The 13 month-old Karnataka coalition government of JD-S and Congress slumped into crisis following the resignation of their 11 MLAs from the membership of the state assembly on Saturday.
Over the next month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to review the performance of his ministerial colleagues in their first six months in office. This review exercise could be a precursor to a Cabinet reshuffle, the first since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government entered its second term in office.
The BJP has decided to revamp the organisation by rewarding efficient party workers and leaders and remove several turncoats from local and district levels.
The Prime Minister tends to keep such decisions close to his chest.
Navjot Sidhu has been given power and new and renewable energy sources, and his tourism and cultural affairs portfolio has been given to Charanjit Singh Channi.
A party leader, who is known to be close to Rahul, said he would be elevated "sooner than you think".
M S Gill, V Narayanasami, Jitin Prasada, Raghunath Jha, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Santosh Bagrodia and Rameshwar Oraon were on Sunday inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she had wanted her son and All-Indian Congress Committee general secretary to become a minister, but he refused.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to reshuffle her team after Makar Sankranti, party sources said on Monday. "Ashok Gehlot, who became chief minister of Rajasthan, has left a vacancy as he was in charge of several states. This is also the time to do something about Margaret Alva who had been sidelined for her anti-party comments in last few months," a party general secretary said.
In a counter offensive after 13 MLAs resigned on Saturday dealing a blow to the 13-month-old government, a delegation of Congress leaders met Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar and submitted the petition seeking, under the anti-defection law, disqualification of the rebel legislators in line with the decision taken at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday.
Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi was given charge of youth affairs and the National Students Union of India, the Congress students body.
The tax would create a single market in India for the first time.
'Why do the English-speaking class feel they are the only ones who are efficient in work?' 'My own mother was from a village and she was more efficient than me. She used to handle crises better than me.' 'We will have to come out of our elite perception of governance.'
Five Nationalist Congress Party and an Independent legislator, were on Tuesday sworn-in as ministers in the Maharashtra government as part of the much-awaited reshuffle.
The reshuffle is likely to take place after the ongoing Budget session ends on April 12, reports Archis Mohan.
Assam minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sarma who on Monday quit from the Tarun Gogoi cabinet said that he had been forced to take the step after the Congress leadership had repeatedly ignored the representations made by the rebel MLAs about the 'inefficient' handling of affairs by the chief minister.
While Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has been made in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Nath will look after Punjab and Haryana, party General Secretary Janaradan Dwivedi said.
Tuesday's exercise underlines Bharatiya Janata Party's attempts at wooing Dalits and OBCs, whose votes would be crucial to its fortunes in key states like UP and Gujarat.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has asked Congress MLAs to submit detailed reports on development activities being undertaken in their respective constituencies.
It, however, made it clear that this was as per the account of the relatives of the deceased.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday began a stock-taking exercise following the party's debacle in assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra even as a clamour for "course correction" grew within its ranks in the wake of the dip in electoral fortunes.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who has been under attack from the Communist Party of India - Marxist over the solar panel scam, on Friday met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political developments in the state.
In comments that could stoke a controversy, Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Thursday said that communal riots in Muzaffarnagar have left Gujarat far behind.
Mohite is expected to replace Heavy Industries Minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, who has resigned on the directive of his party chief Bal Thackeray.
Assam Health and Education Minister Dr Himanta Sarma on Sunday met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and offered to resign from the Cabinet even as he said that the dissidence in the Congress Legislature Party had come to an end.
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party announced a major organisational reshuffle in the party, appointing Hindu hardliner Keshav Maurya and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa as state party presidents in Uttar Pradesh and Karntaka respectively.
With his surprise sabbatical "for a few weeks" sparking speculations, the Congress on Monday jumped in to damage control asserting that Rahul Gandhi will actively take part in all party processes after he comes back from the leave in near future.
Following is the chronology of events in the Arunachal Pradesh crisis in which the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered restoration of the dismissed Congress government by quashing all orders and decisions of the governor taken since December 9, 2015:
Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi's decision to use the same team he used in the Lok Sabha polls for the upcoming assembly elections has not gone down well with many in the party. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut praised Rahul Gandhi saying there has been a substantial change in him over the last three years.
The divide between 'teams' of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's and that of vice president Rahul Gandhi is increasing by leaps and bounds, according to party sources. There appears to be no common ground between the two sides, with both blaming the other for the state of affairs in the party. Renu Mittal reports
Ambareesh said Siddaramaiah should have called him and asked him to give a chance to somebody else.
'There are no jobs, the economy is slowing down, but the BJP is more concerned with issues like triple talaq, anti-Romeo squads and the beef ban.'
'If the leadership gets wrong information, what results you can expect?'
The All India Congress Committee has barred all ministers and MLAs in Assam from speaking to the media about dissidence in the Assam Congress Legislature Party headed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Asked about the Congress's opposition to the GST Bill, Santosh Kumar Gangwar said no party opposes GST outside Parliament.
Cracking the whip, Congress on Thursday night suspended rebel party MP from Haryana Chaudhary Birender Singh and former CWC member Jagmeet Brar for "gross indiscipline" and "deliberately lowering the prestige of the party".
