Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Congress-led United Progresive Alliance government of bluffing the country over the number of lives lost in the recent Uttarakhand flash floods.
Here are some top quotes from Prime Minister Modi's speech in the Lok Sabha.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
Opposition parties on Friday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders displayed insensitivity in handing over a compensation cheque to the inconsolable mother of Captain Shubham Gupta, who was killed fighting terrorists in J-K, and lashed out at them for using the occasion as a 'photo-op'.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday held closed-door meetings with party leaders in Uttarakhand as part of his stock-taking exercise in states following his elevation.
Union minister Harish Rawat, who lost in the race for Uttarakhand chief ministership, is sulking and said to have resigned from the Union government.
The feud in the Uttarakhand Congress is far from over. Rediff.com gives you a low down on how the Congress victory in Uttarakhand turned sour and what to expect next.
Recently, he put a spanner on the foreign jaunts of IAS officers and other government officials as part of his economy drive.
Uttar Pradesh, which is set to witness game-changer elections, and four other states will go to polls simultaneously, most likely in February-March next, commencing shortly after the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1.
The party has fielded Parvati Das for the by-election to the Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Lijinlal G for the Puthuppally assembly seat in Kerala.
The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5.
Some Congress leaders consider Kishor as an "overrated" person and argue that in 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, he led to the decline of the party.
A delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Uttarakhand on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded the imposition of President's Rule in the flood-ravaged state on the grounds that the Congress government there had failed to deliver. The delegation, led by former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and comprising Tehri Garhwal Member of Parliament Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah among others met, Dr Singh for 30 minutes.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat's asset saw an increase of over Rs 1 crore from 2012 to 2017, ADR said.
Gaurav Gogoi will head the screening committee for Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot included among the ex-officio members of the panel.
The BJP believes that the only party still capable of leading a credible challenge against it is the Congress. Please note how BJP campaigners in states where the Congress may count for a cipher or thereabouts, mostly attack the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
Amid criticism over the response of the Congress government in Uttarakhand to the devastation in the state, party president Sonia Gandhi on Monday flagged off relief supplies from the national capital. Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, whose "absence" from the country when the disaster struck was questioned by Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, was present on the occasion.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Sunday were set to share the honours in the Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections in 13 states.
The crisis in the ruling Uttarakhand Congress persisted as 17 of the 32 party members of Legislative Assembly supporting Union Minister Harish Rawat, abstained from taking oath in Uttarakhand assembly on Thursday.
The results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday in what is being seen as a major test for the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the polls in five states later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
Rawat has been called by the CBI to join the probe on Monday, sources said.
Though the 91-year-old leader is no longer politically much active, his joining the saffron party is being seen as a boost to it ahead of the Uttarakhand assembly polls.
BJP has left people guessing about who would get the top office if the latter is voted to power, the presence of too many strong turncoats on its side only adding to the confusion.
After the alteration of the boundaries, the BJP assessed the wards afresh to see what changes in strategy were needed
The resumption of drilling with the auger machine is likely to speed up the rescue efforts.
What was Team Rahul's big mistake? Why are Brahmins dominating the All India Congress Committee? Why can't Food Minister KV Thomas visit Rome... All this, and more, in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
Reacting to the statement, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said "insulting the Sanatan Dharma again and again" has become the habit of the Samajwadi Party and its leaders.
The BJP won in 34 of the 69 constituencies where elections were held, while Congress bagged only 21 seats.
Three independent MLAs were non-committal on their support to the saffron party.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday advised VIPs not to visit rain-ravaged Uttarakhand saying such visits created difficulties in relief and rescue operations.
Harish Rawat, a Union Minister, was on Saturday sworn in as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand, succeeding Vijay Bahuguna who was asked by the Congress high command to step down in a bid to boost the party's prospects ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha polls.
Political parties may campaign against corruption and criminality, but it's the selection of candidates for the upcoming assembly polls that tells the real story.
Political parties may campaign against corruption and criminality, but it's the selection of candidates for the upcoming assembly polls that tells the real story.
Notwithstanding the biting cold, political bigwigs and Bollywood stars are ready to hit the election scene in the run-up to January 30 assembly polls in Uttarakhand.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
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