The Congress party's only hope now lies in its desperate wish that an unstable conglomerate of non-BJP, non-Congress parties comes to power with its support and collapses within a couple of years by which time the party hopes to salvage whatever it can from the debris of 10 years of the UPA's incumbency, says Saroj Nagi.
Justice (retd) Chandrashekaraiah's appointment as Karnataka Upa (deputy) Lokayukta was on Friday set aside by the Supreme Court which held that the chief minister had committed an 'error' by not consulting the chief justice of the state high court in the selection process.
Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday talked to allies, informing them about the intent to withdraw the controversial Ordinance on convicted lawmakers.
A meeting of the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee is being held on Thursday against the backdrop of the political crisis in Maharashtra that has seen cracks widen in the ruling Congress-NCP coalition in the state.
With Tamil Nadu reeling under acute power shortage, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday squarely blamed the Congress-led UPA and her arch rival Dravida Munettra Kazhagam for the crisis but said load-shedding would gradually ease from next month and the state will be free of power cuts from end 2013.
The TMC general secretary, considered number two in the party, shared the letter sent to him by the central agency on X, formerly Twitter.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday sought public views on the 'charge sheet' it intends to prepare in seeking to corner the UPA government over its "failure" on several fronts and to highlight the scams unearthed during the present regime.
Pledging to take corruption head on, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance on Sunday night promised to punish the guilty in scams and assured the people that it would demonstrate through actions and not words what it meant.
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.
'The government must give up its neo-liberal polices and obsession with GDP growth and shift its ideological centre of gravity leftwards.'
Describing China as the biggest threat to the country, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav slammed the United Progressive Alliance for being a "silent spectator" to alleged Chinese encroachment of Indian territory.
'The space required for wild cheetah populations to thrive was grossly under-estimated.' 'Cheetahs, because of their social system and ecologically fragile nature, live at only 1 cheetah per 100 sq kms even in the best habitats of Africa.'
Sticking to its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation for the irregularities in coal block allocation, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday termed the United Progressive Alliance government as the "most corrupt" and demanded cancellation of 142 allocated coal blocks. "There is no doubt that this UPA government is the most corrupt government of all times. Earlier, the Bofors scam was considered the biggest, in which Rs 64 crore was taken as bribe," he said.
Notwithstanding the bitter ties between Left parties and the Congress, the RJD today claimed that the CPI(M) would be "compelled" to join ranks with UPA to keep communal forces at bay.
Almost without exception, all ministers from non-Congress coalition partners of the UPA have been behaving as though they are a law unto themselves.
The former Union minister also slammed Shashi Tharoor for his statement that praising the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doing the right things would lend credibility to the opposition's criticism of him.
While two Team Anna members targetted United Progressive Alliance Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee and demanding a probe into allegations against him, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare on Monday appeared to endorse his candidature for the top post terming him as "better than other UPA ministers".
The Housing Committee of the Lok Sabha took the decision following which the secretariat of the House wrote to the former Congress president, a Z-plus protectee who has been living in the 12, Tughlaq Lane bungalow since 2005.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Wednesday kept up the suspense on continuance of outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, saying a decision on the issue will be taken soon. She also asked party cadres to be ready for snap polls which "can take place any time" in view of the "instability" at the Centre.
India's voting pattern in the United Nations with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict is lately marked by a calibrated distancing from Israel, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
As Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav offered a prop to beleaguered UPA after Trinamool Congress walked out of the ruling coalition, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said it has no intention of toppling the government and will "wait and watch".
Several Opposition leaders have rallied behind Gandhi and hit out at the government and accused the BJP of targeting political opponents.
Alleging that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's mindset has led to "decay" of key institutions including Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it poses a serious issue before the next Lok Sabha as it is threatening the survival of democracy in the country.
As Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh threatened withdrawal of support to the UPA government over the Jamia Nagar encounter, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday said the support was extended in the national interest and there was no question of its withdrawal.
As United Progressive Alliance completes three years in office, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday claimed the government may fall anytime as coalition partners were unhappy and were not even ready to break bread together.
Figures don't lie. And they say the UPA's 10 years of economic growth is slightly better than the previous 10 years of growth. End of debate.
At the end of UPA-2's three years in power, India has become a more unbalanced, strife-torn and unhappy society, with reduced human security and tattered social cohesion. Rather than correct policy course, the government deals with the resulting discontent with brute force, says Praful Bidwai
His statement came hours after five of his party ministers in Andhra Pradesh resigned from the Congress-led government.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan on Sunday said his party would support United Progressive Alliance candidate for Presidency.
Mr Rahul Gandhi himself has given seven different prices in different speeches with regard to the Rafale, that is the 2007 offer.
The Samajwadi Party is ready for mid-term Lok Sabha polls but it is supporting the United Progressive Alliance government to keep communal forces at bay, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday.
Despite the missive on the impact of foreign retail on the small kirana shops in the country written by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, everyone in the government knows that it was never to be taken seriously.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday took potshots at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, alleging his "lack" of leadership had made the United Progressive Alliance government a "sinking ship" and prompted even allies like Trinamool Congress to declare that he should be moved to the President's post.
The Left parties' unhappiness over the functioning of the United Progressive Alliance government and especially its economic policies came to the fore on Monday with the Revolutionary Socialist Party deciding to withdraw from the UPA-Left coordination committee.
Having kept it alive for four years with outside support, the Left on Tuesday branded the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government as 'no different' from its predecessor National Democratic Alliance government, on the economic and foreign policy fronts.The Marxist leader said Left parties, at their joint meeting in New Delhi on May 23, will further review the performance of the UPA government and take appropriate position.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to attend the next meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Monday.
Prasad alleged there was pressure for extraneous considerations and 'bribe' for not finalising the Rafale deal during the UPA rule.
Denouncing the United Progressive Alliance government as a "failure" on all fronts, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday came out with a scathing "chargesheet" on its 10-year rule that accused Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of being equally guilty of all ills by exercising authority without responsibility.
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