Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad on Thursday invited former Bihar chief minister Jiten Ram Manjhi, a known detractor of Nitish Kumar, to join the process of uniting parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar.
The presence of a rebel Congress candidate Mani Kumar Subba, a former MP, in the fray has complicated equations in Assam's Tezpur parliamentary constituency where Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's choice Bhupen Kumar Borah is finding the going tough amid 'Modi wave' sweeping across the seat.
"Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the state," Singh wrote in his letter to Gandhi
As Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah form a joint government after contesting the presidential election against each other, Prakash Bhandari reports from Kabul on the problems facing the new, US-brokered arrangement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has positioned himself as a credible partner for Bangladesh. He has scored by getting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to travel with him to Dhaka, says Srinath Raghavan
Ministers who were in the news for all the wrong reasons
The recommendation, if implemented, is likely to face opposition from the government's key support base among Hindu traders and businesspersons.
Rajdeep Sardesai's 2014: The Election That Changed India, will make him a ton of money, says Shreekant Sambrani, but admits he is more interested in knowing whether the book lives up to its title.
'No country or society ever prospered or remained secure by marginalising more than one-sixth of its own,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
An entirely new lexicon of political jibes emerged during the elections
Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (PMEAC) Chakravarthi Rangarajan has resigned following the defeat of the Congress-led UPA in the general elections.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
'Modi remains the most popular politician in India; the BJP's organisational and fundraising prowess is considerable; and the Opposition, while newly collaborative, has no leader or clear economic messaging as of yet.'
Marandi returned to the BJP after 14 years and the party now wants him to lead the state unit. But a generation of new leaders isn't familiar with him, explains Radhika Ramaseshan.
'My belief that I could protect the Himalayas was shattered.'
Several SP leaders fear Muslim voters may shift loyalty, which will benefit rivals like the BJP.
He is now the first non-Congress chief minister to win a second term in office in the state, seen as a Congress bastion until just five years ago.
A spirited turn at the mic by Mahua Moitra, first-time MP from Trinamool Congress, in which she listed the "signs of early fascism", has been hailed as the "speech of the year" on social media.
'Imagine a situation where an upright officer refuses to carry out a chief minister's or a central minister's orders that he considers wrong.' 'Can he be summarily thrashed at a meeting at your residence, or in his own office?' 'If AAP legitimises political violence, there are many, many, tougher political leaders elsewhere to draw the wrong lessons,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
During Vajpayee's tenure, he was there as an indispensable insider, witness to every action that had an impact on history: Pokhran-II (nuclear tests in 1998), the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan, the Indo-Pak Agra Summit in 2001, intense engagement with the United States on nuclear issues besides the Kandahar hijack.
As President Biden moves ahead with a new 'strategic concept' for China and Russia, the going is bound to get rough for the US and its G7 partners, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
In his massive election rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi often caught voters fancy promising that each individual would get Rs 15-20 lakh in his bank account if he came to power.
When did Urjit Patel really resign? When did Shaktikanta Das get the mandate to take over as RBI governor?
Has the Modi government been more at odds with institutions than other governments? There is no doubt that there have been more run-ins. While the RBI and CBI cases have drawn attention, there have been others, less publicised, Subhomoy Bhattacharjee points out.
'All of Indira Gandhi's bad economic ideas are being strengthened, from nationalised banks to anti-poverty, handout yojanas,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Despite the incessant disruptions and bitter clashes between political parties witnessed in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, lawmakers from across the political spectrum will display rare unanimity in the coming days to pass two bills aimed at protecting their interests.
The US is not going to be able to mount a concerted 'Western strategy' against China or Russia in the present international milieu, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
How could India@75 improve law and order, courts, social, physical and soft infrastructure, efficient cities, e-governance, ease of doing business and other essential state functions by 2022, asks Shailesh Pathak.
This move will enable it to incur higher-than-mandated borrowing, and possibly spending, till the 2024 Lok Sabha election cycle.
'You will be surprised at how wide the Mission272+ Internet campaign has been in terms of its reach across India. We have volunteers in all of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Every one of them signed up to volunteer through the Internet. We are laser focused on Mission272+. All of our volunteers are working at the constituency level to make a difference so every vote and every booth counts.' Shashi Shekhar, who is spearheading the BJP's Internet-social media campaign, explains how it is done.
'As his party's Supreme Leader, Modi has led India down the wrong road by insisting on friendship with China even as its soldiers went about claiming territory,' argues Harishchandra Dighe.
"Will anybody want a servant that who is on vacation when needed at home? And nobody knows where he is," he continued.
India improved its rank on six out of the 10 parameters relating to starting and doing business in a country.
A breakthrough will come from what we teach and how, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Isn't National Intelligence Grid and UIDAI engineered by vested interests, asks Gopal Krishna.
The seventh Tibet Work Forum was held in Beijing on August 28 and 29. Delhi should be deeply concerned, at a time India faces a precarious situation in Ladakh, because the TWF also defines China's western border policies, observes Claude Arpi.
Chief ministers of states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka were among those who raised the issue of loan waver scheme for farmers.
The Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services was increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 925 crore.
The idea is to make unexceptionable broad promises so as to have the maximum freedom to devise policies if and when the opportunity arises, says Subir Roy.
