Time is running out for a hapless UPA govt over the Telangana bill, and the latest observation by the Rajya Sabha secretariat -- that the bill has financial implications and so must be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha first -- has only worsened the crisis for the ruling alliance. Anita Katyal reports.
The 33-year-old, who steered his party to an impressive show in the Bihar assembly polls last year thereby emerging out of the shadow of his father Lalu Prasad, underscored that the opposition needed to bring in "dhaar" (edge) and "nayaapan" (novelty) in its electoral issues.
Kamat was a Member of Parliament for the Mumbai North West constituency in 2009 and the Mumbai North East constituency in 1984, 1991, 1998 and 2004.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday said that he had asked the Uttarakhand government not to allow any VIP to land in the flood ravaged areas in the state to pre-empt any disturbance to relief work.
Amid reports that Telugu Desam Party is cosying up to National Democratic Alliance, party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday shared the stage with Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a programme in New Delhi and heaped praise on the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
With Rahul Gandhi slamming the ordinance against the disqualification of convicted lawmakers, the government is expected to take back the controversial measure, Congress indicated on Friday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday undertook a train journey through the 11-km long tunnel under the Pir Panjal mountain ranges along with school children most of whom travelled by rail for the first time.
Many leaders who appealed to Gandhi to stay argued that their political futures depended on his presence in the party and hence he must stay.
Gandhi said the BJP, in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003, is only working for a few rich people.
In a fresh salvo at the Gandhi family, Narendra Modi on Friday said the country could not be run by a government working on "oxygen from mother and son" and a "dead, feeble and fractured" regime was not needed.
Doing some plain speaking, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday conceded that lack of discipline and unity were among the reasons for the party's debacle in Assembly polls and asked the cadre not to despair and be ready for the "battle ahead" in 2014 general elections.
After his public outburst against ordinance, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is understood to have explained his reasons for opposing the move that will protect convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification.
Narendra Modi on Friday accused Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi for resorting to "low-level" politics and raising issues from his personal life to his caste in their bid to prevent him from coming to power.
Scindia also said that as far as talks for alliances are concerned, "like-minded parties should also think in a like-minded way".
The Congress' rebuttal came after the Gujarat police on Friday opposed activist Teesta Setalvad's bail application.
The Congress president also hit out at the PM for raking up the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying she was "more Indian" than many Indians.
Bharatiya Janata Party's national spokesman and veteran journalist-turned-politician, M J Akbar on Thursday criticised the Congress for resorting to its old practice of treating the Muslim community as a 'commodity' to be bought during election time.
The only reason for the new deal is to give Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani, the Congress chief alleged.
''He had given tools to fight all forms of homogenisation.'
Rahul Gandhi replied on Twitter, saying, 'Thank you for your greetings @narendramodi ji. I appreciate them.'
The former Union minister had suffered a stroke in 2008 and was hospitalised since then.
The road for the Opposition is full of 'ifs' and 'buts', reports Sunil Gatade.
JD-S leaders have already dropped enough hints about the party being open to such a possibility.
The Congress released a booklet 'Nau saal, Nau sawaal', asking nine questions from Modi. The BJP rejected the Congress' criticism as a 'bundle of lies and mountain of deception' and said the questions are born out of 'pathological hatred' of the PM.
The 77-year-old was recently diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital, where he died at 1.28 am, a Congress leader said.
Gandhi on Friday chaired his first CWC meeting after being elected as the party chief.
Shah said, "Rahul baba cannot see development as he sports Italian spectacles."
Naidu met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and discussed with him the possibilities of all opposition parties uniting and forging a joint opposition alliance.
A combative Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday mounted a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of running a government "of some people, by one person for a select few" and said he has not much to showcase even as the government completes one year.
Rahul Gandhi said the meeting was very productive and everyone decided to stop the BJP from further assault of institutions and the Constitution.
Even if they score administratively, state governments ruled by the party suffer from an inability to communicate positively, say observers.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Thursday expressed concern over massive loss of life and property in neighbouring Uttarakhand and demanded the central government to declare it as a national calamity.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of party-ruled states to chalk out the party's strategy in the run-up to the general election. The leaders would focus on setting up of Lokayuktas in a time-bound manner in states and curbing food inflation.
Notwithstanding exit polls giving a clear mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday said the party still prefers to support a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Singh was widely regarded as an expert in the rural and agricultural landscape of the country and is credited with the conceptualisation and implementation of the NREGA (National Rural Guarantee Employment) Act.
The party will also leave two seats for the Apna Dal, and entered into an electoral agreement with the lesser known Jan Adhikar Party.
Although the Congress leadership and UPA has given its nod for Telangana, the road to the separate state is surely going to be a complicated one, reports Anita Katyal.
The BJP has nothing to lose after a point. For the DMK it is a difficult choice, as it would not want to give too much of space to a 'national party' lest the 'Dravidian duel' of the past decades should be lost forever, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday appeared all set to become Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha after his appointment as Leader of Congress in the Upper House.
With an aggressive Opposition and unyielding government, important legislation could be the biggest casualty, as details of the helicopter contract surface.
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