Congress leaders claim the rising price of onions is due to hoarding by pro-BJP traders. Renu Mittal reports
The biennial polls of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on October 18 will see a straight fight for the presidentship between two Maharashtra political heavyweights -- Sharad Pawar and Gopinath Munde.
The government is likely to firm up next week a view on how to go about the food security bill. Indications to this effect were available on Wednesday with the government sources saying a decision will be taken only after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's return from Rome where he has gone to attend Food and Agriculture Organisation conference.
Putting up a brave face, former Member of Parliament and suspended Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi said on Saturday that he is not yet retired from politics and will become active at an appropriate time. He also said that it is too early to evaluate the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
The alliance won 41 of the 48 seats leaving the Congress-NCP combine with just 5 seats.
'We are fully capable of handling anti-India propaganda but it does pain when a former president of such a big political party does ochi rajiniti (shallow minded politics) at a time of problems. It is a matter of self-introspection for him and the Congress'
AAP is quite keen to repeat party chief Arvind Kejriwal's sterling victory against Delhi's former chief minister Sheila Dikshit by pitting Damania against Gadkari in the proposed high-profile contest.
YSR Congress party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy will meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday evening in Lucknow, to garner political support for a united Andhra Pradesh.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India has floated tender after kitchen staple prices touched Rs 90 even though wholesale rates were much less at Rs 50-60 a kg.
Retail prices of onion have soared to Rs 70-80 per kg in most parts of the country, after dropping to Rs 50-55 per kg a week ago from the same high level due to seasonal shortages.
Under fire, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a counter offensive against Congress and NCP on ceasefire violations by Pakistan, saying such issues should not be dragged into political discourse as he hauled them over the coals over corruption in Maharashtra
Onions prices are still ruling at an unaffordable level, though rates have started softening both in the wholesale and retail markets across the country following government measures like allowing cooperative Nafed to import onions.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday constituted a Cabinet committee to oversee reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
In a letter written recently to the Finance Minister, Pawar had said that arrears of sugar mills have risen to over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) and there was a need to hike import duty to curb shipments, which is putting downward pressure on local prices.
Making it clear that he was not opposed to the National Food Security Bill, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday said he would prefer it to be approved by Parliament after a debate.
The bill, considered by many in the Congress as a gamechanger which could boost its prospects in the Lok Sabha election, was tabled in the Budget Session but could not be taken up for discussion as Opposition stalled Parliament over a rash of scams under United Progressive Alliance.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday refused to comment on Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's statement that he would like to see him as the prime minister.
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
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Initiating a debate on the current economic situation in the country, Ravi Shankar Prasad of Bharatiya Janata Party slammed the government over rising prices, including that of onions, saying the common man is suffering and "crony capitalism has come to rule".
Bajaj Auto workers at the Chakan plant called off their strike on Tuesday after 50 days of agitation.
Nationalist Congress Party Supremo and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has dismissed the possibility of early general elections in view of government issuing food security ordinance, saying the "question does not arise unless and until the food reaches the people".
Former Mumbai police commissioner M N Singh made startling revelations about SRK, Dawood Ibrahim's surrender plan and Sharad Pawar at a book launch in Mumbai.
However, it was Narendra Modi's 27 rallies that attracted maximum attention.
The Union home ministry has received a factual report from the Maharashtra government on the prevailing situation in the state in the wake of caste-based violence there, a ministry spokesperson said.
The BJP veteran was detained on Monday evening while protesting against the state government's "apathy" towards the farmers of Vidarbha. He was taken to the district police headquarters and later released.
A Maharashtra Commission for Women member from the Nationalist Congress Party kicked up a major controversy by suggesting that a woman's clothes and her behaviour are also responsible for rape.
Sharad Pawar will be elected unopposed as Mumbai Cricket Association president after BJP leader Gopinath Munde's appeal against the rejection of his application to contest for the top post in Friday's polls was turned down.
Since the food subsidy is almost Rs 1,000 per person per year, there is a need for complete re-engineering of the existing public distribution system so as to ensure each and every grain reaches the right beneficiary, he said.
Chiefs of Army Staff in India have not been tactful about politicians. But they have stayed clear of politics, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Veering towards conceding the demand for a separate Telangana, the Congress has convened a meeting of its working committee, the party's highest policy-making body, on Tuesday after deliberations on the issue in the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee.
Fadnavis rules out holding special session of legislature and instead assures of relief measures, says Sanjay Jog
While its widely being publicised that Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan resigned from the council of ministers to work for the Congress party ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls, political observers point out that 'growing unhappiness' over her performance during her ministership could have possibly led to the move. Renu Mittal reports.
What political leaders and twitterati had to say about India's response to the Uri attack.
'For the Shiv Sena, Hindutva is like a shawl which can be put on and discarded at will.'
Attending a function where former Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari rolled out business plan of his Purti Group, NCP president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said "there are no untouchables in politics".
Taking note of large-scale deaths because of the heat wave in various parts of country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked a Group of Ministers to discuss and decide on its inclusion as natural calamity.
Congress candidate Ashok Chavan, BJP's Gopinath Munde, NCP's Padmasinh Patil and All India Youth Congress chief Rajeev Satav cash in on their charisma and image. Sanjay Jog
In an interview to television channel CNN-IBN, the Nationalist Congress Party chief said that the BJP will not be able to reap any benefits across the country by having Modi as its PM mascot.
Might discuss Ordinance route tomorrow, note circulated among ministers listing discussion topics.
Rangarajan, who was answering questions on onion prices touching Rs 100 per kg in some cities, said the impact on inflation would not last long.
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