After being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1999, Najma Heptulla rang up the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to convey the news but had to hold the phone line for an hour as a staff told her that 'madam is busy'.
'People's expectations were very high.' 'We felt both sides had understood each other.' 'But the removal of Article 370 triggered apprehensions within the Naga people.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hosted dinner for outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi with members of the Union Cabinet, chief ministers of various states and other dignitaries attending it.
With the strain and anxiety of the longest Lok Sabha polls now behind the leaders, governance, with consensus, is the next step.
Here's your big chance to tell the world what exactly you think of the Modi Cabinet.
The operation at the Keran Sector in Kupwara is still underway, the Army said.
The reshuffle is likely to take place after the ongoing Budget session ends on April 12, reports Archis Mohan.
'Now Modi ji is saying it is his guarantee that every corrupt person will be made a minister'
The meeting was held at the newly built convention centre at Pragati Maidan, which will host the G20 summit in September.
The strains are telling as old friends and new enemies face each other in the battlefield.
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
Senior BJP leader and Patnagarh MLA KV Singh Deo and debutant from Nimapara assembly segment Pravati Parida took oath as deputy chief ministers.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narayan Rane, all of whom are being seen as probables for induction as ministers in the Modi government, arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid indications that the Union Council of Ministers is likely to be expanded on Wednesday.
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 aircraft was allowed to move inside India as the air defence personnel knew who was inside the plane, they said.
Officials in coastal Devbhumi Dwarka said around 1,300 people have been shifted to safer places so far.
It was in Kolar in 2019, during Lok Sabha election campaigning, that he made a remark on the Modi surname for which he was convicted of criminal defamation and stripped of his Parliament membership last month.
Amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the performance of various ministries.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
Pictures showed that the ministers were facing the prime minister and small side tables were provided next to their chairs to allow them to keep their documents.
'The cabinet approval is a logical step. It doesn't hold any more significance than what we have already stated on November 19.'
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.
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.
'Wrong feedback was given against Parasji to the top BJP leadership in New Delhi by a senior BJP leader, who is also a Union minister from Bihar.' 'He deliberately provided wrong information about the RLJP to the BJP leadership to help Chirag Paswan.'
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which secured a landslide victory in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections, is set to form the new government in the state. Outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to finalize a power-sharing agreement. The alliance partners, BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, will decide on ministerial berths at the meeting with Shah. Political circles are abuzz about the social equations in Maharashtra influencing the choice of the next Chief Minister.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the first elected government in the Union Territory since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.
It was not a one-way ride up though for the man who now could potentially become the BJP's national president over time.
With a large number of Indian youth aspiring to work in the railways, delays in filling up railway job vacancies were a point of criticism against the BJP in the run-up to the elections.
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.
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.
Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
'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.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
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.
The prime minister may go for new faces with an eye on grooming younger leaders while also factoring in caste and regional balances
'The airport's name 'Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham' pays homage to Maharishi Valmiki, the sage attributed to composing the epic Ramayana, adding a cultural touch to the airport's identity.'
Gadkari is credited with the construction of more than 90,000 km of national highways and 30,000 km of new roads in the country in the last 10 years.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Though the extended tenure of incumbent president JP Nadda ends on June 30, a recent amendment in the BJP's constitution has empowered its apex body, the Parliamentary Board, to take a call related to a president, including his term, in "emergency" situations.
