The war of words between United Progressive Alliance government and the main Opposition BJP over the economic situation saw BJP leader Yashwant Sinha calling Finance Minister P Chidambaram a 'conceited person' for labelling L K Advani 'our own John McCain'. Advani, Leader of Opposition and BJP's prime ministerial candidate, had called a meeting of 15 top captains of Indian industry on Thursday to discuss the issues plaguing the Indian economy in the wake of the global meltdow
In the backdrop of former Telecom Minister A Raja telling the JPC that he took major decisions after consulting the prime minister, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday asked Manmohan Singh to appear before the panel, saying his silence will "confirm" his involvement in the 2G scam.
Given the upsurge of emotions over the unfairness of Section 377, Mr Sinha has displayed insensitivity towards the LGBT community. For this, he deserves a Boo!
'I made it known through diplomatic channels that I was unhappy.' 'So, he called me and tried to explain, but I said this is something that doesn't happen between friends.'
Since the publication of Yashwant Sinha's memoirs of his days as finance minister, a debate is raging over whether due credit is given to the man who presented five Budgets in a row under two governments led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
'At the first sign of real trouble, that money will move. There will be a run.'
Droupadi Murmu, India's 15th President, will be the youngest (she is only 64) and India's first President to be born after Independence.
'They should have offered a ticket for his constituency to Advaniji's daughter Pratibha or son Jayant. But, of course, that is too much to expect.'
India needs another shot of difficult reform, of the kind only possible at gunpoint. Mr Trump holds that gun to our heads now. A drastic reduction in tariff protection, other elements of sarkari wet-nursing will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again, argues Shekhar Gupta.
'If somebody in your family listens more to your neighbour than you, then doesn't the fault lie with you also? This is what is happening in Kashmir.'
Yashwant Sinha explains where the Modi government has gone wrong in its handling of the economy.
When it comes to running between the wickets -- which is exactly what an FM and a governor do -- Jadeja always defers to Dhoni's larger judgement of the situation and the needs of the team, observes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Even Subramanian Swamy, who says he is an ardent supporter of the prime minister, has been taking proxy pot shots at him.' 'At the ground level too, there is resentment from workers and local leaders who have perhaps not got whatever they may have wanted,' notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
With the role of the venerable elder thrust on him in UP, Mr Singh has had to attune himself to the politics at the Centre, observes Aditi Phadnis.
That "Rollback Budget" ushered in an era of rollback.
'Mr Vajapyee felt that you could pray to any god or not pray at all, but the country comes first.'
'People want to see Mr Sinha win again because he has always been there for Patna whether he has been a leader or not.' 'Even when he was an actor, he was a proud Bihari.' 'He is not doing it because he only wants to win an election, he wants to do it because he really loves Bihar.'
Teen Murti Bhavan served as the official residence of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
"It is about time that India and its institutions are protected from these 'institution wreckers'," said Jaitley.
When the Indian economy tanked in 1991, it did so because it ran out of foreign exchange. Today, it is tanking because it has run out of rupees even as the foreign exchange granary is overflowing, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Asserting that there is nothing wrong in allocation of coal blocks, former Union Coal Secretary Prakash Chandra Parakh on Wednesday said if the Central Bureau of Investigation considers a conspiracy in this case then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh should be held equally responsible being the final decision maker.
The government package for public sector banks, announced last Friday, has been welcomed by the stock market with the PSU banking index booking smart gains.
Around 250 financial market players will participate in a closed door meeting with Narendra Modi on February 27.
With so much bad news, everybody is hunkering down in readiness for Mr Modi's next radical Big Idea, says Kanika Datta.
'Mr Modi would compliment a Nobel Prize winner, but members of his party or the government would not be restrained from either making unfair comments or criticising him for having offered advice to an Opposition political party,' says A K Bhattacharya.
'Gloom is nowhere in sight, with healthy foreign exchange reserves, a strong rupee, healthy tax collections, corruption and crony capitalism under check,' argues Gopal Krishna Agrawal.
The Budget chose to stick to an ambitious disinvestment programme for 2016-17.
What the railways need to do is to establish a clear link between higher fares and better service, says T N Ninan.
Going by the number of changes Mr Jaitley's next Budget is likely to see, he will go down in the history of Budget-making as the finance minister who ushered in the largest number of changes in a single Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
'I was at a very senior position in the CBI and what happens is, hints are dropped for you to act upon. But then it depends upon your conscience, to do it or otherwise.' 'I know the rank and file of the CBI, they will bounce back; it is the leadership which has failed.'
The Modi government is notoriously honest about one fact: It does not listen to economists, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'I don't buy the theory that if the BJP gets less than 220 seats or 200 seats, there will be a change in leadership.'
'The Modi Model we see now is still the old Gujarat Model.' 'But with an acknowledgement that governing India is more challenging than governing Gujarat,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
A major slugfest erupted on Thursday over Bharatiya Janata Party MP Chandan Mitra's demand for stripping Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of the Bharat Ratna award and the economist offering to return it if Atal Bihari Vajpayee asks him to do so.
With the Congress already opposed to the proposed law, regional parties might become the swing factor, says T N Ninan.
There is much work to be done to design a good GST.
'We are seeing an era where only what Modi wishes is going to happen.' 'A clear message has now been sent to others that if this fate could befall on Nitin Gadkari, then just think what could happen to lesser mortals.'
Reform ideas do not occur overnight and evolve over the years.
Only reforms that accelerate economic growth can generate the revenues to finance expenditure on social infrastructure for the poor, not the other way round, insists Jagdish Bhagwati.
