In a grand ceremony with overtones of a United States presidential inauguration, heads of state and government, India Inc honchos, opposition leaders, Bharatiya Janata Party members and showbiz stars rubbed shoulders as they watched President Ram Nath Kovind administer the oath of office to India's 58 new ministers.
"I will miss his tantrums" is what Congress president Sonia Gandhi said while bidding farewell to Pranab Mukherjee from the Congress Working Committee at a meeting which formally approved his name as the United Progressive Alliance's presidential nominee in June 2012.
The party's research department team, which Rajya Sabha member M V Rajeev Gowda heads, has sifted through the suggestions received in the last five months, and the manifesto is slated to be released later this month, reports Archis Mohan.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday paid rich tributes to renowned author and journalist Khushwant Singh, describing him as a "fearless intellectual" and a "gifted author".
Belligerent Congress members trooped into the Well during the Question Hour and raised slogans, even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan went ahead with the proceedings.
The UPA chairperson has resorted to the last refuge of the desperate, by accusing the BJP of indulging in divisive politics by "sowing seeds of poison", says Arun Jaitley
'The Congress's policy is it will take benefits from everybody, but when it gets an opportunity, it does not want to share it with others'
Her speech was laced with Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and even Tamil verses.
The CMP could not be implemented properly in the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, said state Congress chief Nana Patole in the letter.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP from Hyderabad, chanted "Jai Bheem, Jai Meem, Takbeer Allahu Akbar, Jai Hind", after members from the ruling side shouted slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram', 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'.
Normal life remained paralysed for the second consecutive day in the 13 districts of the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the state following the bandh call by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers and YSR Congress against the tabling of the Telangana bill in Lok Sabha.
Addressing the media soon after the Union Cabinet cleared the ordinance, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad cited compelling necessity for the move as the practice annulled by the Supreme Court continues unabated.
The Congress leader said democracy allows dissent and debate and not monologues in an apparent barb at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A majority of Congress leaders said the party will face desertions if Rahul Gandhi does not remain the leader.
Former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on Wednesday said that he played no role in the controversial Rs 3,600 crore VVIP AgustaWestland chopper deal.
In an apparent attempt at assuaging his feelings in the wake of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's denunciation of the government, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying schemes launched under his leadership have helped millions of people from the marginalised sections.
A convincing win for either of JD-S's two chief rivals, the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, in the Karnataka assembly polls, could inevitably lead to a life-threatening split in the JD-S, with several of its leaders joining either of the two national parties.
Hazarika and Deshmukh were given the Bharat Ratna posthumously.
Party leaders, sources said, maintained that Congress cannot afford to have a new leader at the helm for rebuilding the organisation at this juncture and that the responsibility for the defeat is collective and not individual.
Sonia told party MPs to work with dedication, loyalty and enthusiasm with Rahul to strengthen the party and said he was her boss to.
51 constituencies across 7 states go to the polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election.
'Modiji has a vision for the country, not just to fight the elections but about achieving certain goals for the country.' 'Congress does not even have a vision for 25 days.'
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijender Gupta has filed a complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit before a special court here seeking direction to police to register a first information report against her for allegedly misusing government funds to the tune of Rs 22.56 crore in an advertisement campaign ahead of the 2008 Assembly polls.
From corruption to communalism, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, the electoral potboiler had it all.
The West Bengal CM also said that she wasn't averse to working with the Congress and expressed confidence that a grand alliance of opposition parties is possible.
EC officials said the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will begin at 8 am on Thursday and results are expected only by late evening.
Besides Joseph, one of the lawyers defending Michel is a member of the Congress' youth wing while the father of another is a party member, Patra claimed at a press conference.
To a question whether his party will not forge a coalition with any political party, Azad said, "If any political party is willing to accompany the Congress, and the Congress feels that it can fight the BJP, then it will be definitely accommodated."
On a day Narendra Modi attacked the United Progressive Alliance government for its "mis-governance", Congress chief Sonia Gandhi hit back accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of hatching conspiracies before elections and misleading people in its hunger for power.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attributed the drubbing the Congress-led UPA has received in polls mainly to the "communication deficit" on part of outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to issues like hike in prices of fuel and LPG cylinders by the ruling dispensation.
Here are some of the big political leaders' who await their fate on Monday.
DLF has long been embroiled in a controversy over a deal that brought windfall profits to Robert Vadra, son-in-law of United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The party and its president, it seemed, were also unable to articulate their views effectively enough
On Sunday, angry villagers of Leelala laid their own foundation stone - which had 'aam aadmi' inscribed as the name of the chief guest - still claiming the project was to come up in their village.
Ramping up his attack against the prime minister, the Congress chief questioned the prime minister's silence on rising fuel prices, the Rafale jet deal and issues such as farmer suicides, atrocities against women and unemployment.
Rahul's rage was not directed against the prime minister, but at his mother';s advisors who continue to thwart the Baba Army, feels Kamaraj Gopalan.
Those who know Naveen Patnaik well say his final decision will depend on who has the edge after the election.
On the last day of campaigning at Pokhran in Rajasthan, Bhartiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi took potshots at the son-in-law of chairperson of United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi, Robert Vadra.
The Congress president also hit out at the PM for raking up the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying she was "more Indian" than many Indians.
In a veiled reference to the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday said those who have been in power for the last 60 years have followed the "divide and rule policy in the country and conspired to snatch the rights of Dalit and backward communities".
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