The Congress on Monday took a swipe at the National Democratic Alliance government over its proposed move to give a quiet burial to the United Progressive Alliance dispensation's controversial move to order a probe into the Snoopgate affair, saying it was "quite natural" after the change of guard at the Centre.
While the leadership of the biggest Opposition party, the Congress, has not reacted, even non-Congress and (now) anti-BJP parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have voiced no view on Banerjee's appeal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
The National Democratic Alliance government will not launch a witch-hunt against its political opponents including Robert Vadra, but the law would take its own course, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday.
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, Chirag Paswan on Sunday cast aside his ambivalence and announced that he will campaign for the saffron party in bypolls to two assembly segments in the state.
'Both of us are not politicians. We were forced to enter politics to counter corruption that is looting the country.'
Notwithstanding exit polls giving a clear mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday said the party still prefers to support a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Gandhi came along with Mukherjee and while the former president left after sometime, the Congress chief offered to drop him back but Mukherjee politely refused.
Dismissing the contention that the decline in inflation was on account of the steps taken by the NDA government, Chidambaram said he wanted to know, 'what measures were taken by the government that contributed to decline in inflation rates.'
Days after the Congress praised A B Vajpayee to target Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial Narendra Modi, the party did a U-turn on Monday, calling the BJP veteran "the weakest PM India ever had", a taunt often directed at Manmohan Singh by the opposition party.
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.
The Congress party on Tuesday vowed to oppose the present format of the land bill both inside the Parliament and outside.
Opposition leaders will also meet the Election Commission and raise the issue of tallying the paper trail of votes with the electronic voting machine figures as directed by the Supreme Court.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that Modi's move was aimed at helping a few of his 'crony capitalist friends' and had 'destroyed' the Indian economy, prompting a strong response from the BJP which said the exercise was an 'attack' on corruption and black money that were rampant during the 'lost decade' of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
EC officials said the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will begin at 8 am on Thursday and results are expected only by late evening.
The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of tax cuts on petroleum products, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said people were aware of the fact behind the issue and pointed out at his government effecting a Rs 3 a litre cut on petrol earlier.
He also advised Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to "learn" from former defence minister Pranab Mukherjee "lessons on national security."
Despite the Samajwadi Party demanding unconditional apology from Bharatiya Janata Party over chants of "Har Har NaMo" cheering BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during a recent rally in Varanasi, Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday again raised slogans of 'Har Har Modi' while addressing party workers.
The former defence minister said that all formalities were completed and all orders issued on OROP but its implementation is not being done by the Modi government.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously, the Election Commission said.
According to HSBC, the 'storm has abated' for the Indian markets as the US Fed has deferred tapering of its quantitative easing stimulus, and as the new Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has taken steps to contain the rupee fall.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasising the need to kick-start investment in the country, the project monitoring group (PMG) under the Cabinet Secretariat has asked various government departments to start monitoring projects for which clearances have been facilitated through this mechanism.
The battered Congress has slammed the BJP on its decision to hike rail fares, the power crisis in the Capital and the abduction of Indians in Iraq. Anita Katyal reports how the Congress is wasting no time to criticise the ruling party.
>All old signposts have been uprooted and milestones bulldozed. New ones have yet to emerge. The old order stands degraded in the new landscape whose contours are indistinct, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Congress senior leaders concede that UPA could be safe in terms of numbers but that does not solve problem totally
The Congress admitted that the Section 66A of cyber law was poorly drafted
Swamy gave notice in the Rajya Sabha for moving Breach of Privilege Motion against Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad over his remarks related to the AgustaWestland issue.
In the run-up to the polls, a survey has revealed that better employment opportunities is the single most important issue for citizens and that the government has fared below average in this aspect.
The United Progressive Alliance's growth story' and food security scheme dominated a Congress workshop on Monday where its media managers from across the country were given training to disseminate party's message on key issues ahead of next Lok Sabha polls.
Some parties complained to the Election Commission alleging violation of the model code.
The chairperson of the Censor Board has sent her resignation to the government. So have some other members. They have alleged interference by the government and corruption in the board.
A close finish is predicted in Meghalaya.
To a question whether his party will not forge a coalition with any political party, Azad said, "If any political party is willing to accompany the Congress, and the Congress feels that it can fight the BJP, then it will be definitely accommodated."
It is wrong to say the Congress doesn't matter. Certainly one set of people who do not believe that for a minute is the BJP. That's why even in his speech in Parliament on Constitution Day, Mr Modi called dynastic politics a threat to democracy, observes Shekhar Gupta.
It looked as if the BJP was hoping to use Rajinikanth to press their seat-bargain with the AIADMK. Now with the Rajini bait gone, the question now is not how much the BJP would settle for, but how much the AIADMK would be ready to offer, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Scheme faces pincer attack with a proposed higher proportion of expenditure on material, reducing the budget available to pay wages and focus on implementing it only in 2,500 blocks.
Govt expects to save Rs 10,000 crore through this move.
The new system will entail a periodic revision in the price of subsidised LPG cylinders so that the subsidy remains fixed.
Pawar pressed for forging alliances of anti-BJP parties at state level and favoured picking up the prime ministerial candidate after the election results, as happened after the 1977 and 2004 general polls.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader A R Antulay passed away on Tuesday.
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