After having gone out on a limb over the creation of Telangana, the UPA government is expected to go for the kill and do whatever it takes to pass the bill in Lok Sabha. But the question remains whether the Congress would really be able to push the bill in the noise and confusion. Renu Mittal reports.
The Congress on Monday accused the ruling National Democratic Alliance of making a "fundamental departure" in New Delhi's position on Indo-Pak ties and of 'disrespecting' Parliament, as the government assured that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make a statement on the issue later this week.
In her death, the Congress has lost a leader who brought old world grace to politics but was open to new ideas.
Both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned without transacting any business on Tuesday, with senior leaders attributing the adjournments to a diktat from Gandhinagar where Narendra Modi has come in the firing line from multiple quarters along with his key aide and confidante Amit Shah, and the Congress has taken the opportunity to ask for the Gujarat chief minister's resignation.
In its manifesto, the party made a string of promises, including expeditious construction of a Ram temple, doubling farmers income and the scrapping of Article 370 that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
With the Modi government close to completing its two years in office, a new survey on Saturday said nearly half of the respondents (49 per cent) feel "no change" in their living standards while another 15 per cent feel the situation has actually worsened.
The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have learnt a bitter lesson from its past mistake of letting down the people of Telangana for the sake of the Telugu Desam Party's support to the Atal Bihari Vajpaee-led National Democratic Alliance government. This time it is refusing to do the same.
The government will find it difficult to pass the Bill without the Congress's help
Hectic activity, apparently over drafting of a resolution on the release of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was witnessed in Lok Sabha on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj joined the House to condemn it.Hectic activity, apparently over drafting of a resolution on the release of 26/11 Mumbai attack accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was witnessed in Lok Sabha on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj joined the House to condemn it.
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In a stern warning to Bharatiya Janata Party members of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked them not to cross the 'lakshman rekha' with controversial remarks as it hurts the government and the party.
"Today the country is moving forward from women development to women-led development," Modi said.
Opposition parties on Monday staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha after their demand for a resolution on Gaza was not accepted.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is eyeing a majority government in Haryana, has launched a high-pitched poll campaign by pressing its top leadership into campaigning to realise its target of 'Mission 60 plus' seats in the state.
Amid hectic discussions on formation of the new government, indications emerged on Saturday that Narendra Modi would have a "small and compact" Cabinet that will take oath along with him on May 26 in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan.
India on Monday said it could approach the International Court of Justice against the brutal torture of Kargil martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia by Pakistan.
In a strong show of support for Arun Jaitley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the finance minister will come through "with flying colours" against charges of corruption levelled against him by the opposition in the same way L K Advani did in the Hawala case.
Protesting Congress members had on Tuesday too blocked a debate on the bill. The monsoon session ends on Thursday.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to bring back former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi to face the law.
In an unusual advice to Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked his party MPs not to show him respect by touching his feet or greeting other senior leaders by touching their feet.
Nirmala Sitharaman's elevation not only to full Cabinet minister but also pitchforking her to the elite Cabinet Committee on Security group with the defence portfolio is undoubtedly the biggest takeaway from Sunday's reshuffle, says Rajeev Sharma.
Describing journalist Ved Pratap Vaidik as a "Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh man", Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday questioned whether the Indian high commission in Islamabad had facilitated the meeting between him and Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
Stepping up his attack on Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Jaswant Singh on Tuesday said "personality cult" was not good in a democracy and it would harm the party.
Sheela Bhatt lists ten quick takeaways from the passage of the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha.
'Destabilising the Yediyurappa government is not a cakewalk.' 'If he is destabilised, then the BJP will have problems in Karnataka.'
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YSR Congress Party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy's unexpected release on bail -- after spending 16 months behind bars on charges of corruption -- has set many tongues wagging.
Kumar, who will contest against National Democratic Alliance's Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president, described the presidential poll as a "battle of ideologies" and not a "Dalit versus Dalit" fight as was being out made out by some.
Attacking the Congress for its 65 years of "misrule", the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on said it was unthinkable that a national party has to be welcomed as a "regional party" in the Lok Sabha but promised to take the opposition party along in the decision-making process.
The prime minister was often seen vigorously thumping the desk, prompting his Cabinet colleagues and NDA MPs to follow suit.
A look at the team behind the Congress' aggressive stance.
Hitting out at the bill, he termed it as an attempt by the government to acquire land, whose price has been rising, for industrialist 'friends'and crony capitalists.
Narendra Modi's stamp was written all over as the Bharatiya Janata Party announced its election campaign committee for 2014 polls on Friday including top leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley who will work under him.
The gunman, believed to have been dressed in a Santa costume, opened fire inside the Reina nightclub in Istanbul's Ortaky district, where hundreds were celebrating the New Year.
In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Congress leader Madhu Yaskhi Goud says that the Bill was passed with a 2/3rds majority and there was absolutely no illegality in the entire process.
Will Priyanka contest against Modi in Varanasi? Will Rahul also contest from Karnataka? Rasheed Kidwai -- Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party's biographer -- reveals what is churning in the Congress.
The calculated playing up of confidence by Amit Shah and his team obviously means that the BJP has a strong counter-strategy in place to turn the tables on the Congress before the monsoon session is over, reports Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
'The Congress has no moral right to throw mud at others. The Gandhis talking of corruption sounds worse than the devil quoting scripture.'
With Anna Hazare sitting on an indefinite fast and the Congress having received a huge drubbing in Delhi at the hands of newcomers Aam Aadmi Party -- who fought the elections on the plank of eradicating corruption and bringing transparency in public discourse -- the party-led United Progressive Alliance government has finally decided to bring the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
He has served BJP in several capacities, will also be a saviour for the NDA in the Rajya Sabha, where they are still in minority.
Consensus building is likely to be the biggest casualty.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi could only manage 244 votes.
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