A 'White Paper' versus 'Black Paper' battle erupted on Thursday as the Centre and the Congress unveiled documents and crossed swords over the handling of the Indian economy during the nearly 10 years of the BJP-led NDA rule and the previous 10-year tenure of the Congress-led UPA government.
Then prime minister Manmohan Singh's brief to his new information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari on what should be the government's approach to the media was simple -- it should be an essay in persuasion, not coercion.
The opposition parties on Sunday slammed the move to hire public servants through lateral entry, claiming it will snatch reservations from SCs, STs and OBCs, but the Bharatiya Janata Party hit back stating the National Democratic Alliance government was bringing transparency to this mode of recruitment started by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
She said that if she asked to discuss it with Rahul Gandhi, he would not come. He would not be able to stand even in front of an ordinary worker of the BJP.
'Dear Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury dada, the screenshots of the tweets addressed to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh below hope address your concern and criticism also'
The former Union minister joined the UPA after holding talks with the Congress leadership.
In the book 10 Flashpoints: 20 years that is set to be released on December 2, the former union minister has looked back at the security situations that have impacted India in the last two decades.
False and acrimonious debates such as Modi versus Manmohan might allow for victories that are political and partisan. But the real loser is the nation, India and Bharat, notes Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the Modi government in its first term.
Shah, while releasing the saffron party's manifesto 'Sankalp Patra' for the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, announced that a Displacement Commission would be formed to ensure rehabilitation of people displaced by industries and mines in the state.
Several people are still feared trapped in the debris after a series of landslides that occurred in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad.
The UPA government carried out six surgical strikes -- Bhattal sector in Poonch (June 19, 2008); Sharda sector, across Neelam River Valley, in Kel (August 30-September 1, 2011); Sawan Patra checkpost (January 6, 2013); Nazapir sector (July 27-28, 2013); Neelam Valley (August 6, 2013); and one on December 23, 2013, Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said.
'If the Singh government was characterised by policy paralysis, this one is afflicted by hyperactivism, sans a roadmap,' says Yogendra Yadav.
Experts say it will now be tough for the Modi government to catch up with the UPA's economic record owing to the shock induced by the currency demonetisation.
The record lies with first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who did the honours 17 times from 1947 to 1964.
The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Opinions are being formed about the UPA and erstwhile NDA governments at the onset of elections across states.
Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday staked claim to form the next government in Haryana, hours after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party in the state.
UPA failed to undertake economic, social and administrative reforms to strengthen India's long-term development potential.
The Modi government had touched the maximum strength of 78 in 2021 after expansion, but the outgoing council of ministers had 72 members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, have indicated that their party chiefs have better credentials for the post than the newly-elected Congress head, reports Archis Mohan
Congress senior leaders concede that UPA could be safe in terms of numbers but that does not solve problem totally
'Just because the NDA has a majority and the BJP is the single largest party does not mean that this Modi government enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha.' 'It is always possible that some members (of the NDA and even the BJP) may defect, some members may not want him to be the prime minister and they might vote differently (against Modi) in the confidence vote.'
Former Army Chief and now Bharatiya Janata Party's Ghaziabad constituency candidate is never away from controversy, says R S Chauhan
Terrorists active in Jammu and Kashmir will either land in jail or be sent to jahannum (hell), Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday while asserting that the Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday strongly backed the Centre's new Direct Benefit Transfer system that will ensure cash transfer directly in the hands of beneficiaries of various schemes, saying it is in line with many other "revolutionary" measures taken by the UPA.
Pradhan further said the opposition had a chance to raise this issue during the motion of thanks to the President's address and asserted the government was ready for any type of discussion.
'The PM who is first among equals, who has to listen to others, take their point of view into account and who would have to be a good manager'
Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre is in 'intensive care unit' and claimed that his party would form government in the next elections.
Rathwa was a Minister of State for Railways in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2004, and lost to BJP candidate Ramsinh Rathwa in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Arun Jaitley sought a review of environmental projects.
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday once again sought the support of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on the alleged coalgate scam and urged her to quit the United Progressive Alliance as she has a 'clear image'.
The Economic Survey has acknowledged the measures taken by the UPA government on the macro stabilisation front and the successes achieved in containing the current account deficit and reducing the fiscal deficit.
Chidambaram hit out at former Bharatiya Janata Party Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, saying he was a 'distant memory' for the people of India.
'Every report I filed for Rediff.com on the professor's incarceration, would leave me wondering for days, at the depth of the State's malevolence towards this disabled professor, and his equally deep capacity to tolerate it,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.' 'No country in the world would do what our country was doing to someone so helpless.'
Obsessed with spending, the UPA has ignored the vital task of expanding the direct tax net.
It is now an under-statement to call the UPA a lame duck government. It is in fact a dead duck, says Arun Jaitley.
NDA under Mr Modi is as focused on the rural poor with doles and hand-outs as the UPA under Dr Singh was.
Ministers in UPA-II had undertaken over 460 official foreign trips in the first 18 months of its tenure and spent more than 1,800 days abroad.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday accused him of lowering the dignity of public discourse and the gravity of the office of the PM by giving "hateful speeches" during the poll campaign.
