort," he said during a seminar.
Price up 500 per cent in a year, trebled in Dec.
Last year, Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu won a national award for 100 per cent utilization of the NREGA funds.Former Nagapattinam District Collector M Jayaraman, recently received the award from Prime Minister Singh.M Jayaraman is now the district collector of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. In his interview with rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar, Jayaraman discusses the pros and cons of the NREGA programme.
Terming the Batla House encounter "totally fake", the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Ahmed Bukhari has accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre of harassing Muslims.
Earlier, talking to reporters after meeting Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, Amar Singh said there was no immediate move to withdraw support to the Congress-Led coalition.
The BJP has lauded the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, as a testament to "New India's" zero-tolerance stance against terrorism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the Congress has countered the claim, stating that the extradition was the result of diplomatic efforts initiated during the UPA government's tenure. The BJP highlighted Rana's return as a tribute to security personnel who lost their lives fighting Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and a step towards justice for victims of the attack. The Congress, however, asserted that the Modi government did not initiate the extradition process but benefited from the UPA's groundwork. The exchange of accusations has added a political dimension to Rana's extradition, with both parties vying for credit for the development.
Even as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is at loggerhead with yoga guru Baba Ramdev over the latter's tirade against corruption and black money in foreign banks, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has remembered that he had once ordered allotment of a plot of land to the yoga guru for his institution in Guwahati.
Naidu exhorted party men to maintain discipline and follow the party's constitution strictly.
The arguments in favour of the proposed 'Har Hath Mein Phone' scheme are strong. The challenge lies in its implementation.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh took on Finance Minister Chidambaram on his loan waiver proposal in the Union Budget. Singh said the finance minister had assured that Rs 60,000 crore would be granted towards loan waiver. However, the requirement is just Rs 23,000 crore, the BJP national president pointed out while also adding that Chidambaram was trying to misguide the public.
Joshi alleged that in many of the cases there has been a hundred per cent rise in the price of commodities. He also said that the UPA government is ignoring the plight of farmers.
Training her guns on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was extremely critical of President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint sitting of parliament in New Delhi on Thursday.
Prospects of a stable government at the Centre have prompted at least six economic forecasters to raise their growth estimates for the current fiscal, citing lower-than-expected political risk after the recent general elections.
The actions points are: ease bottlenecks, promote growth, reap higher revenues and with them conduct another round of tackling bottlenecks.
A general shutdown called by All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq on Thursday affected normal life across summer capital Srinagar and other district headquarters of the valley.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the 2008 Mumbai terror attack marked a turning point in relations with Pakistan when Indians collectively felt that such behaviour from a neighbouring country could no longer be tolerated. Speaking at Charotar University of Science and Technology, Jaishankar acknowledged India's transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade, while Pakistan has remained unchanged, continuing with what he termed as its "bad habits."
Centre's pointsman N N Vohra is visiting Kashmir next week to attend the Indo-European Union round table conference in Srinagar and is likely to meet Hurriyat Conference leaders during his three-day stay.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch hailed the Congress-led government's document as 'a good beginning'.
