Maharashtra's dance bars may soon spring back to life with the Supreme Court on Thursday staying the operation of a state law banning it on the condition that performances will not be obscene even as the government said it will press for continuance of the ban.
A day after the Maharashtra assembly polls gave a fractured verdict, the political picture continues to remain nebulous with speculation rife about whether it will be a Nationalist Congress Party-propped Bharatiya Janata Party ministry or a coalition regime with the Shiv Sena.
Simhastha Kumbh Mela, the largest congregation of faith in the world, began on Tuesday with the traditional ceremony of hoisting of flags and thousands of people taking a holy dip in Kushawart and Ramkund in Godavari river in the two towns.
Amid demands from his partymen for him to be declared as chief ministerial candidate, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said he respects their sentiments but has not given a thought to the issue.
'Jaitley was one of the earliest politicians to sense the changing political scenario in Delhi. He had closely watched the rise of the BJP and declining fortunes of the Congress party during the L K Advani era. But it was between 2009 and 2014 as the Leader of the Opposition that he began to read the tea leaves. 'And thus it was that he introduced Modi-Amit Shah duo to Lutyens Delhi,' says senior journalist R Rajagopalan who had known Jaitley since 1975.
Submitting a dissent note against the JPC report on 2G spectrum, Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said it was flawed and a bundle of contradictions drafted by people in the government on the directions of the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister as a "cover up" exercise.
Modi and Rahul's Gandhi's case cannot be dismissed casually. Both are high visibility persons, subject to intense scrutiny, and above all, under heavy protection. So anyone meeting them is properly vetted, says Mahesh Vijapurkar
The court allowed tips to performers but disallowed showering of currency on them.
'Change is the rule of politics.'
Judge Jagdale halted Dr Gupta's testimony several times because he felt it had neither order nor direction. Tightly controlling his irritation, his lips compressed, the judge explained as patiently as he could: "What he has done in this case should come (out in his testimony) in a lucid manner. You eat chapati and then rice. You cannot eat half a chapati and then have rice and then eat half a chapati..." "He is not a witness of facts. He is an expert witness. Either he is not prepared. Or you are not prepared."
What do the leads from Maharashtra tell you about the emerging trends in the state? Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com explains.
Other composers tried their luck with Paisa Yeh Paisa, but Director Indra Kumar wasn't happy with the outcome. '"Induji asked us to try and we are glad we did because the song has turned out too good!"'
Congress on Monday accused Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje of "forcible, illegal occupation" of the Dholpur Palace along with Lalit Modi through a private company.
The prime minister, who loves to be in the media and tweets on issues, is keeping quiet on key issues, he said.
Shetti said the SSS had committed a "grave mistake" by extending support to the NDA.
Yashwant Sinha, Bharatiya Janata Party's member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam, on Saturday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar requesting her to reject the panel's report.
The Maharashtra government is pushing hard to get a Rs 4,500-crore financial package from Centre, reports Sanjay Jog
Devotees across India on Thursday welcomed their most beloved and venerated deity -- Lord Ganesh -- into their homes and community pandals, kickstarting the ten-day Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations with zeal and devotion.
A day after Devendra Fadnavis was anointed chief minister-designate of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday went into a huddle with top party leaders to discuss the future course of action but there were no signs of the party being in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for now.
A minister in Maharashtra has come under criticism after he was spotted with a revolver tucked under his belt at an event organised for children with speech and hearing impairment.
'More people will come out of the BJP. You just wait and watch.'
The stringent provisions are envisaged in a draft bill finalised by the Maharashtra government to regulate dance bars in the state post lifting of a ban on them.
The Association for Democratic Reforms has urged political parties to refrain from giving tickets to candidates who are facing serious criminal charges and asked them to disclose the criteria for the selection of candidates during elections.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls was declared, its veteran leader L K Advani today expressed interest to contest elections from his current constituency, Gandhinagar.
In a year of the Yogi Adityanath regime in Uttar Pradesh, the state has witnessed 1,500 police encounter in which 58 criminals have been killed. On July 2, the Supreme Court sought a reply from the UP government on the issue of police encounter killings after advocate Sanjay Parekh appearing for the People's Union for Civil Liberties pointed out that gross human rights violations were being carried out through these killings under the Adityanath rule. Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, PUCL's advocate Sanjay Parekh said that police encounters are not permissible in a democracy.
'The minister is not concerned about our daughters' well-being.' 'Just when the sex ratio for girls is showing an improvement across every district, the minister wants the onus to be on the women knowing very well that decision making in India is in the hands of the male.'
Last year, he was the BJP's darling. Today, Arnab Goswami is a hated figure for the Modi bhakts. What changed?
Life in Mumbai was on Wednesday slowly coming back on tracks as rains subsided and hundreds of stranded commuters headed home with the partial resumption of suburban train services.
'I would like to believe that out of this struggle (to effect climate change) will be born a generation that will be able to look upon the world with clearer eyes than those that preceded it; that they will be able to transcend the isolation in which humanity was entrapped in the time of its derangement; that they will rediscover their kinship with other beings, and that this vision, at once new and ancient, will find expression in a transformed and renewed art and literature.'
The protesters blocked roads in several areas of Mumbai, forced shops to shut down.
A day after over two lakh Mumbaikars, including several prominent personalities, were left disenfranchised after their names were found missing from the electoral rolls, the Bharatiya Janata Party asked the election authorities on Friday, to revise electoral rolls.
As the pyres were being lit, thousands of villagers who had gathered shouted slogans against Pakistan and demanded tough action against the soldiers' killing.
After placating sitting MP Suresh Kalmadi who was sulking over denial of ticket, the Congress managers are confronted with a tough task of retaining the Pune Lok Sabha seat by overcoming the main challenge from a resurgent BJP in a quadrangular contest which is on cards.
It seems that the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party is leaving no stone unturned to make grand the October 31 oath-taking ceremony of its first chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, at the Wankhede stadium in South Mumbai.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday poked fun at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's '56-inch' chest, saying his party and the people of this country will reduce it to 5.6 inches in the next six months.
With the Modi government battling propriety issues over the Lalit Modi row and the furore on Vyapam scam, leaders of "like-minded" parties will meet for Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Iftar dinner on Monday where they are likely to deliberate on the strategy for Parliament session beginning July 21.
While the PM is trying to hardsell his developmental agenda, his rivals are targeting him in the run-up to the assembly election
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan has come out with a communiqu announcing distribution of portfolios of the ministers sworn-in on Monday in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers:
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's much-awaited entry into the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Republican Party of India combine to forge a grand alliance in Maharashtra won't be a reality.