Afghanistan was the focus of the high-level talks held between India and Tajikistan, says Sheela Bhatt.
Who ordered the search against DMK leader Stalin or did the CBI really act of its own? Sheela Bhatt breaks down the events leading up to the raid and explains why claims by the government and CBI are unconvincing.
Nitish Kumar's sneak attack on Narendra Modi is an attempt to wean away the Muslim vote from his state political rival Lalu Yadav as also a move to project himself as a PM candidate if the situation turns out favourable after the 2014 general election, says Sheela Bhatt.
For the first time since the riots of 2002, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi finds himself on uncertain territory in Saurashtra, where the intense caste politics of Patels is now intertwined with the water problems of all the farmers of the region, reports Sheela Bhatt.
Rahul Gandhi attended thee public speeches in Jamnagar, Amreli and Sanand on Tuesday, but his careful attitude made them bland, says Sheela Bhatt.
In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, BJP MP Harin Pathak, a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the 2G scam, says without mincing words that panel chief P C Chacko cannot decide exclusively whether to summon prime accused former Union Telecom Minister A Raja or not.
While speaking to Sheela Bhatt about Narendra Modi and the Congress's media strategy, Jaitley deliberately and subtly downplays Modi's projection as a prime ministerial candidate and the BJP leaders' endorsements of Modi for the top job as if it is a routine affair
Arun Jaitley, one of the BJP's seniormost leaders and a friend of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in an exclusive conversation with Sheela Bhatt.
Lok Satta party president Dr Jayaprakash Narayan may have his differences with Anna Hazare over the Lokpal Bill, but he salutes the Gandhian's efforts to bring the youth and the middle class to the forefront of the anti-corruption movement. Sheela Bhatt reports
The Uttar Pradesh election has become like a proverbial elephant. The political parties are looking at it from different angles and their assessments are quite contrary to each other, but not necessarily incorrect. Sheela Bhatt shares the prevailing excitement about the UP election and the best case scenario that the Bharatiya Janata Party is looking forward to on March 6, when the results will be declared.
Wednesday's shock and awe of regional leaders gave Congress leaders such a jolt that they had no choice but to quickly decide on the man who would be least opposed by its allies and adversaries, reports Sheela Bhatt.
We can sort out certain sensitive issues with the Left, we can put aside certain economic reforms, but there will not be day-to-day skirmishes with them, a senior Congress leader tells Sheela Bhatt
P Chidamabaram's February 28 Budget will not have any big-ticket ideas, reports Sheela Bhatt
Unless the name of a Congress-linked person or leader having links with the middlemen is revealed, the target of the Opposition party will remain blurred, says Sheela Bhatt
The Congress knew that Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh are lost for a long time as Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's leadership is taking deep roots. It also knew that if the next government is formed by the NDA then Telangana will definitely be created depriving them any credit. This pushed the Congress to finally endorse the new state. But the huge risk behind the decision and the uncertainties that go with it are making Congress nervous, says Sheela Bhatt.
'Modi has to lead the BJP. There is no alternative,' a senior BJP leader tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
The UPA has failed over the last three years because it is in denial mode, refusing to accept that so much is rotten inside the government and the party, says Sheela Bhatt.
Sheela Bhatt launches a special series where well-informed Uttar Pradesh residents discuss the psyche of voters, the personalities of its leaders and the socio-cultural lives of the people of the election-bound state.
Sheela Bhatt analyses the implications of the Supreme Court's landmark verdict on Thursday, trashing the appointment of PJ Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner
As his old adversary Mayawati confronts the anti-incumbency factor in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Mulayam Singh Yadav expects a fresh lease of political life as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. An exclusive interview!
Activist Arvind Kejriwal, in the second part of his interview with Sheela Bhatt, discusses how democracy has been replaced by oligarchy, the commonality of interests between the Congress and BJP, and how his political party will be different.
What will stand Shukla in good stead as minister for parliamentary affairs will be his ability to communicate across party lines and get along with most political parties. Thanks to his affable nature, Shukla has friends in the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and many other regional parties
The induction of former Bahujan Samaj Party leader Babu Singh Kushwaha is a sign of the Bharatiya Janata Party's nervousness on the Uttar Pradesh battlefield. It is also the result of the BJP's intra-party tensions, analyses Sheela Bhatt
According to the CBI charge-sheet in the encounter case, which leaves out some important questions, five Gujarat cops fired 70 rounds on the four persons they branded as terrorists. Sheela Bhatt presents a summary of the CBI charge-sheet of the "extra-judicial" killings that are haunting the Gujarat government.
'Menon's kidnappers are unlikely to behave like the radical Islamists who have a tendency to displease their own people and community. The Maoists are shrewd and will bargain hard, but not behave recklessly. Young Christians are their primary constituency and they bank heavily on them in the jungles.'
Sheela Bhatt says Sonia Gandhi's speech in Rajkot did not do anything to galvanise the Congress cadre in Gujarat.
Sheela Bhatt's questionnaire for all those boys, teenagers, young chaps, middle-aged-men and aged men to tick before they step out at India Gate or Jantar Mantar to speak up for women.
A nation angered may spur the the Bhopal gas victims in their seemingly endless battle to get justce, writes Sheela Bhatt.
With the political class ranged against them, the civic representatives of the panel drafting the Lokpal bill face an uphill battle. Sheela Bhatt reports from New Delhi.
None of Dr Manmohan Singh's arguments to make us understand his government's decisions were new. Sheela Bhatt examines the prime minister's address to the nation
With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerji refusing to budge from her stand against the UPA government's decision allowing 51 per cent FDI in retail, the Congress party's spin doctors are working overtime to project the decision favourably to the country. Sheela Bhatt reports
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may be right in pushing for FDI in retail because reports have been pouring in, indicating that the economic downturn in India and abroad will worsen in coming weeks. Sheela Bhatt examines the politics behind the government's decision.
The Congress Party is sinking. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should make way for Rahul Gandhi, says Congress MP from Gurudaspur Sardar Partap Singh Bajwa. Sheela Bhatt reports
Surat's businessmen and citizens collect funds to help the police build a state-of-the-art surveillance system that will provide real-time video coverage of the city. Sheela Bhatt reports.
Sheela Bhatt, who visited Islamabad and Lahore to cover the visit of External Affairs Minister SM Krishnato Pakistan last weekend, returned with these impressions of the neighbouring country who India is trying to befriend after more than half a century of mutual hostilities
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's low-key visit to Kabul on Thursday is a visit for "reassurance", said a diplomat who is one of the most well informed officials on Afghanistan in New Delhi. "When PM Singh will meet Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai he is likely to say that India is a friend of Afghanistan and Indians are standing shoulder-to-shoulder in Afghan's endeavour for peace and development."
Sheela Bhatt, who attended the United Progressive Alliance's fourth anniversary event on Wednesday, shares some gupshup picked up from 7, Race Course Road.
'The court would like to make the CBI politically neutral so that they behave as professionals and they are not influenced by somebody in power,' constitutional expert Anil Divan tells Sheela Bhatt
Irrespective of the results of the UP assembly election, a senior Congress leader tells Sheela Bhatt that Rahul Gandhi has established himself as a leader to reckon with.
Nitish Kumar's stunning victory in Bihar is a political earthquake that will reverberate in Indian politics till the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
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