Asking the European businessmen to shed their old image of India, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday said things have changed here and it is "now a happening place," opening bright prospects for a partnership with a "new India."
Two days after the much-awaited team of office bearers was announced, Sinha on Thursday refuted suggestions that he was a contender for any post, but felt party stalwart and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha should have been included.
The Opposition candidate in the July 18 presidential polls, Yashwant Sinha, held his first campaign strategy meeting on Wednesday at the Nationalist Congress Party office in New Delhi and said a "rubberstamp President" will not work in the country.
Sinha, a former finance minister, hogged the limelight and started trending high on social media on Wednesday after he criticised his own government for sinking economy in an article.
India on Monday strongly advocated the establishment of "South Asian Union" as it sought to enhance the bilateral trade - with Pakistan - which had the potential to touch $6 billion.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said the Congress has insulted Murmu.
Here are some facts related to the Budget presentation in independent India.
Sinha, a former Finance Minister, said the hike put a 'big burden' on the people as it is 'steep'.
The statement by Nandan Nilekani that the ambitious Unique Identification card will be for all residents of India including non-citizens on Friday triggered a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding a statement from the government.
'You are not taking any interest in organisational work and election campaigning ever since the party declared Manish Jaiswal as the candidate from the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat. You did not even feel the need to exercise your vote. The party's image has been maligned because of your conduct.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party's plan to pip other parties in declaring candidates for the Lok Sabha elections by the end of January has come a cropper. The party on Monday declared 18 candidates, including former union finance and foreign minister Yashwant Sinha from Hazaribagh and former Union minister Karia Munda from Khunti in Jharkhand.
'The first clear cut call for 'engagement with all stake holders including separatists' came, not from the political class but the men in uniform,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished observer on Kashmir.
It dropped sitting MP from Guna, Krishnapal Singh Yadav, to field Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the seat.
Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Yashwant Sinha presented 5 Budgets each while Jaswant Singh presented only one Budget.
Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman Finance Minister, broke away from the colonial tradition of carrying a Budget briefcase in July 2019, opting instead for a traditional 'bahi-khata', to carry the Union Budget papers.
Thackeray on Tuesday announced his party's support for Murmu in the July 18 presidential election.
Sinha said the youth, farmers and the traders were dissatisfied with present policies of the saffron party.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Other ministers who have presented five straight annual financial statements include Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Manmohan Singh and Morarji Desai.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first and only women till now to have presented the Union Budget.
India's opposition parties have sharply criticized the Union Budget, calling it inadequate to address the country's economic woes and accusing the BJP-led government of using it to woo voters in Bihar and Delhi ahead of upcoming elections. Leaders from the Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, and CPI(M) voiced their disapproval, highlighting concerns over inflation, unemployment, and the lack of substantial measures to support the agricultural sector and the poor. They also criticized the tax cuts for the middle class as insufficient and coming too late after years of high taxes and rising prices.
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda, Deputy Chief Minister Raghubar Das and former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha are the front-runners for the post of Jharkhand chief minister, a decision on which is likely to be taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary board on Monday.
The former finance minister also objected to the filing of a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against The Wire, which carried a story on Jay Shah's business.
'The government is using the agencies of the government to suppress the Opposition.'
After staging a walkout from the Lok Sabha in protest against an "inflationary" Union Budget, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said its members would oppose it when put to vote.
The party is likely to table a privilege motion against Manmohan Singh.
The Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly was asked about his decision to support Yashwant Sinha, a former Union minister, and not Murmu who is tipped to become the first tribal woman to occupy the top post.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday again asked its senior leader Yashwant Sinha to come out of jail and participate in the next phase of agitation to "exert people's pressure on a psychologically defunct" Jharkhand government.
It voiced optimism over the outcome of the three-day talks with Pakistan.
The apex court on December 14 last year dismissed a clutch of PILs, including the one filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, saying there was "no occasion to doubt" the decision-making process of the Centre in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.
The trio also accused PM Modi of single-handedly changing the parameters of the deal.
With the tablet carefully kept inside a red cover with a golden-coloured national emblem embossed on it instead of the briefcase, Parliament will be her next destination after the call on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
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