Modi will take oath for a second term on Thursday at 7 pm.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday went to the house of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who turned 87, and greeted him on the occasion. After returning from his visit to Kerala, Dr Singh drove straight to the Krishna Menon Marg residence of the former prime minister and presented a bouquet to the ailing leader. During the brief meeting, the prime minister also inquired about the health of the octogenarian leader from his family members.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party falling short of a majority in the Lok Sabha and needing the National Democratic Alliance partners to form the government at the Centre, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United head Nitish Kumar and Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu have emerged as potential kingmakers.
The prime minister was accompanied by three Union ministers C P Thakur, Bijoya Chakraborty and Ashok Pradhan.
Leader of Opposition and party president Lal Kishenchand Advani termed as 'wrong, mischievous and baseless' United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's charge that the Opposition changed its stand on the Women's Reservation Bill.
The long term trends on violence in Kashmir are positive and India must secure these gains further, asserts Aakar Patel.
Vajpayee was visibly emotional at the Hinduja Hospital.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, whose primary objective was construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, also became a symbol of 'reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism'.
He will travel from Katra to Ayodhya on February 7 to dedicate to the nation a mega-bridge on Sarayu River.
Jamali thanked Vajpayee for confirming his attendance at the next month's SAARC summit in Islamabad.
'The sense of Constitutional propriety and political morality seems to be vanishing fast.' 'There are many things in today's politics of governance which Manmohan Singh would have never dreamt of saying or doing.'
BJP president Venkaiah Naidu appeared to have ruffled a few feathers by saying that the party would project both Vajpayee and Advani in forthcoming elections.
Cutting across party lines, political leaders welcomed the government's decision to confer Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour, on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya.
'The NDA leaders expressed total confidence in the prime minister's wisdom in deciding the dates for the polls,' George Fernandes said.
He was returning to Delhi after a day's visit to Lucknow when his plane was diverted to Jaipur.
He said there is no political consensus for changing the boundaries of states in the Northeast.
'The PM who is first among equals, who has to listen to others, take their point of view into account and who would have to be a good manager'
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has ordered two Sherwanis from a Pakistani designer couple with the kind of embroidery he had seen on late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Sherwani.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday met at a public function and interacted briefly.
In an interview to Financial Times, the prime minister also expressed 'disappointment' with Pakistan's failure to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.
The BJP leaders were protesting against the rising inflation.
Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who turned 88 on Sunday, was greeted by a host of senior leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The work we have done in the south and the northeast over the last 10 years under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, we have started getting results of the same, he said.
"Indian sports persons had done well in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and now we are ready to enter the Olympics," the Indian prime minister said.
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
Vajpayee is understood to have extended India's continued support to the rebuilding of Afghanistan.
The National Security Adviser during his visit to the US had an unscheduled substantive meeting with US President George W Bush.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Kishenchand Advani has requested the government to honour former Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the Bharat Ratna, the country's higest civilian honour.
He also said the issue of terrorism figured when his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali spoke to him over telephone on Monday night.
The Indian prime minister described his Israeli counterpart's visit as an important landmark in bilateral relations.
A video of the alleged attack that circulated on social media showed some people heckling the 79-year-old social activist.
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
In a bid to evolve a political consensus before the bilateral talks, the United Progressive Alliance government has begun discussions with opposition leaders as part of which Natwar Singh had met Leader of Opposition L K Advani on Thursday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances