Springing a surprise, Vijayakanth-led Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam on Wednesday struck an alliance with the four-party People's Welfare Front for the May 16 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu with the actor-turned-politician being declared as the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.
The United States continued to maintain silence on granting a visa to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi, whose party-led NDA is projected by exit polls to form the next government in India.
India too will advocate the IMF quote reforms at the two-day meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors beginning Saturday.
Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz on met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the two are understood to have talked about bilateral relations.
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar today reiterated the stand taken by his party colleague Praful Patel that there was no need for debate once courts had ruled on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's role during the riots.
The assurance came hours after the Centre accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of obstructing a central team deputed to assess the coronavirus ground situation.
'He has been made CM of Uttarakhand because everybody thinks he is not a challenge to anyone.'
'Analysts see BECA as a 'force multiplier' for India.' 'But China too is known to have such capabilities.' 'The military gap with China will continue to remain a fact of life, BECA notwithstanding,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Training his guns on BJP's prime ministerial candidate again over the Reliance gas issue, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday asked Narendra Modi whether he will bring down the gas price if he comes to power.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that with pro-people measures and infrastructure development, Modi has not only prepared a blueprint for making a strong 'new India' but also a self-reliant one for the country's 'golden future', while party president J P Nadda declared that the period will be known for taking tough and big decisions and turning challenges into opportunities.
A major controversy erupted on Wednesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party threatening a showdown with the Election Commission after Narendra Modi was denied permission for holding a rally in a crowded area in Varanasi on Thursday.
As a controversy raged over Narendra Modi's interview to Doordarshan, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said that the party's prime ministerial candidate had never said that Priyanka Gandhi was like his daughter and that the interview aired on the public broadcaster was deliberately "distorted".
Rather than contesting the state elections from Ganderbal, the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister will be contesting the state elections from Sonwar and Beerwah, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
They also emphasised the centrality of the UN in promotion of international peace, favoured independence and sovereignty of Iraq, political and economic reconstruction in Afghanistan and expressed concern over situation in West Asia.
No reservation on China, Japan joining SAARC as observers: PM
Second-line AIADMK leaders and cadres alike say that by starting the talks first with the BJP and committing the party to an alliance without discussing seat-sharing, the leadership might have commenced the coalition discourse at the wrong end. According to them, even 20 seats for the BJP may be too many, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
.jpg)
The National Spot Exchange Ltd, promoted by Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies, is facing a Rs 5,600-crore (Rs 56-billion) settlement crisis.
The differences between the rich and developing nations have always been at the core of the World Trade Organisation, set up in 1995 to facilitate greater trade flows across the world, and it came as a major breakthrough when the US and India reached a deal over food security issues in 2014.
"Without the knowledge of the prime minister, is it possible to do this," Kumaraswamy asked, saying Modi should come clean on the issue.
Amidst reports of unease between Congress and its allies, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said the party was a "sinking ship" which was being deserted by its passengers.
For states like West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, where migration is high, the return of workers could be as much an opportunity as a liability. All states have launched portals to register migrant workers; additional fields like nature of employment and remuneration in the past 2-3 years are being added to help in skill mapping.
In the clearest indication yet about Narendra Modi's elevation, Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said that the party "cannot ignore the expectations of the workers" and a decision would be announced shortly.
From Chief Minister EK Palaniswami to Seeman to TTV Dhinakaran to elder brother M K Azhagiri, everyone's favourite target these days seems to the DMK chief Stalin, which is good news in an election year, but that doesn't mean he is going to sweep the polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Singapore Minister applauded Prime Minister Modi's effort to make India the manufacturing hub of the world.
The BSP chief said Uttar Pradesh, which is India's largest state, will decide who will be the next prime minister.
If cleared, the ONGC arm will become the first subsidiary company of an existing Maharatna to get into this superior league among government-owned entities.
'The Indian version is that the two top diplomats merely exchanged pleasantries, while the Pakistani side characterised the encounter as an 'informal dialogue'.' 'The truth, as always in such piquant situations, is somewhere in between.' 'It stands to reason that ice has been broken,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India on Wednesday said that developed and developing countries should now 'close their differences' and move forward after the Cancun debacle but felt more 'transparency' in decision-making process was needed at the WTO to help towards this end.
Refusing to tolerate any slight against their prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that Mamata Banerjee's comment of Modi being like Hanuman and setting fire everywhere was an insult and that the West Bengal chief minister was wrong.
The BJP general secretary said it was untenable for them to continue in the alliance.
The government will convene a meeting of political parties prior to the WTO ministerial in Cancun to elicit their views on issues, especially agriculture subsidy, to be discussed at the conference, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
Of the first 189 whose credentials have been probed from the 400 applicants till date, barely 30 make it - and only one qualifies for IPR benefits.
The railway minister said the demand for his resignation was based on flawed statistics.
Indian 'Vedas' have since thousands of years considered sun as at soul of the universe and a nourisher of life, the PM said.
Coming as it does only months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Chennai meet could provide the launch pad for a national alternative to the BJP-NDA, and MK Stalin may be given the credit for getting it going, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Rajapaksa will transform Sri Lanka's political landscape after Thursday's electoral triumph, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran Colombo watcher.
Sources said a rare exception was made to allow arrival and departure of Aziz, who led the Pakistani delegation, by air at Amritsar which is not a designated port for entry and exit of Pakistani nationals, besides giving swift clearance despite a last minute change in his scheduled arrival by a special flight.
'The events of 2020 have actually put our relationship under exceptional stress.' What External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the All India Conference of China Studies on Thursday, January 28, 2021.
'Jaitley was one of the earliest politicians to sense the changing political scenario in Delhi. He had closely watched the rise of the BJP and declining fortunes of the Congress party during the L K Advani era. But it was between 2009 and 2014 as the Leader of the Opposition that he began to read the tea leaves. 'And thus it was that he introduced Modi-Amit Shah duo to Lutyens Delhi,' says senior journalist R Rajagopalan who had known Jaitley since 1975.
The move came at a time when deliberations between the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances