RJD chief Lalu Prasad and other leaders claimed the countdown for the ouster of the BJP and its allies from power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had begun.
Vardhan's elevation to the chairmanship of the 34-member World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board comes amid growing calls, including by United States President Donald Trump, to investigate how coronavirus originated in China's Wuhan city and subsequent action by Beijing.
The op-ed ends with a call to the world to work shoulder to shoulder to end hate, violence and suffering.
Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was on Sunday appointed as Lt Governor of Puducherry.
Meanwhile, the AP CM said that the TDP is ready to bring no-trust motion against Centre as last resort.
Nitish 'sent his emissary, Prashant Kishor, to me on five different occasions.' 'Kishor seemed to indicate that if I were to assure in writing my party's support to the JD-U, the latter would pull out of the BJP alliance and rejoin the Mahagathbandhan.' A revealing excerpt from Lalu Prasad Yadav's Gopalganj To Raisina: My Political Journey.
German Chancellor Angel Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Switzerland President Simonetta Sommaruga would be participating in the 45th edition of the meet.
After meeting J&K Governor NN Vohra to stake a claim to form a new government in the state, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday thanked the BJP for extending unconditional support.
The PM asserted that 'we know how to take challenges head-on'.
Vagela could not have reached this position if Narendra Modi, who'd known him from his chief minister days, had not backed the choice.
'In India, a really popular and well-entrenched leader is not defeated by a rival.' 'Such a leader has to defeat himself,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The 71-year-old remained Sonia Gandhi's most trusted lieutenant for most of her tenure as the longest serving Congress president, standing by her side through sun and shade.
'We spent Rs 59,000 crore on acquiring 36 Rafales and we do not know if we will ever use them. The chances are that we never will,' argues Aakar Patel.
Journalist, social science researcher, human rights activist and Rediff.com contributor, Praful Bidwai has passed away. He was 66.
The party also sought to justify its protest in the Lok Sabha.
'Alas, the Congress party offers no suggestions as to how to unscramble the omlette it cooked during 2004-2014 on which the Modi government may have since lavishly spread some tomato ketchup,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Don't be under the illusion that we are in a lockdown for 21 days and then we are free.'
The ordinary life lived in Pakistan is rarely a part of Indian imagination. This is this gap that Pakistani television serials have succeeded in bridging, says Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
Even domestic income can be subjected to scrutiny by the taxman.
'In mocking him, Modi and Shah went horribly wrong.'
'It made Gandhi determined to fight to the finish, which now has the entire Sangh Parivar rattled,' says a Congress leader, privy to the repeated RSS outreach for a rapproachment.
As West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry prepare for new administrations, one is reminded of the disparity that runs through the veins of the Indian states, notes Mihir S Sharma.
Kumaraswamy said he was ready for probe by even an international agency.
With the Sena now joining the government, Mr Fadnavis can hope for an easier time during the winter session of the Assembly, beginning in Nagpur on December 8. The government will have a clear majority of 184 in a House of 288. The BJP has 121 MLAs, 43 short of a majority. The Shiv Sena 63.
'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
'The non-violent movement would not have brought freedom to the country, that had to be an armed struggle.'
What will a split in the AIADMK mean for Tamil Nadu?
The elections in two eastern Indian states were keenly observed in Bangladesh for two major contentious issues, writes Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.
The meeting with Xi is being held amid the ongoing trade war between the United States and China.
Do Modi's foreign visits actually serve India or they nothing more than expensive tools for domestic positioning and image-building, asks Shehzad Poonawalla.
The SLPP, led by prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, has won in 145 constituencies, bagging a total of 150 seats with its allies, a two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament, according to the results announced by the election commission.
'No, that is not an abbreviation for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,' says T V R Shenoy, 'but for J Jayalalithaa-Mamata Banerjee-Mayawati-Mulayam Singh Yadav... If the AIADMK, the Trinamool Congress, and other regional forces do extremely well, we could be heading for a repetion of the 9th Lok Sabha (1989 to 1991) and the 11th Lok Sabha (1996 to 1998), each of which saw multiple prime ministers and neither of which lasted even half of its five-year term.'
Nitin Gadkari has seven portfolios, but does not seem weighed down at all by the many things on his plate. The minister is brimming with ideas...
'Although the Congress party ethos resembles a court with courtiers, Sonia Gandhi's style was to be consensual.'
'A participant in many rounds of the border talks with China once told me that China seemed not interested in resolving the border issue as it wanted to keep it as a ready excuse to intervene in the sub-continent,' says Colonel (retd) Anil A Athale.
'All appointments are from one family. And this is the fundamental difference between the Congress and the BJP'
'The danger today is that out of sheer fatigue and exasperation, the US might cut loose and exit from Afghanistan leaving it to the region to cope with the debris, which it is ill-equipped to handle,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
On being asked why he doesn't talk about his humble background like Modi, Singh said, "I don't want the country to take a pity on the basis of my humble background."
The Bharatiya Janata Party is ready to break its alliance with the Telugu Desam Party if it means getting more numbers from a tie-up with YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy. Vicky Nanjappa reports
