The bonhomie between Mamata Banerjee and India's 13th President... Why is Sharad Pawar so angry?... Will Sheila Dixit lose her job?... The asli face of Congress sycophancy... All this and more in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
The 71-year-old Dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.
In a special gesture, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday visited cyclone-ravaged areas in Bangladesh and assured that India will extend all possible assistance to the neighbouring country in their hour of crisis.
'If the RSS should be saluted for choosing such a scholarly statesman to address its highly trained cadre, one must also praise Pranab Da's sagacity for having gracefully accepting the invitation, thus disapproving any ideological apartheid,' says former BJP MP Tarun Vijay.
Justifying the hike in customs duty on gold in the Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said its huge imports cause strain on the balance of payment and affect exchange rate, but it does not have any direct bearing on the forex reserve.
The Mumbai attacks came up for discussion when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, with the Indian side apprising him about Pakistani linkages to the terror strikes and urging him to press Islamabad to cooperate.
India on Wednesday said it had made it clear to Britain through diplomatic channels that it did not share its Foreign Secretary David Miliband's views linking resolution of the Kashmir issue with terrorism.
Pranab Mukherjee was on Wedneday sworn n as the country's 13th President at an impressive ceremony in the packed and historic Central Hall of Parliament.
Singh made these comments at the launch of Mukherjee's book -- The coalition years.
Although she felt "betrayed" by the Congress leadership many a time, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee describes the late Rajiv Gandhi as "the leader of our hearts" and Pranab Mukherjee as her brother.
Amid ballooning fiscal deficit, the government on Tuesday categorically said that it has 'no intention' to monetise its debt, which implies that it will not directly borrow from the Reserve Bank of India. As fiscal deficit is projected to be at 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product this fiscal and the government has pegged its market borrowings at around Rs 4 lakh crore (Rs 4 trillion) for 2009-10.
The Reserve Bank of India chief also reviewed the high-level of inflation with the Finance Minister, ahead of the quarterly review of monetary policy next week, amidst expectations of another hike in key interest rates.
As India continues to push Pakistan to eliminate terrorism, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said he believes President Asif Ali Zardari is sincere about ending the menace, but underlined that his desire should be backed by actions. "I believe he (Zardari) has the desire to fight against terrorism," he said in an interview to a TV channel while describing the Pakistan President as a 'nice man and a gentleman'.
Even as India's annual inflation rate touched 10.16 per cent in May, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday ruled out the possibility of interest rates rising in the short term. He said he expected inflation to be on the higher side till the middle of July.
Does Pranab Mukherjee want to be 'PM' by office, not just by initials? The very prospect, with memories of the Narasimha Rao years scarred into their memories, scares the Nehru-Gandhis, says T V R Shenoy.
This will be the first visit of Mukherjee to China as President though he has visited the country a number of times in different capacities. The last Presidential visit to China was by Pratibha Patil in 2010.
Anna Hazare's demand for right to recall elected representatives and reject candidates is not feasible in a huge country like India, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday and claimed that the provision, if implemented, would only create political instability.
In the Budget 2012-13, the government had pegged 2012-13 gross domestic product growth at 7.6 per cent (plus, minus 0.25 per cent).
Making a strong defence of the nuclear deal during the debate on confidence motion, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Left parties' allegations of betrayal and took potshots at leader of opposition Lal Kishenchand Advani, saying he should not "distort" facts in "over enthusiasm" to score political points.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday called for close cooperation between India and Bangladesh for building mutual trust to combat the threat of terrorism.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday put the onus on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to give a reply to Home Minister P Chidambaram's letter which asked the government to disarm CPI-M cadres in the state. "The home minister has written to the state government. He has fulfilled his responsibility. Now the state government should fulfil its responsibility and reply by acknowledging receipt of the letter," he said.
Other noted personalities to be bestowed with the Padma Vibhushan include noted playback singer Asha Bhosle, chess wizard Vishwanathan Anand, mountainer Edmund Hillary and industrialists Ratan Naval Tata, Infosys mentor N R Narayana Murthy, steel tycoon Lakshmi Narayan Mittal and hotelier P R S Oberoi.
President Pranab Mukherjee will be the chief guest at the national day celebrations of Mauritius on March 12 as part of his second state visit abroad.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday briefed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the Indo-US nuclear deal and raised the issues of delay in the delivery of Gorshkov aircraft carrier.
President Pranab Mukherjee has cut short his scheduled visit to Bihar by a day, possibly because it was clashing with a rally of Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Patna.
"Arunachal is an integral part of India," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi, a day after Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi claimed that the east Indian state was "Chinese territory".
President Pranab Mukherjee pays an emotional tribute to APJ Abdul Kalam
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday received the first foreign leader after assuming office in July -- Fiji's Head of State Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. Mukherjee told Nailatikau there was need for an expansion of bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.
Russia enjoys a very unique place in India's foreign relations with their strategic partnership covering the entire spectrum of the bilateral cooperation, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Moscow.
India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will arrive in London on Thursday to participate in the two-day G20 Finance Ministers' and Bank Governors' meeting commencing on Friday to discuss the financial crisis.
'Declared war was not there but there were attacks and counter-attacks and that is the reality,' the Union defence minister revealed.
The minister handed over to Sichuan Province Vice Governor Huang Xiaoxiang the supplies brought by an Indian Air Force aircraft to Chengdu as part of the $5 million aid announced by India. Huang said the provincial government and the people were grateful to India for offering help during difficult times, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Asserting that India and Pakistan can unite through a common market, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday invited Islamabad to work jointly for developing a trade and economic block, "which could even be a matter of envy for blocks like Europe
A day after India handed over answers to the 30 questions asked by Pakistan, on the terror attack in Mumbai last November, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said he expected Islamabad to follow up its commitment with 'tangible action'."Words and commitments should be followed by tangible action," he told reporters when asked whether he was satisfied with Pakistan's handling of the investigation into the Mumbai attacks.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is leading a high-powered team of policymakers, including Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the India-US CEOs Forum.
With reference to the demand of debate on the lines of US election, made by his rival and opposition nominee P A Sangma, UPA's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee said in Mumbai that Presidents in India do not decide policy, and there can be no debate on "personality".
The overall inflation increased marginally in February to 8.31 per cent from 8.23 per cent a month ago.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said India has not given any assurance to his French counterpart Christine Lagarde on support for her candidature to the post of IMF's managing director.
The dialogue is intended to enhance all-round cooperation and contribute to greater regional peace and stability.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Saturday expelled young leader Prasenjit Bose, who resigned from the party attacking the leadership for supporting Pranab Mukherjee's Presidential bid, saying he had sought to "malign" its political line.
