Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa became the only member of the family to retain a cabinet position in his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa's new cabinet of 17 ministers appointed on Monday, as the island nation was facing the worst economic crisis.
'They should not forget that had we decided not to rebel, they would still be chanting slogans from the footsteps of the Vidhan Sabha.'
Without ruling out the possibility of working with the Congress after polls, Akhilesh said he has good relations with the party and would be 'happy' if the next prime minister was from his home state.
It was soon after that call that Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav spoke to each other.
'The need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism'
'The uncertainty on future leadership needs to be dispelled. It is already late as if today is yesterday. If necessary, a direction can be given to Rahul Gandhi to assume leadership'
'The way opposition parties such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morch have supported her, if she wins, she will be the biggest opposition face for 2024'
Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Yadav of the rebel Janata Dal-United, D Raja of the Communist Party of India, Hardik Patel (Gujarat's Patidar leader), Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool Congress) and Sushilkumar Shinde (Congress) attended the meeting and joined the march.
The AAP has declared candidates on six of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
The Karnataka legislative assembly on Tuesday passed bills enhancing the salaries and allowances of the chief minister, ministers and legislators.
Despite the monsoon session of Parliament being a near washout so far, the government hopes to resolve the impasse at an all-party meeting on Monday to pave the way for discussion on issues raised by the Opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said.
Sonia hit out at the BJP, saying the ruling party's "divisive agenda" has become a regular feature of political discourse in all states and that history is being "mischievously distorted" to add fuel to its agenda.
In a disciplinary action, three other functionaries, also belonging to Theni party district like Raja were dismissed.
Shah accused the ruling TMC in Bengal of "spreading canards" about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act
The decision to roll back the farm laws will go a long way in placating the community, which had backed the saffron party wholeheartedly in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls besides the 2017 assembly polls, and may queer the opposition's pitch for forging a social alliance of Jats and several smaller communities with Muslims, another numerically strong group in the region, against the BJP, its leaders hope.
The Government also defended the President's decision to enforce a state of emergency, that had given him sweeping authority to act in the interests of public security and preserving public order, including suspending any laws, authorising detentions and seizing property, saying it was declared after attempts were made to attack the President's Office and other public property.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spreading fear, hatred and violence and said the country can not progress under these circumstances as he asked the government to be compassionate in handling farmers' problems to prevent suicides.
In an accompanying vision statement, the former finance minister highlighted his track record of serving in the Cabinet, helping to steer the economy through the toughest of times with the COVID pandemic.
There are "contradictions" in the approach of the two parties in fighting BJP and there is no question of an alliance with the ruling TMC in Bengal as it has inflicted atrocities on grassroot level CPI (M) workers, he said.
He also claimed that the people were asking are all the jobs under Kerala government reserved for cadres and the university jobs for powerful people in Thiruvananthapuram.
Over 15 million voters are eligible to vote in the election being held under electoral districts-based proportional representation system.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday sought to defend his widely criticised statement equating Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru and saying they helped India get freedom even as an Uttar Pradesh minister suggested a narco test for him for 'glorifying' the founder of Pakistan.
Notably, leaders of 13 Opposition parties on Saturday expressed deep concern over the recent incidents of hate speech and communal violence in the country and urged people to maintain peace and harmony.
'Just because there is some misunderstanding, you cannot recall the chief secretary.' 'This is not a good development. This is an assault on federalism.'
The youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam on Monday claimed its activists have filed more than 1,000 complaints against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at various police stations in the state over his tweets that left the Northeast out of India's geographical expanse while he talked about the country's unity.
Congress legislators will spend Thursday night inside the Karnataka legislative assembly and council, demanding the sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition for his statement about the national flag.
Patel's victory, which came against heavy odds, has given the Congress and the rest of the Opposition the confidence that Modi and Shah weren't invincible.
The 47-year-old senior cabinet minister was widely expected to become the third female British Prime Minister after 170,000 online and postal votes cast by Tory members, ending Sunak's historic run as the first member of Parliament of Indian heritage to compete for the top job at 10 Downing Street.
The Rahul-led campaign not only recorded its best assembly performance in the state since 1995, but also matched the BJP blow for blow in planning and execution.
All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad said the party would not react immediately and would come out with a detailed reaction in Lucknow on Sunday.
Gandhi said around 400 Congress members will be attending the Chintan Shivir in Udaipur from May 13 to 15 and stressed on the message of every leader holding one party post.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's dominant Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction on Friday asserted that the system of dual leadership that vested powers on coordinator O Panneerselvam (OPS) and joint coordinator EPS ceased to be in force, a day after the general council stood firm on the single leadership demand.
RLD sources said that the party chief was "taken aback" by the SP's delay in announcing his name as the candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.
As the controversy over Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt's remarks refused to die down, the chief minister said the Kerala society as a whole has not agreed with the Bishop's statement and expressed hope that he would "respond", sensing the stand of the public on the issue.
'In 2014, he was a relatively unknown quantity, and benefited from the apparent difference that he brought to national politics.'
'The Congress wants to deprive Modi another term in 2024 and for that they are ready to make any sacrifice.'
Thousands of Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) students were seen sloganeering outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Wijerama Mawatha.
As good as Mammootty is playing Sundaram, we see this facet of his performance through two lenses: That of Sundaram being an offset to whatever we know about James, and that of Mammootty doing quintessentially Tamil tics, including enacting scenes from old Tamil movies like solo plays, observes Rohit Sathish Nair.
Newly-appointed British Prime Minster Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday that he has been elected to fix some of the "mistakes" made by his predecessor as he promised to place "economic stability and confidence" at the heart of his government's agenda.
The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances