Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, whom Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier gave a berth in the Rajya Sabha, was the surprise entry even for senior ministers who were seen asking each other about the background of the man from Punjab.
In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
Fresh bird deaths were reported on Tuesday, including over 900 from Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, amid cases of avian influenza in 10 states and union territories, with the Centre saying it has issued advisories on testing and maintaining sufficient stock of PPE kits for culling operations.
Family feuds, in what are essentially family-run outfits, have cast a shadow over the reunification efforts of Janata Party.
The war of words between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar escalated on Monday with the latter tweeting that "50 lakh people" from Bihar would send their DNA samples for testing to the prime minister.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
Full list of the rejigged Union Council of Ministers
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad have come a long way from being bitter rivals for over two decades to friends with benefits. Their grand alliance along with the Congress, has won them six of the 10 assembly seats in the by-elections on Monday.
Cheteshwar Pujara surpassed Vijay Merchant's record for the most double hundreds by an Indian in first-class cricket -- a record that stood for almost 70 years. A roundup of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches on Thursday.
Newly-appointed chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and state chief Raj Babbar came out all guns blazing against the SP, BSP and BJP.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who lost out to Bachchan in the race for re-nomination to the upper house and on Monday quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP, had said at a press conference that the SP denied him the RS ticket and gave it to somebody who used to dance and act in films.
So far among the Indian batsmen, only one player had more first-class hundreds before the age of 18 -- batting legend Sachin Tendulkar who had seven three figure scores.
Fate of more than ten Governors, including Karnataka's H R Bhardwaj and Punjab's Shivraj V Patil, appointed by the outgoing UPA government hangs in balance with indications that the new dispensation may politely ask them to vacate the Raj Bhavans.
A round-up of results from the Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday.
'Karpoori Thakur must be remembered by people today who are tired of witnessing fractious politics where corruption, bigotry, hatred and violence seems to have become distressingly recurrent,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The Delhi high court on Monday sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the two persons, who were sentenced to three years in jail for rioting in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, on the plea of victims' families challenging the trial court verdict acquitting them of murder charges.
Paramilitary force personnel and state police force will be deployed and drone cameras will be used to ensure security on Friday.
'The Maoists want the tribals to boycott the election while the police think the election is a farce and do not want to risk going deeper in the conflict zone.' 'Newton (played with sincerity and deep felt passion by Rajkummar Rao) wants to make sure that the locals cast their vote, a right given to them by the Constitution.'
True, Azam Khan is being targeted rather disproportionately and also because of his Muslim identity. That must be protested and resisted. But to say that he is a big messiah, and his profit-making educational enterprise is an issue concerning all Muslims of India, is absolutely unjustified, assert Mohammad Sajjad and Md Mohammad Zeeshan Ahmad.
Jeetu alias Fauji of Mahav village is a named accused in the case, Inspector General (Crime) S K Bhagat told reporters in Lucknow when asked about his alleged involvement in the mob violence.
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad said the party would not react immediately and would come out with a detailed reaction in Lucknow on Sunday.
The SP-Congress campaign will see Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi criss-cross the seats held by either party.
The chief minister skipped meals and remained awake the entire night on a makeshift dais along with some senior ministers and party members.
Lalu Prasad Yadav weighing in on the cheating scandal, said, "If you can't clear exams, why don't you just fail and retake them till you pass?"
Jammu and Kashmir made it to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy despite suffering a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Haryana in their final Group C match in Jammu on Saturday. In the quarter-finals to be played from February 20 to 24, Saurashtra will be up against Andhra, Karnataka will face Jammu and Kashmir, Bengal will take on Odisha and Gujarat will square off against Goa.
National Democratic Alliance allies on Monday put up a united front amid vocal demands being made by some parties on their share of seats in Bihar polls but the crucial issue of seat-sharing was not discussed at their maiden joint meeting chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah.
'It is the RJD, otherwise known for misgovernance, which has offered a candidate of clean and performing credentials, rather than the NDA,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
The verdict for the week.
With normalcy returning to riot-hit areas of the district, curfew was relaxed for seven hours on Thursday.
Can compassion, common courtesy or an 'emotional connect' win seats in the harsh realpolitik of UP, a state riddled with divisions of caste and religion, and confronted with a seemingly impregnable BSP-SP alliance? asks Sunil Sethi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday scored a hat-trick of victories in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, winning 49 of 90 seats, thwarting the Congress' bid to wrest power after a decade.
The BJP plans to ride the upcoming Bihar assembly polls battle on four chariots that will helm the much hyped parivartan yatra.
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Several newly elected MLAs including Navjot Singh Sidhu, Manpreet Singh Badal, Brahm Mohindra, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Razia Sultana, O P Soni are in the race for becoming ministers, party sources said.
Political observers feel that the outcome of the elections weighs in favour of the BJP which had won a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, held earlier this year.
Check out the pictures.
Sharad Yadav says that reports about disquiet among the factions are 'sponsored'.
Driving a Tata Nano covered with banners about his son's killing by the Mumbai Police, Kundan Prasad Singh is fighting his first election to get justice for a dead son.
The man, who once lorded over Bihar, was pushed to the margins after the 2010 assembly elections.
