Senior analyst B Raman assesses Brajesh Mishra's role as India's first National Security Advisor, his part in the 1998 nuclear tests, the Kargil conflict and more.
Apparently seeking to pacify an angry BJP, Joint Parliamentary Committee chief P C Chacko on Tuesday dismissed reports that the panel has named former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in its draft report in the 2G scam.
Defending the walkout of its members from the Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that the "brazen" manner in which the Congress leaders behaved showed the government had a "game plan" to scuttle the panel's probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
If Indira Gandhi hadn't targeted the RSS, Narendra Modi wouldn't be sitting pretty with his second majority and looking at a third, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Taking a dig at Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Sunday said then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had reminded the Gujarat chief minister about 'Raj Dharma' in the wake of the 2002 riots in the state.
An "exhaustive" list of witnesses, which includes former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, was on Tuesday placed before the JPC probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam, but a decision whether to call them was deferred.
In contrast to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Hindi mouthpiece Panchjanya that crticised Narendra Modi's style of working, its English magazine Organiser projected the Gujarat chief minister as "the most popular leader in the country today" who can be a mascot like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and ride the party to power at the Centre.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha has criticised India's recent peace dialogue with Pakistan, saying terrorism and talks can't go together.
Kiren Rijiju's exit from the coveted law ministry came in the midst of his frequent criticism of the judiciary, particularly on the system of appointment of judges to high courts and the Supreme Court.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday declared that he will not realign with the Bharatiya Janata Party till he is alive, accusing the former ally of using investigating agencies for targeting political opponents like Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad.
A decision to this effect was taken at a two-hour long meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Vajpayee.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is seriously ill for the past two years, and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who did not canvas in the Bihar polls due to objections from ally Janata Dal-United, figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party's list of election campaigners.
In the aftermath of the 2002 riots in Gujarat, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appeared to be not keen on President APJ Abdul Kalam's official visit to the state, according to a book.
Should India continue with its peace initiatives? Or is the prime minister's mission a lost cause?
Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that India and Pakistan were ready to resolve the Kashmir issue in 1999. "The then Indian prime minister (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee and I were ready to resolve the Kashmir issue in 1999 but General (Pervez) Musharraf did the misadventure in Kargil and then overthrew my government," Sharif said while addressing a function on Saturday to mark the anniversary of Pak carrying out nuclear tests.
The Congress president also came down heavily on the BJP over the Adani issue.
Would you endorse a reunion of south Asia?
'The 2024 election results will lead to much intense targeting of Modi, more intense debates, many more breakdowns in Parliament and many more movements on the streets.' 'The results have hit Modi's standing, and the politics of the Opposition parties will be sharply focused to ensure that Modi doesn't get back his charisma of being 'invincible' with help of State power.' Sheela Bhatt looks at the political situation through the prism of 2024 Lok Sabha election results.
'Our courts may fail, there may be lot of corruption in the working of our criminal justice system, but ultimately the justice of God will prevail,' says Sudheendra Kulkarni, recently released from bail in the cash-for-votes case.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj expressed disappointment over former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not getting the Bharat Ratna this year, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party was expecting it. She also said the sanctity of these awards should be maintained as even some failures have been conferred with the honour.
The condition of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is undergoing treatment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, is improving and his dependence on ventilator support has reduced, doctors attending on him said on Wednesday.
"He is alright. He is making progress," Head of Cardiac Thoracic Vascular Sciences Department of AIIMS Sampath Kumar said on Tuesday. Kumar said Vajpayee's lungs are improving and oxygenation (amount of oxygen in blood purified by the lungs) level is better. Sources at the AIIMS say he is likely to be taken off the ventilator soon.
Chastened by the Kargil conflict, Pervez Musharraf will be remembered for gradually lowering the profile of terrorism and seeking a realistically negotiated settlement to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan when Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
The government on Tuesday decided to call fresh bids for selling its stake in Shipping Corporation of India, while taking Air-India and Indian Airlines off the divestment list.
Anupam Gupta, counsel for Liberhan Commission from 1999 to 2007, said Vajpayee cannot be indicted because he was neither given notice or summoned.
L K Advani, who has been ruling the roost in the Bharatiya Janata Party along with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, claimed credit for stepping down as Sushma Swaraj took over the Leader of the Oppposition's post from him.
Vasundhra Raje, who resigned as Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly following orders from the BJP high command, on Friday met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday night said he feels "awkward" attending functions where he feels his long-time associate and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should have been present.
Bhartiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari on Friday called upon partymen to use Uttar Pradesh as the launch pad for regaining power at the Centre.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi once again went that extra mile to reach out to the aam aadmi. On Tuesday, Gandhi was travelling in New Delhi when he spotted a person hurt in a road accident on the road. He immediately stopped his car to help the victim and ensured that he was rushed to the nearby All India Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment.
The Indian cricketers wore black arm bands on the first day of the third Test against England in Nottingham on Saturday as a mark of respect to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former captain Ajit Wadekar.
"We are not against the common man or the migrant workers from UP and Bihar. If somebody changes according to the house of the host (Maharashtra), he is welcome, but if somebody wants to change the host's home by dadagiri (force), we will never tolerate it," Raj asserted.
The support of a majority of his own party MPs to the legislation notwithstanding, JD (U) president Sharad Yadav on Tuesday accused the UPA of forcing through the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha and said constitutional amendments should only be passed after evolving a consensus.
The February 25 India-Pakistan talks are bound to fail. India is acting under American and British pressure. The Americans and the British are just looking for an honorable excuse to flee from Afghanistan. And Pakistan will continue to undermine India till the Indian armed forces don't have clear superiority. This, in essence, is what former Indian national adviser Brajesh Mishra -- a vocal opponent of New Delhi's latest olive branch to Islamabad -- feels.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is making steady progress with his pneumonic attack having almost subsided, doctors attending on him at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said on Thursday. Vajpayee, who was admitted to the hospital following complaints of chest infection, has shown considerable improvement and his dependence on ventilator has been further reduced.
The Congress alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was shying from debate on 2G issue as its top leadership was involved in taking "wrong" decisions on spectrum allocation when NDA was in power which led to huge revenue losses to the country.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences following fever and chest congestion, on Thursday showed signs of improvement, doctors said. "He doesn't have fever and his lower respiratory track infection is much better. His condition is stable," AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr D K Sharma said. The 84-year-old BJP leader was admitted to AIIMS on Tuesday night following complaints of fever and respiratory infection.
'We are convinced a section of the bureaucracy believes we should follow the Western model of economic development including the dictates of the WTO,' says RSS Spokesman Ram Madhav.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, on behalf of the government for certain "undesirable" remarks by a Congress member against former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Scores of Indian American politicians, administration officials, media personalities and activists were among the 320 guests at the first state dinner of the Barack Obama presidency in honour of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Mrs Gurcharan Kaur
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