'In a party run by 'two-and-a half men', Kovind fits the bill perfectly because, unlike the BJP's previous choice for the Presidency, A P J Abdul Kalam, he is unlikely to return a bill as Kalam did with the office of profit legislation,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
Not all Opposition parties on board, say they are once bitten, twice shy.
The party's research department is quietly collecting data, facts and figures to puncture the Modi government's claims on the note ban, the goods and services tax, and the economic growth.
In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party which dominated the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the party managed to win only from three seats while the Aam Aadmi Party made its debut by winning five seats and the Congress wrested four seats in the bypolls to 13 wards.
'The need of the hour is to build on the positives and control the negatives,' says Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale (retd).
'The government says it will file a review petition against the Supreme Court, but there is no conviction here.' 'It is doing this purely because it is worried.' 'It comes from the same sentiment as asking BJP MPs to spend two nights in a Dalit village,' says Aakar Patel.
'Both Nehru and Patel were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other.' 'Neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi has much in them to claim such legacies.' 'They are symptomatic of the sad days that have befallen the nation midwifed and contemplated by Nehru and Patel,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore reports from Bhopal and Manikhedi Kot, Etkhedi Kot and Kejra Dev, about the October 30-31 escape and encounter in which 8 prisoners were killed, a case that has many questions and few answers.
'His past as a cricketer makes it difficult for the BJP to question his nationalism.' 'He gets away by ridiculing Modi while something similar from most Congress leaders does not resonate as much.'
Modi has the ideas for a new, hopeful India, and an idiom in which to sell optimism to voters. But he doesn't yet have the team for it, and soon enough, questions will begin to be asked by an impatient, non-ideological, I-don't-owe-anybody-anything generation of Indian voters, says Shekar Gupta.
Launching a blistering attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the "India Shining" campaign, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the balloon of Gujarat's development model will burst.
'The Reserve Bank's independence has remained a work in progress, an enduring challenge that the nation has been grappling with on an ongoing basis,' says RBI Deputy Governor Dr Viral Acharya.
India was U Thaung Tun's first port of call after his appointment, which should intrigue China and Pakistan, says Rajeev Sharma.
Another person in Delhi has succumbed to dengue, taking the toll to 21, with his family alleging that two of the three hospitals they took him to refused to do the test for the vector-borne disease.
Fifty per cent of bank restructured assets were in infrastructure, steel, power and telecom sectors.
When I met him last year for his 75th birthday, he seemed frail. There was a sense of urgency. I will miss Stephen. His passing fills me with sadness.
Congruence on terrorism, current disquiet on immigration, short-term visa would top the wish list.
Shiv Sena said that Dalit Prez candidate has been chosen for vote-bank politics.
The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation.
India's new policy commission has received a makeover and a dream team has been formed to head the Think Tank, NITI Aayog.
'The dirt in the Indian Ocean must be less than the abuses Narendra Modi got from secular forces.' 'If you are going to put the blame on the central government and the RSS for every wrongdoing, then it is not going to serve any purpose, rather it will complicate the issue instead of resolving it.' 'There are fringe elements in every society, but for an ideal State it is important to finish off the fringe elements.'
'Whatever happens in Delhi happens in India,' says Kiran Bedi.
As per the election affidavit of Dr Harsh Vardhan of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is listed on the Election Commission of India website, a first information report (number 519/2013, in Madhu Vihar police station) has been filed against him under Sections 34, 323, 509 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Modi PMO is like none other: It is staffed by people who are so low profile that the only dominant personality is the Prime Minister's.
Over the years, Mr Singh has got in and out of innumerable businesses, cutting across sectors. He is one businessman who I have always found to be in a start-up mode, says Bhupesh Bhandari.
As two recently declassified Intelligence Bureau reveal that the Jawaharlal Nehru government had spied on the family of Subhas Chandra Bose for nearly two decades, one of India's political mysteries takes centrestage. Rediff.com reproduces this 2006 report in which Sumit Bhattacharya reported that a website claims that Netaji, in fact, did not die in an air crash, as was being believed, and that Netaji had escaped to Russia.
'I would personally like to see Rahul Gandhi continue as party president.' 'I genuinely believe he has far more to offer to the party still, particularly in leading us in these challenging times that we find ourselves in.'
Rifleman Aurangzeb, who belonged to the 44 Rashtriya Rifles, was on way back home on June 14 to celebrate Eid when terrorists abducted him.
'The job of RSS is to unite the Hindu society and make it fearless, self-reliant and selfless,' says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
'We had never imagined that the prime minister could use such language to win votes.' 'I was under the impression that the prime minister is a very knowledgeable man, but I was amazed to find that he doesn't know that India's Constitution.'
A homoeopathic state of mind pervades our thinking in governance and infrastructure-building. Do it in small, harmless doses, but nothing bitter, sharp, or bloody, says Shekhar Gupta.
'There will be some issues of contention, especially on H1B visa and on trade policy.'
In a surprise announcement in April, Sun and Ranbaxy -- at that time owned by Japan's Daiichi -- declared an all-stock deal to create India's largest and world's fifth-largest drugmaker in an over $4 billion deal.
'That the commandments to officialdom were issued by a BJP functionary and not a minister is a reflection of the Yogi government's work style.'
'For now, the AAP is the conversation,' Lord Meghnad Desai tells Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya. 'Everyone is talking about the 'Delhi model'. They have made so much difference. They have changed politics.'
As Jagan's property attachment came on the day the poll dates were announced, the YSR chief and his supporters refuse to buy the Enforcement Directorate's claim that it was a mere coincidence. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The move is aimed at reflecting the diversity of India and highlighting the contribution of prominent personalities.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
'A senior US diplomat last week asked me when things will go back to normal. I had to tell her that if normalcy meant getting back these perks, it is not going to happen for a very long time, if ever at all,' says Mohan Guruswamy. 'For the Indian public now is outraged that US diplomats have enjoyed all these winking at the rulebook.'
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Ansari believes a national debate on a Uniform Civil Code is a must. 'The need of the hour is to debate this issue at length in order to create a consensus,' Ansari tells Rediff.com, adding, 'Such a debate must take place at the grassroot level. We must understand all the divergent viewpoints before any draft can be prepared.'
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