However, the farmer bodies said they will again block the rail tracks if the government failed to resolve their issues.
'Kejriwal could have easily deputed someone to step in as chief minister, but being the authoritative and self-centered personality that he is, he chose not to do it.' 'If the AAP loses Delhi, where it has a huge majority, the only one to blame would be Kejriwal,' asserts Ramesh Menon.
'For Modi, it's not just winning, but winning with style.'
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan sparked a political row on Friday, with his party quick to dissociate itself from the comments while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party latched on to them, accusing the Congress of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil.
Subhash Shankar Parab, a key accused in the Rs 7,000 crore diamantaire Nirav Modi bank fraud case, was "deported" from Cairo on Tuesday after a long diplomatic and legal process, officials said in New Delhi. A CBI team had gone to Egypt's capital to bring back 50-year-old Parab, who was allegedly kept in illegal confinement in a Cairo suburb by Modi, the fugitive diamantaire, they said. The CBI had been chasing Parab, deputy general manager (finance) in Modi's Firestar Diamond and understood to be a key witness to the Letters of Undertaking (LoU) submitted to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) to siphon off over Rs 7,000 crore, they said.
Modi seems to have an innate faith in his capabilities to handle the myriad challenges confronting the nation and would rather manage the affairs of the nation as a CEO would of a large industrial-business empire, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Around 200 people belonging to the Sikh community staged a demonstration in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Kolkata on Wednesday, expressing solidarity with an Indian Police Service officer who had alleged that West Bengal party leader Suvendu Adhikari labeled him as a 'Khalistani'.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also slammed Kejriwal's continuation as the chief minister of Delhi despite being under arrest, saying it is the most unfortunate moment in the country's political journey and the worst kind of politics.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Punjab was allegedly thrashed and his clothes torn by a group of farmers at Malout in Muktsar district on Saturday, police said.
Even though it is faced with numerous challenges, India is evacuating its people from the war-ravaged Afghanistan and will continue to do, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday while unveiling the renovated Jallianwala Bagh memorial through video conferencing.
An official source said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has desired for the resumption of printing of the prime minister's photo on the Covid vaccination certificates in these states on top priority.
As the year 2023 comes to an end, a look at some newsy events that shaped the world in the first half of the year.
Shah thanked the people of Uttarakhand for giving BJP a chance to serve again.
This is the first time that the House is meeting after the BJP's overwhelming victory in the recent series of assembly elections held in February-March.
'The central government is putting conditions on farmers organisations, that they have to allow passenger trains to ply, only then will they allow goods trains to ply.'
He said in the last five years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the role of zonal councils has changed from advisory nature to action platforms.
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
Amarinder said predictions by health experts about the spread of the pandemic are 'horrendous and frightening'.
Reacting to the results, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that in the by-elections held on 13 seats in seven states, the people of the country have given their support to the INDIA bloc.
Diamantaire Mehul Choksi, a key accused in the multi-crore PNB scam, has told a special court in Mumbai that he hasn't been able to return to India "due to reasons beyond his control" and hence cannot be declared a "fugitive economic offender". The accused has claimed that he didn't leave India to avoid criminal prosecution nor is he refusing to return to the country. He said his passport has been suspended by Indian authorities.
The party's general secretary Arun Jaitley, who is in charge of the Punjab polls, will accompany Advani from Pathankot.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul asked how could he stand with the Akali Dal when he always talks about eliminating corruption.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'
Singh said he had worked as prime minister for 10 years and had always preferred that his work should speak for itself.
Several exit polls on Monday forecast a clear majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab with some of them giving an edge to the saffron party in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Clearly, her father hopes that a successful tenure in Lahore will give Maryam the ballast to be prime minister after the next general election.
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several central ministers and chief ministers and leaders cutting across party lines condoled the demise of former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday and hailed his immense contributions to the state as well as the country.
Security forces tightened their cordon around a forest area in the higher reaches of Doda district on Tuesday evening following an encounter with hiding terrorists, officials said.
But it would be unwise on the government's part not to heed the suggestions made by the experts group, set up by the Supreme Court, in particular the one on involving the states and giving them the flexibility in designing and implementing the farm laws, observes A K Bhattacharya.
A UK Judge on Friday stated that the ruling in fugitive diamond dealer Nirav Modi extradition case will be made on February 25. The extradition trial of Nirav Modi has concluded today at Westminster Magistrates' court in London. District judge Samuel Goozee confirmed the timeline. Nirav Modi, who is wanted in India for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of an estimated $2 billion, was re-remanded on December 1 by a judge at Westminster Magistrate Court in London.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
The BJP can't be sure if it should celebrate that the old rival is fading or worry that new ones are rising. Because the last thing the BJP wants to see is alternatives rising, if only to the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Addressing a press conference, Singh said, "There is an attempt to break the morale of CM Kejriwal.
Wouldn't it be better to join the celebrations with the vast Hindu majority while at the same time criticising Mr Modi/BJP/RSS for politicising it? notes Shekhar Gupta.
Addressing a poll rally in Katihar, the former Congress president criticised the NDA government over demonetisation, migrant crisis, GST, handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the three new farm laws.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh welcomed the 'positive spirit' in which the farmer unions and the Centre held the discussions and termed it a 'constructive development'. The meeting with representatives of various farmers unions at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi was attended by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Prakash.
The AAP on Wednesday last had posted a video story on 'X' featuring industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Modi. The next day, the party posted a picture of Adani and Modi, and alleged that the prime minister works for the industrialist and not the people.
India on Friday launched a no-holds-barred attack on Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for his 'uncivilised' outburst against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the comments were a 'new low' even for that country.
Blame the voter, who invariably chooses the promise of hand-outs today in preference to a vague promise of, say, better schools tomorrow. Getting the Supreme Court to issue an edict, or Parliament to pass a law, is no solution, observes T N Ninan.
