Bharatiya Janata Party MP Hansraj Ahir, who has been at the forefront in exposing the scandalous free allotment of coal blocks by the United Progressive Alliance, explains the modus operandi of the coal scam in the second and final part of his interview with rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Whether the Congress takes a decision for or against a Telangana state, its strongest bastion Andhra Pradesh weakens. Sheela Bhatt looks at the tough choices before the party.
While Team Anna wants the Central Bureau of Investigation to be brought under the Lokpal, the government and CBI are vehemently against it. They say there is no watertight compartment between various wings of the CBI. Sheela Bhatt reports.
On the eve of the winter session of Parliament, rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt narrates how the Congress party views the issues of corruption, Team Anna and Lokpal bill.
Although Dr Manmohan Singh readily answered questions during his press conference, he gave the feeling that he is a secretive politician who doesn't reveal the story easily. More than 80 minutes of questioning failed to provoke him. He played a defensive game and didn't convey through anything new, writes Sheela Bhatt.
The Chinese premier will try to boost the burgeoning trade between the two nations and strive to keep bilateral differences under control, explains Sheela Bhatt
Monday's verdict of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case was extraordinary in many ways. Reading Sheela Bhatt lists out 10 most important things to understand about the judgment.
Will the Indo-Afghan strategic agreement project India's soft power and provide it strategic depth or is it a high-risk gamble that will come to haunt us in the future? Sheela Bhatt finds out
The recommendations of the people's tribunal on the problems of the tribals and the Maoist insurgency offers a comprehensive plan to tackle the situation and looks into the root causes of the issues at stake.
It took six months' hard work and more than a dozen visits to-and-from both sides for Washington and New Delhi to make President Barack Obama's visit successful.
'Lashkar is full of soldiers; it is full of spies, and you never know who is retired and who isn't... Headley asked one of the army majors, who claimed to be a retired officer, from where a lot of the information was coming from and he was told the military have become particularly proud of a series of sources they have in India.' Adrian Levy, co-author of The Siege: The Attack on the Taj, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt in an exclusive interview.
K K Mohammad, who took the US First Couple around Humayun's Tomb while explaining its history, tells Sheela Bhatt that the tour was a crash course in architecture and history for the Obamas.
Bihar expert Dr Shaibal Gupta tells Sheela Bhatt why the upcoming assembly election is a benchmark in the state.
The man who has studied Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar from a vantage position in Patna's corridors of power speaks to Sheela Bhatt about the upcoming Bihar assembly election.
After a long time, a meaningful campaign to create social awareness for Indian children's right to education was launched by the UNICEF on Monday. Awaaz Do, the project, is timely, direct and uncomplicated, notes Sheela Bhatt
Modi has a real challenge if the allegations of corruption pick up momentum. Modi was struggling to improve his image with the minorities but now he will have to convince the majority that his deals were clean and he is above board, says Sheela Bhatt.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh on September 6 and 7, his first to the eastern neighbour and the first by an Indian prime minister in 12 years, promises to take bilateral ties to the next level, reports Sheela Bhatt
What India projected at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, says Sheela Bhatt, was a huge Indian mela in all its old shades.
Prashant Bhushan is a lawyer and one of the senior leaders and brains behind the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement for a stronger Lokpal bill. The movement is set to add a historic, new chapter in India's parliamentary democracy.
The team that is forming the strategy to take on Anna Hazare is so confused and incoherent that in spite of Team Anna's few missteps, the UPA government is unable to counter them. Says a senior minister and a leader with political sense, "We are worried about losing the battle for minds." Sheela Bhatt reports.
While tackling the differences over the Lokpal Bill with social activist Anna Hazare and his team, the Manmohan Singh government has landed in a bigger mess by sending Hazare to Tihar jail. Sheela Bhatt explains why.
With just one move, the highly anticipated shift of power to the next generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family has come about, albeit silently, explains Sheela Bhatt
'The priority at the moment should be to strengthen our internal security arrangements and improve coordination among the intelligence agencies, state governments and military authorities,' says Naresh Chandra, India's former ambassador to Washington.
No Indian function is complete without a sumptuous spread of food. Fortunately, the controversy-ridden Commonwealth Games Organising Committee will maintain that tradition when guests descend in New Delhi for the October 3-14 extravaganza.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt presents an inseiders view of the Congress plenary held at Burari.
The mid-sized ministerial reshuffle will not lead to better governance and has only kept the window open for another reshuffle after the UP election, says Sheela Bhatt.
Even as the UPA is struggling for credibility and ways to fight corruption, the BJP is merely waiting in the wings hoping to earn votes by default. But that is not likely to happen, says Sheela Bhatt.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is heading for the most crucial time of his political career. On Tuesday, no less than the Supreme Court dragged Prime Minister's Office in the massive telecom scam and that gives the hint of forming of the political storm which has the potential to damage PM Dr Singh.
'The Emergency showed the Congress'level of commitment to democracy, freedom of the press and all the other attributes regarded as imperative for a sound democracy,' says L K Advani in a special feature to mark the 35th anniversary of the Emergency.
Is the leak of Army Chief General V K Singh's letter the last straw that faces the government to take action? Sheela Bhatt explains the factors at play.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com Gopalan replies back to the critics of the Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Trivedi played a smart one, but not a very intelligent one, on Mamata, but she is likely to have the last laugh on the issue, reports Sheela Bhatt
"So far, conclusive evidence has not been obtained but in any terrorism case the turning points in investigations always come only after the confessional statements of the accused," a senior officer said.
The assembly elections will not be a big help for the Congress in New Delhi because even if it wins impressively, it will still be considered a local win with the help of local issues. It will not help the Congress find an apt response to the question of corruption at the national level, says Sheela Bhatt
Two powerful businessmen ganged up against the Congress. Starling revelations from a source close to Rahul Gandhi. Sheela Bhatt listens in. Exclusive to Rediff.com
'This is the vote against the Congress's Muslim appeasement policy. The OBCs in Uttar Pradesh has understood how the Congress to gain Muslim votes wants to give away a pie of the quota, which is legitimately theirs.'
"Who will be his men?" a distinguished official close to the prime minister asked. Frankly, nobody has an idea. Hardly seven weeks are left for a regime change, but the idea of Narendra Modi on Raisina Hill looks abnormal, if not unreal. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt captures the uncertain mood in the capital's bureaucracy ahead of the largest democratic transfer of power in the world.
Devinder Sharma, distinguished food security expert who has been with India Against Corruption since its inception, talks about their future plans and where he hopes the movement will go and what they hope to achieve.
Historian Ramachandra Guha on what the Congress means for India today, what could lurk for the party in the future and the importance of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
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