BJP wants CPM to vote against the deal in Parliament
The issue of Finance Minister P Chidambaram's lawyer wife Nalini appearing on behalf of income tax department in a court in Chennai rocked the Rajya Sabha on Monday as a determined Opposition stalled the proceedings leading to two adjournments of the
In a bid to further boost the growing bilateral trade, Sri Lanka is seeking to upgrade its free trade agreement with India to include services and investments, officials said in Colombo.
India and Bangladesh had decided to start the service during the Joint Economic Commission meeting in Dhaka.
Yashwant Sinha said the government's decision came after taking into account the popular response in India to the Noor Fatima case.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will set a record by presenting the sixth Budget in a row -- 5 annual Budgets and one interim -- a feat achieved so far only by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. With the presentation of interim Budget on February 1, Sitharaman will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row. Desai, as Finance Minister, had presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959-1964. The interim Budget 2024-25 to be presented by Sitharaman on February 1, will be a vote-on-account that will give the government authority to spend certain sums of money till a new government comes to office after the April-May general elections.
Political watchers are keen to see if the party will now opt for a more seasoned face from its ranks for the vice presidential candidate.
It was reacting to External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha's reported remarks that India has better case for a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan than the US had against Iraq.
India has agreed to increase cooperation in energy and transport with Myanmar, where India is keen to counter growing influence from China.\n\n
Reacting to the development, Samajwadi Party leader Sanjay Lathar, who served as the Leader of Opposition in the legislative council before Yadav, said the leader of the second-largest party in the House gets the post.
At 64, the woman who will be India's 15th president, taking over from Ram Nath Kovind, will also be the youngest and India's first President to be born after Independence.
In the midst of the all the drama that is taking place with regard to the transfer of power in Karnataka, one thing becomes clear and that is the Bharatiya Janata Party at the moment is in no mood for compromise.
In spite of the JD (S) flip-flopping on the issue of power transfer in Karnataka, its ally Bhartiya Janata Party is hopeful that the JD-S will keep its side of the bargain, party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
On mid-term parliamentary polls, he said that it cannot be ruled out and added the party is prepared for it.
One reason for the BJP's lapse, if it can be so described, was perhaps the search for an emotive issue prior to the next general election.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said the text of the nuclear agreement with the United States has confirmed its fears that India's right to nuclear testing will be impacted.
Secretary of State Colin Powell described the Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting as 'historic'.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told rediff.com that the numbers were in favour of Shekhawat.
President A P J Abdul Kalam left New Delhi on Saturday on a week-long visit to the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Bulgaria, his first foreign tour after assuming the high office.
The United States may lift restrictions imposed on exports of high-technology items to India, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said in London on Thursday.
India also assured its neighbour that New Delhi was ready to remove any Pakistan-specific trade barriers.
India is optimistic that Pakistan would soon reciprocate by giving it the most favoured nation status, which would lead to a "win-win" situation for both countries.
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.
India is expected to extend a $10 million credit to South Africa at the fifth joint commission meeting of the two countries that begins in Pretoria on Thursday.
The two sides signed nine accords, including one on simplifying visa procedures.
Pakistan, as Security Council president, cannot impose any issue on the world body, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri V Fedotov said.
