Neerja Chowdhury remembers a gentleman politician, an unusual prime minister.
The Union government seems to have chosen its timing with care. Parliament begins its winter session on Thursday and the BJP would have used the issue during the Gujarat elections. Hanging Kasab was politically expeditious for the shaky ruling coalition, says Neerja Chowdhury.
Hamid Ansari, in his second stint as vice president, is likely to face a more unruly House, with general elections being less than two years away and the Opposition becoming increasingly aggressive, and the Congress's chief troubleshooter having gone to Rashtrapati Bhavan, writes Neerja Chowdhury
There are enough indications that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, with a third term victory behind him, intends to set the pace of events inside the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level, says Neerja Chowdhury.
In all likelihood he is going to rely on senior party leadership for political management, using the Youth Congress and the young brigade to mobilise the 'aam admi', which the Congress redefined in Jaipur as the poor and middle-classes, says Neerja Chowdhury.
It's not often that you sport Aamir Khan at an award's function.
Neerja Chowdhury analyses why BSP supremo Mayawati is bargaining hard with the UPA government
By successfully orchestrating the ouster of rival Sanjay Joshi from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed that the Sangh Parivar has fallen in line with his style of functioning and larger-than-the-organisation persona. Neerja Chowdhury reports
Implicit in Sonia Gandhi's clarion call to her partymen to counter the BJP's 'blackmailing' politics aggressively in the contest of Coalgate, is a hint that that there is no leadership vacuum in the Congress and that she will be leading her party into the 2014 elections, says Neerja Chowdhury
As the battle lines are drawn between the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance, the NDA is now beginning to smell power, says Neerja Chowdhury
The decision to make these changes to the Union Cabinet was apparently taken last week, but the timing of its announcement could not have been more unfortunate, writes Neerja Chowdhury
While Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that he will not be joining the government, the Sunday reshuffle will be closely watched for how much influence Rahul Gandhi will have on it, says Neerja Chowdhury
After many months the UPA leadership seemed to exude a sense of confidence that they could get the better of an adverse situation in which they have found themselves for the last two years, writes Neerja Chowdhury
The numbers are loaded against him but the BJP's vice presidential candidate Jaswant Singh has his eyes set on battles beyond. Neerja Chowdhury provides an insight
The Dhoni biopic is all set to lead the charts!
In an interview to rediff.com, Neerja Singh, author of the book Nehru-Patel: Agreement within Difference, argues that both Nehru and Sardar Patel possessed very different personalities and temperaments, yet both were deeply secular
The government may have plumped for FDI in multi-brand retail at this juncture because this is an issue which has also divided the opposition, believes Neerja Chowdhury
The Bharatiya Janata Party has become less of a party with a difference and more an aggregate of leaders with their own individual ambitions and agendas, says Neerja Chowdhury
A prolonged political stalemate does not also augur well for the government. It is caught between the devil and the deep sea -- unless its managers can somehow bring a rabbit out of the hat, in terms of the right numbers in a vote on FDI, says Neerja Chowdhury.
Evergreen stars honoured at young achievers event.
As the moves to select the next incumbent of Rashtrapati Bhavan gain momentum, Dravida Munettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi is believed to have conveyed to Defence Minister A K Antony that he would go along with whoever was Congress President Sonia Gandhi's choice for the next President of the republic, despite his party's unhappiness with the Congress, writes Neerja Chowdhury
After Bengaluru, where the Congress lost out to the Bharatiya Janata Party after five decades of dominance, and Mumbai where it failed to wrest the cash rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation from the Shiv Sena, it is now the turn of New Delhi to show its disenchantment with the Congress, writes Neerja Chowdhury
Several actors decided to promote their movies on Valentine's Day with a special show called Ishkiyaon Dhishkiyaon
As with the Women's Bill, so also with the proposed Lok Pal legislation, the exercise is essentially one of grand posturing by all parties, says Neerja Chowdhury.
There is no one who can step into Mukherjee's shoes and multiple leaders may be needed to fulfill his roles in the Congress and the government led by it, says Neerja Chowdhury
The old order is changing, but the new one is yet to take shape, and this is expected to firm up after the Gujarat polls. Much will depend on how Narendra Modi fares, and whether he clicks with a disillusioned urban middle class in the country, says Neerja Chowdhury.
Even as Mukul Roy took the oath of office as railway minister in the presence of a sombre-looking Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whose body language showed the discomfort of the Congress with its ally Trinamool Congress which has given them a run around, the United Progressive Alliance managers were sighing with relief on Tuesday, says Neerja Chowdhury.
Celebrating Independence Day the Bollywood way.
BJP's senior-most leader L K Advani tells Neerja Chowdhury that though the FDI in multi-brand retail decision was taken by an executive order, a "roll back is possible if there is a resolution by Parliament to this effect".
Neerja Chowdhury reports from Phulpur where Rahul Gandhi kicked off Congress campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Political parties may be backing P A Sangma to mount pressure on the Congress high command to pick Pranab Mukherjee for the top post, says Neeraja Chowdhury
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has upped the ante by demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation in "Coal-gate" scam, is now in a mood for a fight to the finish, in the words of one of its senior leaders, and to take it "into the next election", writes Neerja Chowdhury.
When was the last time you saw the majority of the non-Congress political parties rooting for a Congressman as President? So why is the Congress hesitating to name him for the post? Neerja Chowdhury analyses the party's dilemma
The 2012 assembly poll was seen essentially as a battle between the two leading families of Punjab -- the Badals versus the 'Captain' Amarinder Singh -- and their durbars, their contending styles, the rebels they had to reckon with, their grip over the ground realities. Neerja Chowdhury reports.
The 2012 assembly poll was seen essentially as a battle between the two leading families of Punjab -- the Badals versus the 'Captain' Amarinder Singh -- and their durbars, their contending styles, the rebels they had to reckon with, their grip over the ground realities. Neerja Chowdhury reports.
The change of media advisor may be about the changing power equation in the PMO. The Congress party's view may once again get greater weightage in the government's decision-making processes than had been the case so far in UPA-II, says Neerja Chowdhury.
The National award winning actor is the face of June issue.
One of the problems that besieged the Lokpal Bill was that it was being considered against the backdrop of the forthcoming assembly elections, which dictated the stand of several parties, reveals Neerja Chowdhury
Dr Singh would like to be remembered by history as the PM who achieved a breakthrough in India-Pakistan relations, believes Neerja Chowdhury
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