Even as Janata Dal-United backed Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for the President's post, party chief Sharad Yadav denied any rift in the National Democratic Alliance, saying that the JD-U's support was for the next President and not for the United Progressive Alliance.
The road to Raisina Hills appears to be smooth for United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee with the veteran Congress leader assured of support from parties, which have a vote value of at least 6.29 lakh, much above the requisite figure.
Exuding confidence that United Progressive Alliance would retain power at the Centre, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad claimed on Friday the alliance would benefit hugely from the National Democratic Alliance's old allies like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Telugu Desam Party snapping ties with it.
Declaring that the United Progressive Alliance government had lost the moral authority to continue, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Singh said the only way the opposition could compel the government to quit was for the National Democratic Alliance MPs to resign en masse.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday indicated that it would not be aligning itself with any Third Front in the President's election or the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
United Progressive Alliance candidate Hamid Ansari was on Tuesday re-elected as Vice President, becoming the second person to get the second consecutive term as he defeated National Democratic Alliance nominee Jaswant Singh by a large margin of 252 votes.
'If the total amount is spent, it will be highest Budget spend on MGNREGA.'
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul will represent the party at the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the prime minister on Monday.
With the government moving a resolution in the Lok Sabha to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum issue, the battle lines between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party have become more tightly drawn with the Congress preparing its ammunition to target the BJP during its National Democratic Alliance government, in a bid to expose the actions of their telecom ministers.
Many often stereotype Andhra Pradesh politics as being star-struck, but as Pawan Kalyan's political journey shows, stars are turning out to be a passing cloud.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
Senior leader of the Bhartiya Janata Party Sushma Swaraj on Saturday alleged that the United Progressive Alliance government was discriminating against the National Democratic Alliance ruled states. She claimed that this discrimination extended to railway projects, distribution of wheat and rice through the public distribution system, relief packages for natural calamities like draught and floods etc.
As the first step, senior BJP Vice President and Convenor for the Lok Sabha polls, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, convened an hour long meeting with Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, who is officially with the United National Progressive Alliance. RLD members have been sulking against a non-starter alliance stuck with Bahujan Samaj Party of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
Mounting an attack on the Centre on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at the chief ministers' conclave in New Delhi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday claimed that certain states have been 'sidetracked' during the United Progressive Alliance's fight against terrorism. Nitish Kumar shared his misgivings about the National Investigation Agency encroaching upon the state's powers.
Disrespect to alliance partners during Pratibha Patil's Goa tour to seek support for presidential poll is one of the reasons why the Congress-led government plunged into minority, former chief minister Churchill Alemao said.
The proposed National Investigating Agency will invoke harsher provisions than POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) of the National Democratic Alliance government. It was knocked out by the United Progressive Alliance Government, dubbing it draconian.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said that while the Congress ensured equitable and uniform development in all areas, the National Democratic Alliance rule was biased against states ruled by her party.
Chandrasekhar was reacting to the arrest of Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party leader S G Suryah under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act allegedly over a social media post.
BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi insisted that no parallel can be drawn between the election of A P J Abdul Kalam as President and the present move by UPA in the upcoming election for the highest office.
He also said the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress is just an 'adjustment'.
Unnoticed by the rest of the world, a bizarre drama was played out in Jharkhand recently -- that is, even more bizarre than the claims made by Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren's aides that Soren voted for the United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha because he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, so he forgot that it was the National Democratic Alliance which was supporting his government in Jharkhand.
They said the very sanctity of the Constitutional process was being destroyed through the 'smear campaign' against her.
The Janata Dal-Secular on Thursday petitioned Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, seeking his intervention recommending a CBI probe into the sexual abuse charges against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.
By repeatedly denigrating our democratic institutions, the UPA government has explicitly demonstrated its complete disdain for healthy democratic traditions. But what should worry the nation most is the fact is the silence of our intellectuals, media and our opposition parties.
Former foreign minister in the Atal Bihari government Jaswant Singh said that if voted to power the National Democratic Alliance would continue the process of holding dialogue with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue and simuatenously engage the All Party Hurriyat Conference as was done during Vajpayee's tenure as prime minister.
'This decision to go with the BJP is Kumaraswamy's individual decision and not a party decision.'
The National Democratic Alliance's agitation on price rise issue rocked Parliament on Thursday with both the Houses being adjourned for two hours, as the Opposition disrupted proceedings over the United Progressive Alliance government's failure to contain inflation.
BJP President and Leader of Opposition L K Advani on Tuesday conceded that the National Democratic Alliance's boycott of the Budget session of Parliament had created a 'wrong perception' in the public.
Women leaders banged steel plates with spoons as men rang hand-bells during their symbolic demonstration at Vijay Chowk leading to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The UNPA's decision clearly reflects no change in its earlier stand of maintaining equal distance from the Congress and the BJP.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
The July 5 'Bharat Bandh' to protest fuel price hike is unlikely to get the support of all non-Congress non-United Progressive Alliance parties with Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal so far maintaining a silence on which side of the political divide they are.
'It is not his doing, but Rahul Gandhi is forced by circumstances.' 'In taking political decisions, everything has to get his clearance.'
With the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha withdrawing support to the 23-month-old United Progressive Alliance government in Jharkhand and Chief Minister Madhu Koda still expressing confidence for a solution, all eyes are on Governor Syed Sibtey Razi as different political parties are meeting him and placing their views.
Three MPs, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, came on wheelchairs.
Cracking the whip, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday summarily expelled eight of its MPs who cross-voted or abstained during the trust vote as shocked opposition parties got down to fix errant MPs whose actions helped the United Progressive Alliance government survive.
Kalam likely to refuse the front's offer; BJP hopes this may swing some front votes its way.
However, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, hosting a meeting of the leaders of the Third Front in Chennai on Sunday, said the Front would 'choose a nominee' for the presidential election.
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