Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to send out the message that the ruling BJP, unlike its predecessors at the helm, is not guided by parochial politics in recognising contributions in the public life, as the party looks to break new ground during the polls.
NDA demands fresh probe into Netaji's disappearance
Asked whether the SAD would pull out of the National Democratic Alliance as well, Harsimrat said it was for the party to decide and a collective decision would be taken on the issue by all senior leaders together.
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual meeting on Friday evening with leaders of 19 Opposition parties, including the chief ministers of some Opposition-ruled states, amid efforts to boost Opposition unity and evolve a common strategy against the National Democratic Alliance government.
Pulok Chatterjee, a long time loyalist of the Gandhi family and Dr Manmohan Singh, is likely to succeed K M Chandrasekhar as the Union Cabinet Secretary from January 2010. Chatterjee has served as the district magistrate of Rae Bareli and later worked with Sonia Gandhi, when she was the Leader of Opposition, during the National Democratic Alliance regime. When the United Progressive Alliance came to power, Chatterjee was made the Joint Secretary in PMO.
Stepping up their offensive, a National Democratic Alliance delegation Saturday met President A P J Abdul Kalam with an appeal to direct Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to forward an opposition petition for the removal of Election Commissioner Chawla.
Party sources said Kumar drove to Gandhi's Tughlaq Lane residence and discussed about graft charges against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasdad's son, Tejashwi Yadav.
National Democratic Alliance convenor Sharad Yadav on Thursday took a swipe at Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar claiming she was more "affectionate" towards the Treasury Benches, but showed little mercy towards the Opposition.
The Left and the opposition parties have asked the government to abstain from the vote on March 6.
The Central government had earlier in the day introduced the bill in the Lok Sabha despite stiff opposition from the National Democratic Alliance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he wants the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to win 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to ensure the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir and put a 'Babri lock' on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Congress has hit out at the BJP-led NDA over its decision to oppose the bill on office of profit,
The Bharatiya Janata Party, main constituent of the NDA, has threatened to raise the induction of persons who have been chargesheeted or have criminal charges against them into the Union council, both inside Parliament and outside
The BJP on Sunday authorised its president J P Nadda and Union minister Rajnath Singh to hold consultations with different political parties, including those in the opposition, on the president's election, in what is being seen as an outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post.
Modi's record has so impressed L K Advani, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, that, of late, he misses no chance to praise him, be it at the election rallies or public functions. Advani, writing in his blog recently, showered praises on Modi for getting Rs 12 lakh crore (Rs 12 trillion) investment into the state in times of economic slowdown at the January 13 investors' summit in Ahmedabad.
The opposition National Democratic Alliance stalled the Question Hour in both Houses of Parliament on the Quattrocchi issue and did not allow the Rail Budget to be read out in the Lok Sabha.
The Speaker ruled that these did not relate to the Union government, nor were they matters of recent occurence.
In the coming assembly election, negotiations over seat-sharing will be as important as actual outreach to voters.
The meeting will be held at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Race Course Road residence.
'The BJP is racing against its opponents by putting a chain on their legs.'
In a recent letter to TRAI, Reddy claimed the Andhra Pradesh Cable TV Operators Association took these four channels off air due to alleged coercion by the TDP-led government in the state.
Trouble is brewing for the Women's Reservation Bill with a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament in Lok Sabha expressing their opposition to the measure and threatening to vote against it and the party decided to crack on the dissenters by issuing a whip to them to back it on Thursday.
A new realignment should be expected in equations between the non-BJP, non-Congress parties and the government at the Centre. Aditi Phadnis reports.
Decks were cleared for tabling the report of Justice Nanavati Commission, which probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with the union cabinet clearing the action taken report.
After his statement, opposition leaders will speak and if required Singh may give a clarification, the sources said.
"What is the hurry," Modi said, while referring to Gandhi's hand gestures when he came across to PM's chair.
A coalition government, led by National People's Party leader and outgoing chief minister Conrad Sangma, will be sworn-in on Tuesday morning in Meghalaya, while an all-party government, led by Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDDP's) Neiphiu Rio will take oath later in the day in Nagaland.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the people have given his government a mandate for stability and continuity for the third consecutive term after seeing its work of 10 years and accused the Congress of trying to build a narrative that it has defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.
While releasing the guidelines to operationalise the Rs 71,680-crore (Rs 716.8 billion) loan waiver scheme for farmers, he said: "The scheme of this nature has never been attempted. The NDA government could not even contemplate a scheme of this kind during their six years of rule." The United Progressive Alliance government completed on Thursday four years in office.
Paswan also asserted that he has been working on his 'Bihar first, Bihari first' agenda for a long time and had informed the BJP leadership about his differences with the Kumar-led government well in advance.
At a time 20-odd opposition parties, many of them regional rivals, joined forces over the Adani issue, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar's open support for industrialist Gautam Adani has put a question mark on the durability of a non-Bharatiya Janata Party block in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Soon after the Houses re-assembled at noon after an adjournment for an hour, unrelenting opposition members were again on their feet.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Akali Dal member of Parliament and former speaker of the Punjab assembly, Charanjit Singh Atwal, was today unanimously elected Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha
He is the first Communist leader to occupy the high office.
There is nothing in the nuclear agreement that prevents India from testing, the prime minister said.
