A day after the Congress brainstormed over its electoral reverses, senior leader M Veerappa Moily on Monday said Sonia Gandhi should take "full control" of the party with a free hand to change non-performing leaders, and asserted that a "mere culture of tweets and social media propaganda" would not take the organisation forward.
"If they (some leaders) persist (with G-23) that means there is a vested interest for a few of them to work against the Congress party which we don't subscribe to and rather oppose it," the former Union minister said.
Senior Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh G Venkataswamy, who caused a flutter demanding the resignation of Sonia Gandhi as party chief, could be shown the door. Indications to this effect were available with Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, who is in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, saying that his "viciousness" in attacking Gandhi and his "arrogance" certainly warranted action.
The Oil Ministry, which had been sitting on the proposal for over a year, wrote to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons earlier this week saying that it has been decided to permit exploration in already producing oil and gas fields, sources privy to the development said.
The reduction in rates is likely to be announced by the month end as per the practice of fortnightly revision in prices, and has been made possible due to appreciation of rupee against the US dollar.
According to party sources, the Congress leadership has been making efforts to convince some ministers and lawmakers to contest, as they have faced problems in identifying winnable candidates in several segments.
Chidambaram said the government will not go back on its decision to raise gas prices for both public sector and private producers from April 1.
Sources in the party say the Congress ranks are divided over the issue. While one group of leaders backs Pranab for the prime minister's post and feels that this should have been done way back, another section is glad that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh didn't pass over the baton to the External Affairs Minister.
Amidst a storm over proposal to shut petrol pumps during night to taper fuel demand, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday said the government had not made any such proposal and the idea had come from public.
The United Progressive Alliance government will move the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha in the coming session, Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said on Monday. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties have assured their "unconditional" support to the bill, which has prompted the government to introduce it for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha, Moily told media-persons in Karnataka.
Union minister for law and justice M Veerappa Moily said India was committed to opening its legal sector to foreign law companies as agreed under the World Trade Organization negotiations, but would tread cautiously on this decision. At the same time, the country would not do anything that undermined the autonomy of the Bar Council of India, he added.
The government has decided to set up commercial courts in mega cities to deal exclusively with high value cases, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said on Tuesday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday listed India's "corrupt politicians" who, he said, should not be allowed to contest elections.
P Chidambaram was on Tuesday made the finance minister as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a minor reshuffle in portfolios in the Union Cabinet, necessitated by the exit of Pranab Mukherjee in June. According to the announcement, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is the new home minister in place of Chidambaram.
The government is not engaged in any 'back door' dialogue with yoga guru Ramdev, who went on an indefinite fast on the issue of repatriation of black money, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said. "There is no back door and open door talks with any one. Whether it is Ramdev or anyone," he told reporters. Moily evaded reply when asked whether the government has sought the help of Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar for negotiations with the yoga guru.
Moily said there would be no change in the bill compared to that passed in the Rajya Sabha and exuded confidence that it would get through the Lok Sabha also in April.
Moily, a former Karnataka chief minister and Congress spokesperson, spoke about the chances of the UPA government, the emergence of the third front and the nuclear deal.
Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru cannot be hanged till other mercy petitions pending before his are disposed of, feels the government.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday took a swipe at both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress, questioning their stand on gas pricing issue and their "relationship" with industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Adani.
The FIR was lodged under sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The government has said that Ajmal Amir Kasab, who has been sentenced to death in the Mumbai terror attacks case, may be hanged in a year.
Without making big-ticket changes in the economic ministries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday shifted Law Minister M Veerappa Moily to the ministry of corporate affairs and inducted young Milind Deora in his council of ministers.
Moily asserted that Gandhi continues to be the AICC president and he has not stepped down.
The Administrative Reforms Commission, ARC plans to come out with a set of codes for the political executive and civil servants, to counter corruption.
Controversial Jairam Ramesh was on Tuesday elevated to Cabinet status and shifted from the high-profile Environment Ministry and Veerappa Moily replaced by Salman Khursheed as Law Minister in a substantive reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers, in which several ministers continued to hold additional charge of some key portfolios.
Samajwadi Party on Tuesday attacked the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for registering FIRs against union ministers and industrialists, saying this was a "drama" staged by people like him to hide their inefficiency and attain "political martyrdom".
Is Chiranjeevi the tourism ministry's secret weapon? Why is Vijay Mallya upset with Veerappa Moily? What in-house problem is the railway minister grappling with? All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup...
Power plants, involving investments of Rs 100,000 crore, facing closure.
The government-appointed Kirit Parikh committee suggested an 'immediately' hike prices of diesel by Rs 5 a litre, Rs 4 per litre in kerosene and Rs 250 per cylinder in LPG, reduce annual entitlement of subsidised cooking gas cylinder from six from nine and phase out diesel subsidy in one year to cut a record subsidy burden.
The seeding of LPG database with Aadhar numbers is above 55 per cent and overall Aadhar penetration is 90 per cent in these districts.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance's political leadership is holding consultations on options like raising diesel and LPG prices to cut an unprecedented Rs 160,000 crore (Rs 1,600 billion) revenue loss expected from selling auto and cooking fuel below cost this fiscal.
M Veerappa Moily's takeover of the environment & forests ministry last month, it appears, is turning out to be a blessing for Coal India Ltd (CIL), the world's largest coal producer.
The first meeting of the Group of Ministers on inclusion of caste categories in the census is likely to be held on July 1.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had recommended to the ministry that RIL be asked to give up 86% of its KG-D6 gas block area
A court in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh has issued notices to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and six union ministers on a petition filed by two advocates over bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Contrary to Anna Hazare team's description of government's Lokpal Bill draft as a "very big hoax", Swami Agnivesh, an associate of the Gandhian's anti-graft campaign, on Friday termed the latest draft as an "improvement" of its 2010 draft.
Friends, family members and Union ministers on Friday hailed the Supreme Court order granting bail to activist Binayak Sen, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition by a Chhatisgarh trial court.Union ministers P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid expressed happiness over the court's decision to release Sen, who was convicted and sentenced for helping Naxals set up a network against the State. Law Minister M Veerappa Moily termed it as an "eye opener".
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday ruled out any move to regulate airfares saying the government only wants the system to be made transparent.
The oil ministry is rejecting the monetisation of new discoveries as their production will not be viable at the present price of $4.2 per mmbtu
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