Narendra Modi's recent observation that India's fate would have been different had Sardar Patel been the country's first prime minister, instead of Jawaharlal Nehru, has caused a stampede of public opinion.
Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.
The 64-year-old Planning Commission, a vestige of the socialist era, will soon become history.
If a creed has to work, it must carry the weight of conviction, not just the frippery of an electoral tactic. Is Rahul Gandhi indulging in ritual appeasement, or is he seeding the climate for economic policies that he will implement when he becomes prime minister? asks M J Akbar.
Modi spoke to the BJP's longest serving president, who is credited with crafting the party's rise through the 90s when it came to power for the first time as the head of coalition governments under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and congratulated him.
'Priyanka Gandhi is not Indira Gandhi, declares Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. According to Yadav's confidant Azam Khan, if Priyanka formally joins politics and campaigns everywhere in UP, then political parties will treat her as a politician. Chief Minister Mayawati is also preparing a dossier on Priyanka and her businessman husband Robert Vadra to counter her charm offensive in the electoral battle.
As Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advanis 'yatra' reached the UP-Bihar border, he launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging he is presiding over the "worst and most corrupt government of independent India".
Priyanka was accompanied by her daughter and Congress MLA Aradhana Misra.
The 58-year-old Rajya Sabha MP will face several challenges, including strengthening of the combat capabilities of the army, navy and the air force due to changing regional security matrix and geo-political dynamics.
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.
The Congress has not invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an international conference it is organising to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, joining the battle with Modi, who it accuses of trying to appropriate freedom movement leaders.
Politely decline to be prime minister, and hand the baton to someone else in the BJP -- like Sonia did to Manmohan Singh -- advises Krishna Prasad.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said the Preamble to the Constitution is very well there in NCERT textbooks of Class VI as he refuted charges made in this regard by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The argument that a Bharatiya Janata Party government has no business marking the 125th birth anniversary of Panditji makes little sense, says Virendra Kapoor
The Indian government's assertions that its first nuclear explosion in 1974 was for peaceful purposes was described by Chinese diplomats as "nonsense" and that the then prime minister Indira Gandhi had "inherited the hypocrisy" of her father Jawaharlal Nehru.
'Sheikh Abdullah ruled the state with secular values. Post 1953, when he was sacked, corruption took over governance.'
The book 'Modern Indian Political Thought', for MA course under the Distance Learning Programme, meant for the upcoming academic year, is not yet available in the market.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the country has to decide if the sweetness of sugarcane will grow or the followers of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah will cause mischief in the state, in a veiled attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Speaking at the Annual Prime Minister's National Cadet Corps Rally 2020, Modi said the problem in Jammu and Kashmir persisted since Independence and some families and political parties kept issues in the region "alive", as a result of which terrorism thrived there.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
Into his 10 year, Manmohan Singh is struggling to retrieve his legacy -- thanks to bad luck, a bad situation and at least two very bad calls, says Mihir S Sharma
According to sources, Union water resources ministry officials gave a presentation to the prime minister on the treaty and the projects involved.
The title 'Navratna' was given originally to nine Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), identified by the Government of India in 1997, which allowed them greater autonomy to compete in the global market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be administered oath of office for his second term along with his new council of ministers on Thursday. Modi is the first Bharatiya Janata Party leader who has been elected for the second time after completion of his five-year tenure, a feat so far achieved only by two Congress leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks on possible autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday came under sharp criticism from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
'Dialogue is the soul of democracy which should not be denied, but it was by Mrs Gandhi,' says Mohan Dharia who resigned as a Union minister in protest against her policies.
Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai was on Sunday elected Nepal's new prime minister defeating his Nepali Congress rival R C Poudyal, with the Terai-based Madhesi alliance extending crucial support to the former rebel leader.
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to the nation of the occasion of India's 66th Independence Day.
Congress leaders alleged the BJP has made and failed in its every attempt to defame Rahul Gandhi and derail the yatra somehow as people from across the country including Delhi are overwhelmingly extending their support.
Seeking to broaden bilateral education linkages between India and the United States, the government on Thursday decided to double the number of scholarships awarded under the Fulbright educational exchange programme and rename it as the 'Fulbright Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarships and Grants'.
Will Foreign Minister Mr. Jaishankar please refer to the RTI reply dated 27-1-2015...The Reply justified the circumstances under which India acknowledged that a small island belonged to Sri Lanka," Chidambaram said.
Just a day after Tamil Nadu Bhartiya Janta Party chief K Annamalai met Governor R N Ravi in connection with the alleged security lapse during Prime Minister Narednra Modi's visit, Director General of Police Sylendra Babu said that there was no security lapse during the visit and everything went fine.
The nomination is an indication that the veteran Congress leader is not sure of victory from Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency she has represented for five terms.
President's secretary speaks to Rediff.com's Onkar Singh about what really happened at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
'Will this near-war, India's strongest military response so far, buy India another seven years of deterrence?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
At a function to commemorate the 125th Foundation Day of the Congress, party president Sonia Gandhi paid glowing tributes to former premiers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, but made no reference to P V Narasimha Rao, who was prime minister between 1991 and 1996.Gandhi sought to give credit to Rajiv Gandhi for the economic liberalisation in the Narsimha Rao regime when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister.
There is no question of banning the Bajrang Dal if it plays by the rulebook and behaves itself, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said on Friday, as his party's manifesto proposing to outlaw the outfit continues to come under fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'The BJP's use of nationalism was a major factor in its likely victory,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Nehru's faith in science and technology, his genuine respect for Bhabha, and their burning ambition worked synergistically to place India on the nuclear map of the world. Atomic energy developed and prospered because of Nehru's vision fulfilled by Bhabha's mission, recalls K S Parthasarathy, former secretary of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, on the occasion of India's first prime minister's 119th birthday today.
