Despite concerted efforts by senior Congress leaders, rebel Maharashtra minister Sunil Deshmukh did not withdraw his candidature for the October 13 assembly election from the Amravati seat where he takes on President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendrasinh Shekhawat. Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Vinay Natu and Shiv Sena rebel Pradeep Jaiswal are still in the fray.
The Bhartiya Janata Party lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday over the selection of Telecom Secretary P J Thomas as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner. The Opposition party claimed that the Centre had appointed Thomas to scuttle the ongoing probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the Rs 60,000 crore spectrum scam. The BJP urged President Pratibha Patil to cancel the appointment of Thomas, who will be administered the oath of office by her.
Unfurling of the national tricolour, cultural programmes and festivities marked the 60th Republic Day celebrations by the Indian community all over the world with patriotic fervour and enthusiasm.
Keeping up the trend of power legacy in Indian politics, at least 20 candidates contesting in the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections are sons and daughters of prominent political leaders.
Images from the Arjuna Awards presentation at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday.
Justice S H Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Wednesday sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India by President Pratibha Patil.
Leaders cutting across the political spectrum mourned the death of veteran Marxist Jyoti Basu on Sunday, describing him as a towering personality and a powerful regional voice who had played crucial roles in the national political scene.
Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas is India's flagship annual event, which aims to connect with the Diaspora spread around the globe and focuses on boosting investment and sharing of expertise.
With Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on a sticky wicket in the wake of corruption charges, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Tuesday said he would give his assessment on the political crisis in the state to President Pratibha Patil as and when necessary.
The Finance Commission, which makes recommendations on sharing of tax revenues by the Centre and States, has suggested a new path for fiscal prudence in its report submitted to President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday.
Protests in support of a separate Telangana state continued on Saturday in different districts of Telangana region.
President Pratibha Patil on Saturday underlined the need for exploring ways to make the litigation in the country affordable for the benefit of poor and downtrodden in society.
The nation on Wednesday paid rich tribute to Dr B R Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, on his 119th birth anniversary. President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present at a function held in Delhi.Several functions are being organised in different parts of the country to mark the occasion.Dr Ambedkar spent his life fighting untouchability and the Indian caste system.
A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament and senior leaders met President Pratibha Patil on Thursday and submitted a memorandum and crores of signatures as part of its campaign against "abject failure of the UPA government" to control price rise.
According to Rashtrapati Bhawan sources though controversial New York based businessman, Sant Singh Chatwal wanted to recieve the Padma award from President Pratibha Patil on March 31, mandarins in the home ministry did not agree to this. "This part of the information is not correct," said an official of the media unit of Rashtrapati Bhawan.
President of India Pratibha Patil will be conferring the Padma Awards to the selected recipients on March 31 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan -- a senior official from the president's office confirmed this.
Ahead of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's bail plea hearing, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday ordered the removal of Kumar's counsel Rahul Mehra.
President Pratibha Patil has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence given to eight murder convicts in two separate cases.
After his threat of withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance government, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Monday met President Pratibha Patil and apprised her of his party's stand on the issue of the Women's Reservation Bill. Yadav, whose party, along with the Samajwadi Party, are strongly opposing the bill in its present form, told Patil that his party is not against the reservation for women.
The government on Sunday rejected Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami's recommendation for removal of Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner, paving the way for his appointment to the key constitutional post. A Rashtrapati Bhawan communique said President Pratibha Patil has accepted the government recommendation for rejection of the CEC's report against Chawla and arrived at a "considered opinion".
Showcasing its precision strike capabilities during day and night, Indian Air Force on Sunday carried out a massive fire power blitzkrieg using its frontline aircraft such as SU-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, MIG 27 and MIG 29, at the Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan.
At a time when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has given individual tax payers a major benefit, President Pratibha Patil's salary and allowances have come down by half.
Patil was addressing Parliament on the first day of the Budget session. She said the upcoming Commonwealth Games will be covered in high definition format by Doordarshan for the first time. than traditional TV systems.
Terming the recent Maoist strike on a paramilitary camp in West Bengal as a 'cowardly' act, President Pratibha Patil on Monday made it clear that such 'senseless violence' would strengthen the government's resolve to tackle it with 'added vigour.'
Ahead of the foreign secretary- level talks, India said on Monday that it was ready to explore a "meaningful" relationship with Pakistan if it seriously addressed the threat of terrorism and stops terror acts against this country.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had a brief meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on salient features of the Budget.
The order by Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Ashok Amankar, in quasi-judicial authority, came on a petition by one Kishore Bansod, who had claimed that the Shekhawat clan had allegedly got their names included in the land title.
"I am right", Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said on Sunday, unfazed by the sharp criticism to his recommendation for the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla for "partisan" functioning.
There were some awkward moments before the departure of President Pratibha Patil from Beijing to the central Chinese city of Luoyang on Saturday when a member of her entourage, Rashtriya Janata Dal Member of Parliament Raghuvansh Prasad, did not turn up at the airport on time, making her wait for nearly 20 minutes.Though the scheduled departure was slated for 9 am local time, the President arrived at the airport at 8.50 am for the last farewell formalities.
India has sought China's support for its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council during a meeting between President Pratibha Patil and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Bejing. Patil, who arrived in Beijing on Wednesday on a six-day visit to China, was welcomed warmly by Wen at the Purple Light Pavilion.
President Pratibha Patil discussed bilateral issues of mutual interest and situation in the region with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday.
The Maharashtra unit of the Congress on Thursday suspended 16 rebels, including a minister and a Member of Legislative Assembly, for six years from the party, for contesting against official candidates in the assembly elections.State Finance Minister Sunil Deshmukh, who is contesting against Rajendra Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil from Amravati, and sitting MLA Rajiv Rajale, who is in fray as a rebel from Shegaon in Ahmednagart district, were among the 16 rebels.
President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday congratulated India-born scientist Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnana for jointly winning this year's Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In her message, Patil said she was very proud to hear of the news and was happy that Professor Ramakrishnan's pursuit of understanding the structure and functioning of the ribosome has been recognised.
In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Pratibha noted that the mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The President also said that the vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunisation programme.
The road show of Bollywood star Sunil Shetty and cricketer-turned-politician Mohammad Azharuddin organised by the Congress candidate Raosaheb Shekhawat to woo voters saw good turnout in Amravati.
President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the nation on Saturday in mourning the loss of lives in the Mangalore plane crash. As a mark of respect to the deceased, the government cancelled all functions to celebrate the first anniversary of the second term of the United Progressive Alliance government today. Dr Singh announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 each to those injured in the crash.
President Pratibha Patil's son is fighting on a Congress ticket against the powerful two-term sitting Member of Legislative Assembly and Maharashtra Finance Minister Sunil Deshmukh, who has quit the party to contest as an independent. A R Rahman made it a part of his Oscar awards acceptance speech. But not many imagined that the politics of Amravati would revolve around Salim-Javed's immortal dialogue in the Hindi blockbuster Deewar: "Mere paas maa hai!"
In fact, no senior leader from Maharashtra is expected to campaign in Amravati for the President's son, who had three months ago put up posters and banners in his constituency stating "ticket pakki, jeet pakki".
Mohammad ElBaradei, director general of International Atomic Energy Agency, was on Wednesday honoured with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for his 'impassioned opposition to use of nuclear energy for military purposes.'
Deshmukh, Minister of State for Finance, is taking on President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendrasinh Shekhawat, the official Congress candidate, in Amravati constituency of Vidarbha as an Independent.
