The Shiv Sena on Monday slammed diplomat Devyani Khobragade's father Uttam Khobragade, a former Indian Administrative Service officer, for calling Marathi media casteist after being confronted with a query about her flat in the controversial Adarsh housing society.
The result was so disastrous for the Congress and NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
It rejected the government's contention that there are no provisions to declare tragedies as a national calamity.
The government on Monday reached out to BJP to seek its support in passage of the contentious Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde wanting the opposition party to spell out its concerns on the issue.
Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar on Tuesday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi separately and discussed the modalities of government formation in the southern state.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to implement the commitments made by the previous Congress-led government to Seemandhra, which include grant of special category status to it and execution of Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project.
Due to hectic engagements with Telangana issue, Gandhi was unable to have an interaction with party MPs as there was no valedictory dinner meeting of the parliamentary party during the just-concluded winter session of Parliament, the last of the 15th Lok Sabha.
Union Minister Milind Deora on Tuesday disagreed with Maharashtra government's rejection of the judicial commission of inquiry report on Adarsh Housing scam which indicted several politicians including three former chief ministers for "blatant violations".
The probe into Sunday's serial blasts near a political rally addressed by the Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been handed over to National Investigation Agency following recommendation from the Bihar government.
A new cabinet in the state will be in place in the next 48-72 hours.
Sources said Rahul's meeting with Pranab follows the former's participation in the Congress Core Group meeting for the first time on July 12.
Congress observers for Rajasthan on Tuesday recommended disciplinary action against three key loyalists of Ashok Gehlot but did not seek any action against the chief minister, as the party scampered to resolve the crisis that has cast a shadow on the election of the party president.
The Group of Ministers that met in New Delhi has submitted the proposal to create a larger Telangana. This would mean that GoM is suggesting that the state be formed with 12 districts as opposed to 10, which was originally proposed.
Names of senior party leaders Kharge, Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Sushilkumar Shinde, Mukul Wasnik and Kumari Selja are now also doing the rounds for the post.
With the government making it clear that it will not be able to provide adequate security for IPL 7, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has started discussing with other cricket boards possible venues for the cash-rich Twenty20 tournament, the league's chairman, Ranjib Biswal, said on Friday.
Notwithstanding Andhra Pradesh assembly's rejection of Telangana bill, a Group of Ministers on Tuesday cleared the draft legislation to be placed before the Union Cabinet on Thursday to pave the way for its tabling in Parliament.
Senior leaders Sushil Kumar Shinde and Mallikarju Kharge could be elected as next party chief.
Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Milind Deora on Friday demanded that the judicial commission's report on Adarsh scam should be debated in the Maharashtra legislature.
The just-concluded meeting of the Group of Ministers has remained inconclusive and the same team would meet again on Wednesday. The contentious issue was the creation of a Rayal-Telangana and the GoM sought to know if this could be proposed despite it not being part of the Cabinet note.
With tension running high in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, the Centre on Monday offered to provide additional paramilitary forces to Uttar Pradesh to assist the local administration in dealing with the situation.
Government is unlikely to set up another States Reorganisation Commission to look into the growing demands for creation of separate states in different parts of the country.
Restoration of the pre-2004 pension scheme, regularisation of contract employees after two years, enhanced daily wages, social security pension and appointment of anti-corruption grievances commissioner were the other promises made in the manifesto.
The Government has reiterated that it will not be able to provide security to this year's Indian Premier League as its dates clash with the general elections.
The Union Cabinet rejected the ordinance route for a set of anti-corruption measures despite pressure from Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for bringing such laws.
Making it clear that his party had not sought Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's removal from the post, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that he was, however, not averse to the idea. "NCP has not demanded (to Congress) that Chavan be replaced," Pawar said.
Putting behind the acrimony witnessed during the session, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj on Friday praised Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders for their conduct in the Lok Sabha.
Rejecting the outgoing government's recommendation for the dissolution of the Delhi Assembly, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Saturday reportedly suggested the imposition of President's rule by keeping the legislature under suspended animation.
At least 21 persons died on Sunday when the tourist boat carrying them capsized in the Bay of Bengal near Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, official sources said. The boat carrying 45 people -- tourists from Kanchi Puram district of Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, and crewmembers -- sank on its way from Ross Island to North Bay.
'Yeh dil maange more' seems to be mantra for over two dozen former chief ministers of various states who are contesting upcoming Lok Sabha elections on different party tickets.
Committee sources said that Nirupam has been asked to respond within a few days over the articles in the magazine 'Congress Darshan'.
'The Dalit vote traditionally went to the Congress, but everyone knows by now that the Congress and the BJP are the same. We all stand united behind Balasaheb (Prakash Ambedkar) this time.'
A team of National Investigation Agency sleuths is likely to visit Italy to question four Italian marines, who were witnesses to the killing of two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012, after their refusal to come to India for deposition before investigators.
Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
With protests in Seemandhra against the Centre's decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, the Congress on Tuesday appealed to people in the region to give up their agitation so that a solution that benefits both sides could be arrived at.
The internal war over appointment of secretary general of the Lok Sabha secretariat has intensified, causing an embarrassment the Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kamal Nath.
The government is likely to firm up next week a view on how to go about the food security bill. Indications to this effect were available on Wednesday with the government sources saying a decision will be taken only after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's return from Rome where he has gone to attend Food and Agriculture Organisation conference.
Noting that Muzaffarnagar riots have underlined inadequacies in existing laws to deal with such clashes, Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan on Monday pitched for introduction of the Communal Violence Bill in Winter Session of Parliament.
India is likely to press for access to Tahawwur Hussain Rana, and wife and two girlfriends of Mumbai attack terrorist David Headley during Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's visit to the United States next week.
Here's how the heavyweights are faring.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said there was no increased threat perception to this year's Amarnath yatra compared to previous years and fears of attack as reported in the media were "gross exaggeration".
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