Shekhar Iyer, a familiar face on television's news analysis programmes and senior associate editor at the Hindustan Times in New Delhi, threw light on the politics behind the presidential polls as he answered questions from Rediff readers on Wednesday. Here's the transcript of the chat:
Former Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) secretary Sunil Dev passed away on Wednesday after a prolonged illness.
While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
The 'Pran Pratishtha' of the idol of Ram Lalla -- the childhood form of Lord Ram -- will be attended by people from all walks of life, including representatives of major spiritual and religious sects of the country and of various tribal communities and prominent personalities.
Raut also highlighted that the party had goodwill toward the opposition's Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday took her maiden sortie in a fighter aircraft at Tezpur air base in Assam.
Shiv Sena will support National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, party president Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday.
The opposition's presidential poll candidate Yashwant Sinha on Friday revealed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refused to take his calls when he tried to seek the latter's support for his candidature.
There are no major legal complications in implementing the bill right now but the Narendra Modi government putting it off for 10 years, he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has claimed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had come to his residence and cried that he will be arrested by a central agency if he did not switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), before revolting against the Sena leadership.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered the oath of office of the President to her in the Central Hall of Parliament.
The Election Commission on Friday issue a 'certificate of election' to NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu who has emerged victorious in the presidential poll.
Glimpses of the late queen Elizabeth's encounters with India and Indian leaders.
At the age of 15, she is all set to graduate in Psychology from the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya in Indore.
'Perhaps, he must have thought that it was time to pass on the baton to the younger generation.'
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday claimed Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has failed to create a successor who could take his party forward.
When elected on July 18 -- which is almost a certainty, given the NDA's numbers in the electoral college -- Droupadi Murmu will be the first President born after Independence.
Abe Shinzo's murder is a personal loss for Prime Minister N D Modi, one of the Japanese leader's international friends -- Modi was the only world leader Abe followed on social media back in 2014 -- and the two prime ministers charted out a new road map for India-Japan relations that grew stronger in the Abe era and in the years since he stepped down.
Here is a list of leaders who have flown IAF aircraft in the past:
Five years since he supported UPA's Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil after breaking ranks with National Democratic Alliance, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday appeared having second thoughts on the issue.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra have been conferred with the rank of honourary Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army by President Pratibha Patil.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders met President Pratibha Patil on Thursday to complain about "subversion" of Parliament over Lokpal issue and sought her intervention to re-convene the House to enable voting in Rajya Sabha on the crucial bill.
With Jammu and Kashmir assembly slated to discuss a resolution seeking clemency for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, a Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing delegation on Sunday met President Pratibha Patil and said the death sentence awarded to the terrorist should be carried out or it would set a bad precedent.
P J Thomas, whose appointment as Chief Vigilance Commissioner was cancelled by President Pratibha Patil after the Supreme Court held it as illegal, has moved the Delhi high court seeking stay of the appointment of his successor who is being sworn in on Thursday.
After a rousing tour to the United Nations, the members of the Sulabh International called on President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan on Friday.
Expecting the economy to slow down in the current fiscal amid global recession, President Pratibha Patil said the new government will focus on adversely-affected sectors like infrastructure, exports, SMEs, and housing to restore the growth momentum.
Patil said government policies and programmes should be women-centric as no country could grow without paying attention to half of its population.
Sources said Modi also called up various leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's M K Stalin and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal.
Disrespect to alliance partners during Pratibha Patil's Goa tour to seek support for presidential poll is one of the reasons why the Congress-led government plunged into minority, former chief minister Churchill Alemao said.
Gandhi came along with Mukherjee and while the former president left after sometime, the Congress chief offered to drop him back but Mukherjee politely refused.
This will be the first political delegation Pratibha would be receiving after taking over as the head of state from her predecessor A P J Abdul Kalam.
Queen Elizabeth II, who died aged 96 on Thursday, was the first British monarch to accede to the throne after India's Independence from colonial rule in 1952 and admired the 'richness and diversity' of India where she made three State Visits over the course of her reign -- in 1961, 1983 and 1997.
Queen Elizabeth II made 3 State visits to India -- in 1961, 1983 and 1997.
Expressing happiness at political parties fielding a woman for the top post, she said she also expected some forward movement on the women's reservation issue in the next six months.
In the last 75 years, there have been multiple calls for a gender-neutral term for the head of the State and debates over it.
A collection of the best news features of the day
There was considerable disquiet in the Congress after Mukherjee accepted the invitation of the RSS to address its workers at its headquarters in Nagpur.
'I wasn't getting the roles I wanted to play and the respect I thought I deserved as a senior actor, so I cut myself off from the industry for a while and moved to the US.'
US ambassador to India, Timothy J Roemer presents his credentials to President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
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