Farmer leaders on Monday started their day-long hunger strike against the Centre's new farm laws and said protests will be held at all district headquarters later in the day, even as more people are expected to join the ongoing agitation at Delhi border points.
Farmer leaders said unions do not allow any political party to use their stage and accused the government of diverting the issue.
A day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Jammu and Kashmir, mainstream parties as well as separatists organisations were on the same page asking him to restart the dialogue process with Pakistan in finding a lasting solution to the Kashmir issue.
In the midst of mounting pressure from both pro and anti-Telangana leaders, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of the crucial United Progressive Alliance and Congress working committee meetings to take a final decision on the separate statehood issue.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell nine short of a majority, while the Congress, JD-S stitch alliance to keep saffron party out.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Unlike the LDF and NDA nominees who are at ground zero and campaigning hard every day, the Congress candidate's campaign is undertaken in absentia, dependent on an army of local and imported from the rest of Kerala Congresswomen and men.
The NHRC issued notice to the Union ministries of home and human resource development seeking a report over the reported ill-treatment of Kashmiri people in the aftermath of the attack.
'If the platform is public, then every Indian regardless of his ideology and commitment has got the right to convey his view'
Hundreds of migrant workers from Delhi, Haryana and even Punjab reached Anand Vihar, Ghazipur and Ghaziabad's Lal Kuan area after taking arduous treks of many kilometers on foot to take buses to their respective native places
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
Delhi MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Kamal Nath had allegedly given shelter to five people who were accused in one of the seven cases.
His mother Maureen was also questioned for some time.
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday raised concerns over India's drugs regulator granting permission for restricted use of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine and asked the government to explain why mandatory protocols and verification of data has been dispensed with.
Political parties, agriculture experts and progressive farmers demanded such agri reforms for long, he said and attacked the opposition for misleading cultivators on the issue of MSP (minimum support price) and APMCs.
'The Modi government is not listening to us. So now we are coming to Delhi to talk with the central government.'
Congress general secretary and leader-in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijaya Singh added to the confusion surrounding the Telangana issue on Thursday when he spoke about the possibility of a Constitutional Amendment to create a separate state.
The United Progressive Alliance coordination committee will meet on July 31 to finalise its stand on the vexed Telangana issue amid indications from Congress that carving out a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh is a foregone conclusion and that complexities involved in the process will be adequately addressed.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu on Monday began an indefinite fast in New Delhi to protest against the split of Andhra Pradesh, accusing the Congress of playing politics in view of the Lok Sabha polls, but remained ambivalent on Telangana.
As the news of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's proposed press conference in Delhi on Monday came out, political activity in Andhra Pradesh picked up.
He interrupted his speech to observe a minute's silence in the House along with other Opposition leaders, mainly the Congress, to pay tribute to farmers who had lost their lives during the two month agitation.
The new Congress president is building a core team of youngsters while waiting for his mother's coterie to retire, reports R Rajagopalan.
'The party dropped me as a spokesperson for showing a roadmap. It shows that the party either has a high level of arrogance or they are completely detached from ground realities.'
BJP alleged that it was an attempt by a "grand alliance of most corrupt parties" to ensure that its "corruption" was not exposed.
The protest was held on the university campus located at Ludhiana-Chandigarh road past midnight.
A party source said most of the leaders, however, are hoping that Gandhi will continue to lead the party as the Nehru-Gandhi family acts as a "glue" that binds the party together.
Winning an election may be a breeze for the BJP but the aftermath of victory isn't always painless.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi, Gandhi said the Congress Working Committee will meet soon and decide whether he should resign as the party chief following the electoral debacle.
With Rahul showing a significant lead over Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in opinion polls across southern India but lagging in the north, the Congress believes his contesting from the south will help galvanise cadres.
A meeting of the Janata Dal-United Legislature Party has been called on February seven amid reports that Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was under pressure to quit and make way for his predecessor Nitish Kumar.
The tumultuous Winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday a day before schedule with proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha marred by repeated disruptions by the opposition over which the government and the Congress traded charges and the presiding officers expressed their anguish at the conduct of some MPs.
With the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price.
Asthana was sent on a forced leave after the CBI registered a case of corruption against him. His plea to quash the FIR was rejected by the Delhi high court.
'Sachin Pilot has revived the Congress.' 'What goes in favour of Ashok Gehlot is experience.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances