With two cabinet ministers and three ministers of state, the Northeastern region was on Wednesday handsomely rewarded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first reshuffle of his ministry in the second tenure.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
Briefing reporters about the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said 81 crore poorest will be provided 5 kg free foodgrains per person for five more months and one kg pulses per month.
Days after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar joined the Maharashtra government, the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday claimed that only alleged economic offenders Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya were left to be inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'For the first time since I've been following Indian politics, one heard voters talking about India's role on the world stage and the fact that, due to Modi's leadership, India was once again a great power.'
'It indicates the grooming of the party's new leadership.' 'It is also a signal to the states that these ministers represent.'
Bhupender Yadav's entry to the Modi government as a Cabinet minister is seen as his just reward after serving as a party office-bearer for the longest term among all current occupants.
Proving wrong his detractors' claim of being sidelined after denial of chief minister's post for fifth time last year, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan won Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for the sixth time by a record margin of 8.21 lakh votes.
Malviya, the MLA from Bagidora in Banswara district, said he joined the BJP for the development of the Vagad region.
The Prime Minister's Office has clarified that the total sanctioned strength of the PMO has been around 525 in the period 2011-14. As against this, the actual strength of the PMO in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 was in the range of 407 to 411. The number has now declined to 385.
'The tide started to turn against the BJD when V K Pandian toured the districts gathering people's grievances last year.'
Amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the performance of various ministries.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, ITC, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and JSW Steel were the major laggards. Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Maruti, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.
"The Union cabinet is likely to take up on Wednesday, November 24 the withdrawal of the three farm laws for approval. The bills for withdrawal of the laws shall then be introduced in the forthcoming Parliament session," sources in the government told ANI.
The prime minister may go for new faces with an eye on grooming younger leaders while also factoring in caste and regional balances
Though largely seen as an official visit, with less than a year for elections, Shah during this trip is likely to meet senior party leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, veteran leader B S Yediyurappa among others
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said R C P Singh, whom his Janata Dal-United has denied another term in the Rajya Sabha, does not need to resign as a Union minister ahead of the expiry of his Rajya Sabha tenure.
Tamil Nadu, which boasted of as many as nine ministers in the UPA-II government in 2009, did not get any representation in Modi 2.0 government.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday expanded his 17-month old cabinet, inducting seven ministers, and indicated that excise minister H Nagesh would be dropped. Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.
Hours after he resigned as Haryana chief minister along with his cabinet ministers, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Lal Khattar Tuesday hinted that he may be fielded by the party in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
The son of Union Agriculture Minister and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that after the landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, 'entire Delhi is bowing down' before his father.
'There is a huge constituency that upholds this ideology.' 'Hindutva will remain relevant in our public life in the near future as an ideology and in politics as well.'
'The government has been anti our civilisational values.' 'My fear would be that they erode that some more to have their way and to consolidate their power.'
The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
With as many as seven out of the 26 ministers in his previous government failing to make it to the Assembly this time, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to induct some fresh faces into his new cabinet, which sources say could be in place after January 14 after the Kamurta (an inauspicious period) is over.
'Bihar's caste survey has bolstered the Opposition parties, but one shouldn't forget that the BJP is also trying to present itself as a party that cares for the OBCs more than other parties,' points out Sanjay Kumar.
'This isn't political. This fight is for justice. This is the fight to give justice to the party workers'
Manjhi's political journey took a dramatic turn when, in 2014, he was unexpectedly anointed Chief Minister by Nitish Kumar, who had resigned after a disastrous Lok Sabha election.
Restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir's statehood as well as implementation of the autonomy resolution passed by the erstwhile assembly in 2000 are among the National Conference's 12 guarantees announced in its manifesto for the upcoming polls.
In the manifesto released on Saturday, the Congress also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen, among other things.
Youth Congress members staged a raucuous protest against the Modi government over rising inflation and the hike in fuel prices in New Delhi, December 1, 2021.
'If all we do is keep on celebrating, then next time you might find that the BJP government is out of Maharashtra'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.
The youth -- their dreams of government jobs unfulfilled -- are voicing their frustration.
'Deeply hurt by Modi's conspicuous silence for over a month-and-a-half since the outbreak of violence, people in Manipur came on the roads and crushed their radio sets to express their frustration and anger.' 'The fact that Modi's Mann Ki Baat did not have a single reference to the Manipur violence further accentuated this hurt and anger.'
A day after he was ruthlessly removed from the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board, Nitin Gadkari -- arguably, the top performer in the Narendra Modi Cabinet and a former BJP president -- was in Mumbai, launching one of his pet projects: Electric public transport buses for the city.
Hoping that the 14th Prime Minister will provide clean and exemplary governance, the National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms wrote to the Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, requesting him not to induct those who had criminal cases registered against them into Parliament and his Cabinet.
For the post of deputy chief minister, the names of Swatantra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya, Brijesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya are in talks.
The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also observed silence for two minutes in the memory of Mukherjee.
Mr Modi might have questions to ask himself on the most formidable strategic challenge before India that he inherited from the United Progressive Alliance: The triangulation between China and Pakistan. The failure to break out of it, or even loosen it a bit, is something to reflect on, notes Shekhar Gupta.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances