Cornered back home for his "man of peace" remarks about his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani at the ongoing SAARC summit in Maldives, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday went on the offensive stating that the ties between the two countries were far from normal.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's novel scheme of grading each ministry's performance and giving a 'zero' to those ministries who have failed to achieve even 60 per cent of their targets has understandably not gone down well with the ministers in his Cabinet.In early December, 59 ministers, along with their secretaries, were summoned to the Prime Minister's Office and made to sign a document of promise to deliver on their targets.
Adding to recent howlers, a visual of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was run on Doordarshan instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi before a news segment relating to his current visit to the United States.
The US Congressman, who had once demanded that Washington cut off aid to India, expressed support for the nuclear deal on Monday
It has taken three-and-a-half years for the Congress leadership and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to realise that without Andhra Pradesh they would not be in power at the Centre, and will not be able to do the same in 2014 without this southern citadel standing by them.
"He is the only secular leader of our country who has worked with Mahatma Gandhi, Jai Prakash Narain and Ram Manohar Lohia, and he is the only leader who can save the nation and its people in the coming years," the SP's Assam unit general secretary Ratul Kumar Choudhury said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said the 'wholesale attack on the democratic system' currently underway in India is the single biggest risk the country is facing, and asserted that allowing different traditions to thrive is very important as 'we cannot do what China does, which is to run an authoritarian system'. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Speaking at a seminar titled 'The Future is Today' at the EIA University in Medellin, Colombia, Gandhi also alleged that there are 'huge amounts of corruption at a centralised level' in India now. "In India, we have huge amounts of corruption now at a very centralised level. So, three or four businesses taking over the whole economy, having a direct relationship with the prime minister, is rampant in India," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said. "But I believe decentralising power, making things more transparent, bringing people into conversations, and bringing people into processes is the best way forward," Gandhi said while addressing the seminar on Wednesday. Hitting back at the Congress leader for his remarks, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused Gandhi of insulting and degrading India on foreign soil. Posting a video clip of Gandhi's speech on X, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, 'Rahul Gandhi does it again, degrades India on foreign soil. From defaming our democracy in London, to mocking our institutions in the US, now in Colombia he spares no chance to insult Bharat globally.' 'This isn't dissent. It's disgrace to the fake Gandhi. Criticising BJP may be your right but dare you malign Mother India for your cheap and petty politics,' Bhatia said. Speaking at the seminar, Gandhi said India has a much more complex system as compared to China and its strengths are very different from that of the neighbouring country. India also has a very old spiritual tradition and a thought system with profound ideas that are useful in today's world, he said, adding that there is a lot that the country can offer in terms of tradition and way of thinking. "I am very optimistic about India, but at the same time, there are fault lines within the Indian structure. There are risks that India has to overcome. The single-biggest risk is the attack on democracy that is taking place in India," the Leader of Opposition said. "India has multiple religions, traditions and languages. India is actually a conversation between all its people. Different ideas, religions and traditions require space. The best method for creating that space is the democratic system," he said. "Currently, there is a wholesale attack on the democratic system in India, so that is a risk. The other big risk is different conceptions -- some 16-17 different languages, different religions... So, allowing these different traditions to thrive, and giving them space to express themselves is very important for a country like India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked his cabinet colleagues not to visit Haridwar during the Maha Kumbh mela. This prime minister's request was based on a plea from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhrial that VVIP visits during the mela should be avoided as the district administration found it difficult to make protocol arrangements on those days.
Special court was that Manmohan Singh took the "ultimate decision" as the then coal minister in allocation of the blocks.
Launching a strong attack on Opposition, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused them of targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G scam and described him as a man of integrity and a person "100 per cent above board".
Stepping up their campaign on the Mullaperiyar issue, Union Ministers from Kerala on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking his intervention in ensuring the saftey of the 116-year-old dam. Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi, K V Thomas, K C Venugopal,Mullapally Ramachandran and E Ahamed met Dr Singh with a demand to rein in Tamil Nadu's insistence on increasing the water level in the reservoir for enhancing water supply to the state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Moscow for home on Saturday after concluding a three-day visit during which he attended the 12th annual Indo-Russian summit and witnessed the inking of five agreements, including one for technical assistance in joint production of 42 more frontline Sukhoi-MKI 30 jets. Dr Singh, who held talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, cleared the uncertainty over the Kudankulam nuclear power project on Friday.
Singh said this is a moment where we must stand together as a nation and be united in our response to this brazen threat.
In an attempt to end the controversy over his purported remarks about his Indian counterpart, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he never called Manmohan Singh a "village woman".
Union Ministers Dr Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh and G K Vasan have complained to Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth about the rude behaviour of the Special Protection Group personnel at 7 Race Course Road.
Days after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam pulled out of the United Progressive Alliance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday candidly admitted that managing coalitions is not easy and urged industry leaders to have faith in government's determination to revive the economy.
Notwithstanding the chill in bilateral relations, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have sent their New Year greetings to their Indian counterparts.Zardari and Gilani have sent their greetings to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through the Ministry of External Affairs, sources said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the third meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced concern over the discharge of 2,900 million litres of sewage in the Ganga every day.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gilani's meeting at Bhutanese capital Thimphu is a positive development but the meeting could not be called as a big breakthrough' as neither any agenda for further talks nor was ant decision to resume the composite dialogue taken, say Pakistani experts
The Union Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Agriculture, Sharad Pawar, who also doubled as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and has now become president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has reportedly pleaded with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his ministerial burdens be reduced so that he can devote more of his time to his cricketing responsibilities.
former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the two discussed issues related to the economy and foreign policy.
To know everything you about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet, join Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 2pm IST.
Dr Singh hosted a private dinner for the French leader and his wife Carla Bruni at his official residence in New Delhi, which was attended by United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and some senior Cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon.
Visits at the top level help in imparting the required momentum to bilateral relations, says B Raman
The talks between Singh and Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition, will take place at Hotel Sedona, where the prime minister will stay during his brief stay in Myanmar's commercial capital, on the morning of Tuesday
Praising Dr Singh as an "excellent economist", Zardari told the then National Security Advisor Gen (rtd) James Jones in a meeting in Islamabad on June 25, 2009 that the Indian Prime Minister was unaware of what it took to change the mindset of the Pakistani establishment.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday dismissed as a "useless" the debate over two power centres even as he did not rule out his accepting the third term.
Angry over the hike in passenger fares in the Railway Budget, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove her party nominee Dinesh Trivedi from the post of railway minister.
Message board on prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh's second press conference in 20 months.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the ongoing investigation against the owners of Indian Premier League teams.During the briefing, Mukherjee explained to Dr Singh how bids for franchisees were made.Reportedly, Dr Singh and Mukherjee also discussed the names of Nationalist Congress Party leaders Praful Patel and Supriya Sule being drawn into the IPL controversy.
Tensions between the Congress and its leader Shashi Tharoor escalated on Thursday with the party saying he was very much part of their family but had erred in claiming that surgical strikes against Pakistan were held for the first time in 2016.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Hyderabad on Sunday to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of twin bomb blasts there.
Alarmed by the confusion created by the public expression of divergent opinions by his key advisors on climate change, the prime minister summoned Saran and Ramesh and asked them to put their heads together and come forward with an agreed text that would reflect both their concerns, a senior government official confirmed.
The BJP has launched a fresh attack on Rahul Gandhi, questioning his frequent visits to Vietnam. The party's leaders have accused him of spending more time in the Southeast Asian country than his constituency and have demanded an explanation for his "extraordinary fondness" for Vietnam. Gandhi's foreign trips have been a target of the BJP's criticism in the past, with the party portraying him as unserious and unfit for domestic politics.
Dikshit, a former three-time chief minister of Delhi, however, added that there was a feeling that the PM is doing it all for politics.
Is the Congress buckling under pressure to announce its PM candidate?
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