Smarting under the electoral debacle and arrest of party MP Kanimozhi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday made a token presence at the second anniversary celebrations of UPA-II where none of its six Union ministers were present.
The National Conference, which will head a coalition government with Congress in Jammu and Kashmir, is all set to join the United Progressive Alliance, Congress sources said on Friday. NC President Omar Abdullah, who will take oath as the new J and K chief minister on January five, has written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi expressing his party's desire to join the UPA. The NC has two members in the Lok Sabha.
At present, a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder in the national capital costs Rs 1,103. It will cost Rs 903 when the Centre's decision is implemented from Wednesday.
Lo and behold the UPA magic. The share of the poor, in whose name all subsidy is created by liberal bleeding hearts, has shrunk from a little under half to just about one-third, write Sonali Ranade and Shaelja Sharma
Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the previous UPA regime's land law has had "disastrous impact" on India's national security.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the high growth that Indian economy has logged in the first quarter of the current fiscal was on account of the UPA policies and the new government must give it the due credit.
India has allocated Rs 1.72 trillion, or 27.67 per cent of the total defence budget to cater to modernisation of the country's arsenal. Modern militaries spend up to 50 to 60 per cent of their total defence budget so that they go into combat with superior weaponry and equipment.
'His way of communication is different than the first yatra.' 'Maybe his anger and frustration stems from the fact that no one is asking hard questions to the government and he is trying to do that.'
"The Mumbai terror attack seems to have hit the UPA government like a thunderbolt and enlightened its vision. The government that used to rubbish any nationalist suggestion to ensure national security by dealing firmly with the terrorists and their domestic harbingers has suddenly woken up and started speaking a new language," said an editorial in RSS mouthpiece Organiser.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday lashed out at opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties over Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks against 'Sanatan Dharma', accusing them of insulting 'Sanatan Dharma' for votebank and appeasement politics.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and assured her of support to any candidate that the United Progressive Alliance puts forth. "I told her (Gandhi) that whoever UPA nominates, we will support," Pawar told reporters after his 30-minute meeting with the Congress chief to discuss the issue of Presidential election.
The economic slowdown in India preceded global meltdown due to stoppage of reforms by the UPA government, former union disinvestment minister Arun Shourie said.
Hitting out at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for favouring a Third Front, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday dared him to first cut off ties with the United Progressive Alliance government, of which his party has been a "part and parcel". BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy claimed that Yadav is "showing a lot of desperation" about a Third Front, though he himself is supporting the "corrupt" UPA government.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
"Our parliamentary board will meet within a week to decide on the matter," Soren said, when asked whether the party, which is part of the UPA, would support it in case of a trust vote.
'One is happy. The moment one starts criticising the BJP, ED, IT and CBI comes to one's house.'
The Left parties on Tuesday lashed out at the UPA government equating it with the previous NDA regime for reducing the EPF interest rate and demanded reconsideration of the decision.
The charge sheet has been filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi and the court has listed the matter to be heard on January 16, the sources said.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
Mamata Banerjee's fate in the United Progressive Alliance hangs in the balance with the Trinamool Congress leader continuing to give a loud and clear message that her party is not going to vote for Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA's Presidential candidate.
Stepping up his attack on the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani said the "corrupt" government has brought "disgrace" to democracy.
The United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) growth story is far from truth and is mere a statistical jugglery.
Criticising the crisis-ridden UPA government, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader LK Advani has said that the Congress-led dispensation was "in a state of paralysis".
Politically, the striking outcome of the first year of the UPA government is its increasing vulnerability, says Communist Party of India Marxist's General Secretary Prakash Karat
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday termed the United Progressive Alliance's publication of its performance, 'The Report to the People,' as a "report card of failure."
In its manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had criticised the Congress-led UPA regime for "policy and decision paralysis".
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha leader Indresh Kumar on Monday accused the Congress-led UPA government of pursuing communal agenda and using government agencies like the National Investigating Agency to malign nationalist forces.
"The Congress-led UPA government is committed towards one objective -- to destroy each and every Constitutional authority in the country for its own narrow political gain," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters in New Delhi.
By speaking out against Manmohan Singh, by constantly bashing the UPA/Congress, Modi by 2014 will be like a television show in replay mode. In winning the intra-BJP battle, he runs losing the war with the UPA, feels Amberish K Diwanji.
While some companies used that to become world leaders, others squandered it by over-borrowing.
Seeking to scotch speculation over the Trinamool Congress snapping ties with the UPA, Mamata Banerjee on Monday made it clear that her party was not withdrawing support to the Manmohan Singh government and claimed there was no distrust between them.
Modi said that for nearly one and a half years he has been putting in place details of new schemes to give new pace to the country's development and curb poverty.
The PM blamed the UPA regime for the problems in the banking sector.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday said UPA-II's report card presented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has nothing to do with ground realities and the first year of the alliance's second stint in office has been disappointing for the people of the state.
'The sense of Constitutional propriety and political morality seems to be vanishing fast.' 'There are many things in today's politics of governance which Manmohan Singh would have never dreamt of saying or doing.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday sought to paint a dismal picture of United Progressive Alliance-II holding it responsible for the economic gloom and failure to give the country leadership while accusing it of diminishing the role of the prime minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of encouraging Hurriyat Conference leaders to hobnob with anti-India elements abroad by allowing them to visit Pakistan. BJP was referring to the purported meetings held in Pakistan by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat delegation with Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul chief Sayed Salah-ud-Din and senior functionaries of the Inter Services Intelligence.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave a couple of names to BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for her consideration for the post of Vice President.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
