'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday night withdrew its support to the United Progressive Alliance over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and ruled out any reconsideration, a move that makes the government vulnerable despite its assertions of having a Parliamentary majority.
Following the fallout with the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and given the uneasy relationship with the Samajwadi Party, rumours are abound that the now-vulnerable UPA may very well go the general election way, says Sunita Moga
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has withdrawn her party's support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. Mayawati has accused the UPA of neglecting Uttar Pradesh and meting out step-motherly treatment to her party and the UP government.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal, with five members in the Lok Sabha, on Monday formally joined the United Progressive Alliance amid speculations that its chief Ajit Singh would be included in the Cabinet as the civil aviation minister. With the RLD joining the ruling coalition, its strength has gone up from 272 to 277 MPs. In the backdrop of speculations that Ajit Singh will be inducted into the Cabinet, Digvijay Singh was asked who will be the next civil aviation minister.
Mamata Bannerjee, a key United Progressive Alliance constituent, has put the cat amongst the pigeons by demanding that the UPA set up a co-ordination committee to discuss important issues and decisions before they are made and implemented. She said the recent petrol price hike was undertaken without her consent.
Unlike 2004 when Sonia Gandhi took things into her hands and hit the road and stitched up alliances, there is a lack of grip this time, as if things are on auto pilot. Cabinet meetings get over in minutes. People are glibly talking of a third front government in 2009 supported by the Congress.
The UPA-II may not talk about this, but it continues to implement its programme to revive ailing PSUs by investing fresh capital.
The CAG observed there was no change in the price of 'flyaway aircraft package'.
Ruling out any differences between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said Sharad Pawar is the biggest "supporter and well-wisher" of the United Progressive Alliance government. "There are no differences with Sharad Pawar. He is the biggest supporter and well-wisher of the UPA," Azad told reporters.
Senior Trinamool Congress leaders on Tuesday said that quitting the United Progressive Alliance government had brought them a sense of freedom and relief.
Pawar said the UPA-Left committee constituted to iron out the differences had already held four rounds of "good discussions and we hope both sides would amicably and with full responsibility settle the issue in our future meetings".
The CPI-M on Tuesday warned the UPA government at the Centre would "face the consequences" if it went ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal. CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechuri said the outcome of the discussion between India and IAEA regarding the nuclear deal would be conveyed to Left parties by the government on March 17 at the Left-UPA Coordination Committee meeting.
Accusing the United Progressive Alliance of being in power at the Centre only by 'manipulating smaller parties', the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said, the Manmohan Singh's government has completely exhausted its mandate to rule the nation.
The NDA govt will carry forward "good" policies and rail projects of UPA.
Sources in the Congress have begun to brief business houses and mediapersons with 'adequate numbers' to prove that the United Progressive Alliance government is in majority, despite Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress pulling out its 19 members of Parliament from the government.
Similarities between NDA and UPA on some key policy issues are now becoming too stark to be ignored, says A K Bhattacharya.
Both Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party might be thoroughly opposed to the United Progressive Alliance government's recent decision to allow FDI in retail as well as the hike in diesel price, but neither of these parties are likely to immediately part ways with the UPA.
The Nationalist Congress Party has decided to pull out of the UPA government and support it from outside in protest against the way the party was treated by Congress, creating fresh trouble for the ruling coalition.
In the backdrop of the hype over Mulayam Singh Yadav attending UPA's anniversary dinner, his Samajwadi Party sought to downplay it and went on to attack the Centre over 2G and other scams.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the economic achievements of the government?
Incumbent Hamid Ansari is the United Progressive Alliance's candidate for the Vice President's post and he is all set to get a second consecutive term.
The Karnataka high court on Tuesday struck down the appointment of Justice Chandrashekaraiah, the Upa Lokayukta. Justice N Kumar and Justice Kempanna observed that due process was not followed while appointing the Upa Lokayukta.
"The BSP has no intention to join the UPA nor there will be any such intention in future," she said in a press release in Lucknow.
Former union minister for child and women development and senior Congress Party leader Krishna Tirath on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after meeting party chief Amit Shah.
'The government should come back as a job creator as it did in the 1960s and the 1970s.'
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has agreed to attend the second meeting of the UPA co-ordination committee to be held on August 22, sources said.
It's the floundering economy that caused the Congress' grievous loss in the Assembly elections.
UPA to take decision on MDMK status in the central coalition
In an apparent attempt to act as a pressure group within the United Progressive Alliance, two constituents -- Rashtriya Janata Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samithi -- Thursday announced the formation of an informal group within to "review" UPA
The Centre, last year, had also decided to freeze the minimum wage paid under NREGA at Rs 100. Subsequently, the wages paid in many states under NREGA are lower than the minimum wages in the state.
After Congress, the United Progressive Alliance on Thursday endorsed government's recent tough economic decisions and discussed the need "to do more reforms".
Expressing concern over the rupee reaching an all-time low, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the currency is likely to plunge further as a share of the US financial stimulus package given to India during the sub-prime crisis in 2008-09 may be withdrawn by the Federal Reserve.
In private, questions are being raised about the wisdom of a 'dual-SIM' leadership during the long run-up to the 2026 assembly polls where 'family rule' could become an election issue, reports N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It was specifically mentioned in the Gadgil Committee report that this particular area where the colossal landside happened now should be in the Environmentally Sensitive Area under Zone 1.' 'Zone 1 is the most important and ecologically sensitive area, and that it has to be protected entirely.' 'At least 90% of the Wayanad disaster is man-made.'
Bharatiya Janata Party chief ministers and key party leaders from states on Saturday got together to discuss the economic situation in the country and issues of governance and federalism with party president Nitin Gadkari accusing UPA of "governance deficit" and "policy paralysis".
Seeking to project a united picture of the ruling alliance, the UPA coordination committee headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi will hold its first meeting on Wednesday.
West Bengal government has expressed surprise at the way the UPA government was rushing through legislation on the Food Security Bill when the general election was "knocking at the door" and without a full-fledged implementation mechanism.
The Bharatiya Janata Party postponed its country-wide anti-UPA agitation, which was scheduled to start Monday, in the wake of the killing of several Congress leaders in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh.
