'When I met the prime minister, he asked me, "Dr Ganguly, what do you do with people in your company who lie to you?"' 'I said, "Prime Minister, we counsel them and give them a gentle warning. If they lie again, they are sacked".' '"This is my problem,'" Rajiv responded. "I can't sack people in government".' A revealing excerpt from former Hindustan Lever Chairman Dr Ashok S Ganguly's We Are Our Future: Reflections On Life.
A new book reveals former Congress MP Amarinder Singh's mission to arrange a meeting between Rajiv Gandhi and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the 1980s, along with other anecdotes.
'The LTTE were the pioneers of that.'
Responding to the controversy, Congress leader Harish Rawat refused to comment on Aiyar's remarks, dismissing him as a "frustrated individual."
As Prabhakaran was leaving his house, Rajiv Gandhi called his son Rahul and asked him to fetch his (Gandhi's) bulletproof jacket. He put the jacket on Prabhakaran's back and remarked with his usual charming smile: "Take care of yourself."
A new book by former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi claims that former chief election commissioner T N Seshan proposed an immediate halt to the general election process after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 and even offered to become home minister. Gandhi, who was joint secretary to then president R Venkatraman, writes that Seshan was the one who broke the news of the assassination to the president and arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhawan "super-fast" that night. According to Gandhi's account, Seshan told Venkatraman that he felt the election process needed to be stopped and that he was ready to take on the role of home minister if necessary. However, Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra assured the president that the situation was under control and that there was no need to pause the election process. Seshan's suggestions were ultimately ignored, but he did manage to postpone the second and third phases of polling.
'This was a decision taken and executed by Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman. Both were convinced that the assassination would not be linked to them.'
An upcoming book by investigative journalist Chitra Subramaniam claims that senior Indian bureaucrats "tutored" Bofors officials in a secret meeting in 1987 on how to absolve then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of all blame in the infamous bribery scandal. The book, "Boforsgate," details how the meeting was held to cover up the alleged Rs 64 crore bribe in a Rs 1,437 crore deal for Howitzer guns, and how Indian officials provided advice on concealing information from investigators. Subramaniam's revelations are based on documents provided to her by the Swedish head of police investigating the Bofors case.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
Senior Congress leaders paid tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 75 birth anniversary on Tuesday
'Some of his decisions were not so good, but his intentions were always guided by a deep national interest.'
Santhan alias T Suthendiraraja (55) is a Sri Lankan national and was one of the seven persons set free by the Supreme Court in 2022 after they served over 20 years of jail term in connection with the killing of the former prime minister near here in 1991.
Rahul Gandhi pays tribute to his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, on his 79th birth anniversary on the banks of the Pangong Lake in Ladakh, August 20, 2023.
In a culture where children take up the profession of their father, her becoming a politician was seen as natural and acceptable.
Gianiji had crafted his moves with the meticulous planning of a chess grandmaster. He did not know whether a checkmate was feasible, as his time was running out, but he wanted Rajiv Gandhi to smell the fear of loss. A fascinating excerpt from K C Singh's The Indian President: An Insider's Account of the Zail Singh Years.
The airport received emails on late Sunday night targeting British Airways' (BA 277) from Heathrow, Lufthansa's (LH 752) from Frankfurt and IndiGo's 6E 7178 from Kannur.
Businessman Robert Vadra says his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has a bright future in politics and a time will come when people would like to see her at the top position.
Ganesh Joshi also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the smooth conclusion of Rahul Gandhi's Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
'Mark had such a profound understanding of India, which was, of course, the land of his birth as well as of his death... He loved India, and lived two-thirds of his life here.'
The award, which carries a citation and cash amount of Rs 10 lakh, is given for promoting communal harmony and peace.
Fan frenzy over star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya forced the organisers to shift the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match between his team Baroda and Gujarat to a more secure Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium from a nondescript Gymkhana ground in Hyderabad on Thursday.
After spending nearly 50 years in a colonial bungalow at 24, Akbar Road, the Congress moved into a new office on January 15. Rasheed Kidwai, who knows the history of the Congress better than the Congress, looks back at the people who breathed life into this address.
The prime minister is now expected to speak on Thursday in the Rajya Sabha, where the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address has taken place without any disruption.
The idea of weaponization got a fillip from an unexpected quarter. In the last week of October 1985, Rajiv met US President Ronald Reagan. Reagan told Rajiv, 'Pakistan has already made a bomb.' When Rajiv started talking about disarmament, the US president cut him short, 'Don't talk theory, think of your own protection.'
"Tributes to former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary," Modi tweeted.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the premature release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan and R P Ravichandran, serving life term in the assassination case of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, noting that the Tamil Nadu government has recommended remission of their sentence.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president and the late leader's wife, Sonia Gandhi, had a hectic day attending several ceremonies, including one at Rajiv Gandhi's memorial, Vir Bhumi.
Leaders at various functions across the country eulogised Gandhi for carrying the country forward, especially in the field of science, technology and telecommunication.
The NHRC has issued a show cause notice to the Tamil Nadu government regarding an attack on a migrant worker, identified as Suraj, demanding his tracing, medical treatment, and compensation.
Rediff.com brings you a chronology of the more than two decade-long Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, which finally seems to be getting some closure
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Sonia Gandhi has made her daughter Priyanka Gandhi a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.Political insiders believe that Sonia's decision indicates that Priyanka will be inducted into politics within a year or so.The website of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation mentions Priyanka as a teacher and an educationist.Priyanka also makes time to visit the foundation's office every weekday.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Friday alleged that Prime Minister's National Relief Fund was donating money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation during the United Progressive Alliance years while adding that to divert this public money into a family-run foundation is not only a "brazen fraud" but also a "big betrayal" of the people of India.
The first such situation surfaced on December 18, 1954, when the Opposition moved a resolution for the removal of then Speaker Mavalankar.
Sarla Maheshwari brought families together for that half hour -- delivering the news with remarkable poise, a firm command over language, without drama or noise. She was a classic.
Murugan, along with Santhan, both Sri Lankan nationals, were taken in a police vehicle following their release to the special refugee camp in Tiruchirappalli in the state.
Rich tributes were offered to Rajiv Gandhi amid singing of hymns at Vir Bhumi, the memorial to the departed leader on the banks of river Yamuna.
'We have tags of state animals and birds. However, the invisible world of microbes is doing a lot of things for us in nature, not just for human beings but for the entire life.'
Devotional music rent the air as scores of political leaders and Congress workers remembered the late leader for his services to the nation.
Hyderabad delivered the perfect footballing spectacle on Saturday night as Lionel Messi lit up the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, offering fans a sharply contrasting experience to the chaos that had unfolded earlier in Kolkata.
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