Condemning the Pune blasts, which came ahead of the visit of Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to the city, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said it is an alarm for the United Progressive Alliance government to take stern action against terrorist activities to "teach a lesson to them".
The United Progressive Alliance government has rejected Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's allegations against Home Minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis equity issue saying they were "totally baseless".
With the United Progressive Alliance starting to get its act togther ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar had a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday over seat-sharing in Maharashtra and some other states.
Accusing the government of going back on its assurances to give a strong Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Friday threatened to start another country-wide agitation to achieve his demand of a pro-people Jan Lokpal. Slamming the government Lokpal draft, Hazare took on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and accused them of not fulfilling the promises made to him.
As the United Progressive Alliance government desperately fights the perception of a policy paralysis, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismisses it with equal vehemence contending that the coalition was set on achieving higher economic growth.
In a major embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit, Pranab Mukherjee, United Progressive Alliance's candidate who was on Sunday elected President of India, got more votes than expected in the BJP-ruled state.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, who was given a rousing reception on his arrival in Nagpur on Thursday, described the charges against him as a conspiracy by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, and threatened to sort out the income tax officials involved in conducting raids on his firms.
Last Monday, she termed the Centre's silence over loan repayment restructuring as a 'political vendetta' to ruin Bengal.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday apparently took a dig at Rahul Gandhi's elevation in the Congress, saying the party had appointed a vice president whenever it faced serious problems.
Manmohan Singh remains the most popular leader in India, according to a survey conducted by Star News and A C Nielsen
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul will represent the party at the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as the prime minister on Monday.
It also demanded increasing the number of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders per family to 12, instead of nine as decided by the government on Thursday.
Bharatiya Janata Party's senior leader Rajnath Singh on Saturday asked the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance II government to stop all dialogue with Pakistan and recall its high commissioner in Islamabad in wake of entire nation being angry over the ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance's political leadership is holding consultations on options like raising diesel and LPG prices to cut an unprecedented Rs 160,000 crore (Rs 1,600 billion) revenue loss expected from selling auto and cooking fuel below cost this fiscal.
Scores of Sikh protesters gathered at Lal Chowk in the city centre in summer capital Srinagar to protest against the death sentence to Balwant Singh Rajoana, the assassin of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
The United Progressive Alliance government on Monday had a smooth sailing in Lok Sabha with key ally Trinamool Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party walking out and the Samajwadi Party withdrawing its amendments to the President's address, notwithstanding the hype surrounding their opposition on issues like the National Counterterrorism Center.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked critics of the Food Security Bill which was passed by Parliament last week, saying money spent on providing meals to the poor cannot be called "wastage" of financial resources.
Asked whether Trivedi would remain as railway minister, he said, "Trivedi is an individual. Trinamool Congress is of the opinion that he should not remain as railway minister unless he withdraws the hike (passenger fares in the railway budget).
"The fact that not many FTAs were sealed shows the cautious approach of the policy makers," said Ram Upendra Das, fellow, Research and Information System for Developing Countries. "But India has recognised that these duty-free agreements are the order of the day as other countries are engaging in similar deals. Indian exporters will be left out if the nation does not engage in these types of agreements with its trading partners," he added.
Three MPs, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, came on wheelchairs.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his televised address to the nation following violent protests demanding justice for the 23-year-old gang-rape victim in Delhi, saying the latter's speech was disappointing. BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said Dr Singh failed to give any promises or reassure the country about the steps being taken by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the United Progressive Alliance's wrong policies, wrong methods, wrong implementation and corruption are the reasons behind the economic crisis that has engulfed the country.
He wanted changes in certain criteria for the project.
In a veiled reference to various populist schemes of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, "When crores are spent not on asset creation but on populist schemes, it disturbs the economy of the country."
With Defence Minister A K Antony rejecting her opposition to build a national war memorial at the India Gate, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has sought United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's intervention on the issue.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday lashed out at Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi over the claims made in a book by the Prime Minister's former aide, saying the mother and son would have to pay the "price" for running the United Progressive Alliance government from behind the scene.
A Constitution amendment bill providing for quota for SCs and STs in government job promotions was on Monday passed by Rajya Sabha with an overwhelming vote of 206 in the 245-member House.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that those who oppose Foreign Direct Investment in retail are "ignorant", saying it is not the Opposition which is ignorant, but the United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress Party.
Sources in the United Progressive Alliance said the offer for a discussion was made afresh during Monday's UPA-Left committee meeting.
In a veiled reference to various populist schemes of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, "When crores are spent not on asset creation but on populist schemes, it disturbs the economy of the country."
The United Progressive Alliance government has made up its mind to move a resolution on Wednesday in Rajya Sabha to get nine Members of Parliament of the Samajwadi Party suspended for their misbehaviour and disruptions during the debate on the job quota bill for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been "defanged" by the Congress party in his second term with Sonia Gandhi deciding on key appointments to the Cabinet and to the PMO as he seemed to "surrender" to her and to the United Progressive Alliance constituents.
The farmers' agitation, spread over months, had halted construction and delayed supply of thousands of residential units.
The United Progressive Alliance government won the vote on Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail not by "floor management but by fund management", alleged Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson Muktar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday.
As for the crisis emanating from the Kingfisher Airlines' flight cancellations, it is now up to the airline to utilise those measures and come up with resources, he tells Business Standard's Kavita Chowdhury in an interview.
Chief ministers of Tripura and Uttarakhand on Sunday joined the anti- National Counterterrorism Center chorus taking to 12 the number of opposing states even as their Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi accused United Progressive Alliance of "attacking" the country's federal structure.
Keeping the Congress on tenterhooks on their strategy during the crucial Foreign Direct Investment vote on Wednesday, eight party MPs from Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday boycotted a meeting called by party floor leaders in Parliament to seek their assurances on participation in the debate.
Major parties have lined up a long list of star campaigners to woo voters in Assam where assembly polls are scheduled for April 4 and 11. The ruling Congress, bidding for return to power for the third consecutive term, has a long list of prominent persons, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, to campaign for the party.
The anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam has called for 12-hout Assam bandh on May 26 to protest the visit of the united Progressive Alliance chairman and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Guwahati on that day.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she had suggested to the Congress that an advisory council comprising prominent personalities from civil society be set up to give a direction to the opposition, but rued that the plan did not materialise.
