In the present prime minister, the BJP has its weakest possible opponent. Why don't they just let him stay, asks A Ganesh Nadar.
It is in power on its own only in three states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana -- with a big question mark on whether it can even stake claim to be head of the INDIA bloc.
Responding to the President's speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that promoting communalism would stall inclusive growth in the country.
Singh had said the slogan of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' was being misused to construct a "militant and purely emotional" idea of India that excludes millions of residents and citizens.
In his speech, PM emphasised on the need to bring India's current account deficit under control and reduce demand for gold and petroleum products.
Addressing the annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the BJP leader slammed the Manmohan Singh government as 'non-functional' and 'internally paralysed' and claimed that 'people are already looking beyond' it.
President Murmu reached the new Parliament building in a six-horse buggy accompanied by the Presidential Bodyguards riding horses.
The Union home ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for alleged violation of laws, a move the public think-tank termed "incomprehensible and disproportionate" and vowed to seek legal recourse against.
Pledging to alter the policy environment to accelerate economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday promised to address concerns on GAAR and taxation of the IT sector along with giving high priority to finalisation of the Direct Taxes Code and Goods and Services Tax.
This was his first meeting with the Prime Minister since he acquired rival Arcelor.
The youngest in the CWC is 31-year-old Neeraj Kundan, who is an ex-officio member of the body as the president of the National Students Union of India, the students' wing of the party.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will set a record by presenting the sixth Budget in a row -- 5 annual Budgets and one interim -- a feat achieved so far only by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. With the presentation of interim Budget on February 1, Sitharaman will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row. Desai, as Finance Minister, had presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959-1964. The interim Budget 2024-25 to be presented by Sitharaman on February 1, will be a vote-on-account that will give the government authority to spend certain sums of money till a new government comes to office after the April-May general elections.
Addressing a gathering at the launch of a book on Jawaharlal Nehru's works and speeches, Singh said that if India is recognised in the comity of nations as a vibrant democracy and, if it is considered as one of the important world powers, it was the first prime minister, who should be recognised as its main architect.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
Journalist Tarun Tejpal told the Delhi high court on Friday that he will publish an apology in a national daily stating that an Indian Army officer, against whom he had levelled allegations of corruption in defence procurement, had not accepted any money.
If Congress President Sonia President succumbs under pressure and forces the government to roll back the bold steps it has taken in the last couple of days, the resulting loss of face for the government and the party could have incalculable consequences for the economy and for its political fortunes, writes B Raman
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a hectic second day at the SAARC Summit in Thimphu, where he held meetings with various Heads od State.
It is an open secret that Manmohan Singh is not a popular figure in the Congress, but Sonia's presence, support and strategy are proving a blessing for the good doctor. When P V Narasimha Rao ran into rough times, Sonia remained indifferent and the Congress had left him to the wolves, says Rasheed Kidwai, author of books on Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party.
I do not need to emphasise that leadership is the touchstone that will define the end result of any conflict and the outcome we are able to achieve. Technical excellence and domain knowledge are important in this regard, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh told a meeting of commanders of the three wings of the armed forces.
'For the last two elections, the Congress manifesto has been thrown into the dustbin.' 'This manifesto will also be thrown into the dustbin.'
Dr Singh said an agreement on the civilian nuclear deal would be President Bush's "great contribution" to ending India's isolation from the world nuclear order.
With land acquisition completed and infrastructure work streamlined, India's bullet train dreams are slowly, but finally, inching closer to reality.
'People have a certain perception about my political leanings -- and rightly so.' 'But I am an actor first, and then an activist.' 'And I am not an accidental actor.' 'There was no way I was going to be dishonest with my acting,' Anupam Kher tells Veenu Sandhu.
Yoga guru Ramdev on Thursday called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a 'feeble' prime minister and asked his followers in Punjab to participate in his protest against the United Progressive Alliance to be held in Delhi on August 9.
Dr Singh on Wednesday said Lalu would not be asked to resign "for now".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday fowarded to President Pratibha Patil the resignation letters of the following ministers in the Union council of ministers with the recommendation that they may be accepted.
"People say I was a silent prime minister, but I think these volumes (his book 'Changing India') speak for themselves. I was not the prime minister who was afraid of talking to the press. I met the press regularly. In every foreign tour, I had press conferences in the plane or after landing," Manmohan Singh noted.
Malaysia's Premier Najib Razak on Sunday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking India's help in the massive search for the Malaysian jet that went missing with 239 people aboard over a week ago.
Although the rupee has recovered after Thursday's announcement by Subbarao on the possibility of selling dollars directly to oil companies, it had fallen to 56.07 to a dollar in the morning trade, after Thursday's close of 55.65.
Ajit Singh, a leading economist based at the University of Cambridge, on Tuesday said that he will be "delighted" to take up the 'Dr Manmohan Singh Chair' at Panjab University that has reportedly chosen him for the position.
With a host of chief ministers attacking the Centre's creation of an anti-terror body, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday stepped into the picture assuring them that states' powers will not be affected and asking Home Minister P Chidambaram to hold talks with them.
The Indian monsoon lifeline of the subcontinent - will be significantly affected by climate change, according to a Greenpeace paper titled 'Monsoon Wager: Climate change and the Indian Monsoon', released on the sidelines of the World Environment Day earlier this month.
Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman finance minister, had in July 2019 ditched the colonial legacy of a Budget briefcase for the traditional 'bahi-khata' to carry Union Budget papers.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
After days of uncertainty, the industry has drawn comfort from Prime Minister-designate Manmohan Singh's statement making it clear that investor-friendly economic policies would be followed by the new government.
