Pranab Mukherjee, the United Progressive Alliance's presidential candidate, has friends across the political spectrum, in the Left as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party, says Aditi Phadnis
Ending months of speculation, the ruling coalition met on Friday evening at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh where its Chairperson Sonia Gandhi put forward the name of the 77-year-old veteran Congressman from West Bengal as its candidate, which was unanimously approved by the leaders of the constituent parties
In positive signals for the United Progressive Alliance, the Samajwadi Party today said it will not support any National Democratic Alliance Presidential candidate and did not want mid-term elections.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met senior Congress colleagues, including Pranab Mukherjee, to discuss the Presidential poll issue ahead of the United Progressive Alliance meeting.
Sources in the Samajwadi Party said that Mulayam Singh Yadav, his cousin and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and another senior leader Naresh Aggarwal have held at least five rounds of discussion with Congress leaders
The government's frenetic pace of activity resulting in a series of economic policy initiatives in the last two months has taken the opposition political parties by surprise.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday termed as "unprecedented" the proposal to make Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a presidential candidate, saying it shows the lack of principles that ties the United Progressive Alliance coalition
Congress leaders going all-out to defend Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law has left several red faced, with leaders privately speaking of unfair practices in the party, reports Renu Mittal.
The Congress silence comes at a high cost, notes a Rediff Correspondent.
The United Progressive Alliance on Sunday decided not to oblige the opposition by asking for the resignation of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, whose nephew was arrested in a bribery case, as also Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who is in the eye of a storm over the coal-gate controversy.
A day ahead of filing a crucial affidavit in the Supreme Court on coal scam which has rocked the United Progressive Alliance government, Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha on Sunday affirmed that the agency's probe into the matter was "clean and clear" and that no accused or suspect had been let off.
Accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of 'looting' and 'lying' to the country, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders will seriously hit the midday meal scheme. "Is this what the common people expect from reforms? In the name of reforms, 'loot chalche loot' (the country is being looted). To suppress it, 'jhoot chalche jhoot' (the government is lying)," Banerjee wrote on her Facebook page.
The United Progressive Alliance's new managers are beginning to realise that running the alliance without Pranab Mukherjee may not be very difficult, says A K Bhattacharya
Hitting out at the government for calling Team Anna members "anti-national", the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it is not right and unjustified to level such allegations against those critical of the policies of the United Progressive Alliance dispensation.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders T R Baalu and M K Stalin on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and are believed to have discussed the issue of selection of a candidate for the presidential election. The meeting lasted for around 5 to 7 minutes and was described by the DMK leaders as a courtesy call.
Although the apex court's opinion on the Presidential reference comes at a time when the floppy bidding route for coal blocks is being criticised, it will not come in the way of allocation of natural resources through auctioning.
With speculations rife about a Union Cabinet reshuffle, the Congress has discussed the issue with Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, the largest ally of the United Progressive Alliance after the exit of the Trinamool Congress. Union Minister V Narayansamy called on DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai on Tuesday, but the latter is learnt to have turned down the offer for the induction of his party MPs in the Manmohan Singh-led Cabinet, party sources said.
The UPA's old schemes are unravelling while the new ones are still to take off, says Sunita Moga
Kumar remarked that the Congress could have done the needful while the United Progressive Alliance, led by it, ruled the country for two consecutive terms.
With Trinamool Congress walking out of the United Progressive Alliance, a reshuffle-cum-expansion of the Union Council of Ministers is likely to be effected this week.
Sources in the Congress have begun to brief business houses and mediapersons with 'adequate numbers' to prove that the United Progressive Alliance government is in majority, despite Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress pulling out its 19 members of Parliament from the government.
With Trinamool Congress set to exit the United Progressive Alliance, the Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, will meet on Friday evening to decide the future course of action.
The most pernicious abuse of the toll system is the VIP syndrome. Most toll plazas carry a long list of VIP vehicles that are exempt from payment and others have to compensate for them.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Left leaders Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan on Thursday courted arrest in New Delhi during the nationwide bandh against Foreign Direct Investment in retail and diesel price hike. They were later released.
Criticising the United Progressive Alliance government for creating disparity between states ruled by the National Democratic Alliance and others, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that the Centre must understand the reality of federal structure of the country.
The United Progressive Alliance government and the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday got into a spat over missed calls and messages with Home Minister P Chidambaram insisting that efforts were made four days back by the Prime Minister to contact Mamata Banerjee but there was no response, evoking a sharp rebuttal from her.
Though senior TMC leader Saugata Roy, Union Minister of State for Urban Development, told the media afterwards that 'the decision to withdraw support was a unanimous one', our sources in the party had a different tale to tale.
Both Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party might be thoroughly opposed to the United Progressive Alliance government's recent decision to allow FDI in retail as well as the hike in diesel price, but neither of these parties are likely to immediately part ways with the UPA.
If the government could create a convincing case for capping gas cylinder numbers, there is no reason why the government cannot build a solid case, using similar methods, for a further increase in diesel price.
With the 72-hour deadline to the Centre to rollback diesel price hike, LPG subsidy cap and FDI in multi-brand retail expiring on Monday, the Trinamool Congress mounted fresh pressure with a Union minister belonging to it listing three options, including withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance.
Refusing to spell out their preference, Left parties on Wednesday asked the United Progressive Alliance government to come up with a candidate with the "widest possible acceptance" for the Presidential election. After a meeting of the four Left parties in Delhi, the leaders said they did not discuss any names during the 90-minute-long deliberations though they mentioned that Nationalist Congress Party leader P A Sangma approached them for support.
Commenting on Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's statement that coal block allocation scam would be soon forgotten, Shiv Sena on Sunday said he articulated 'attitude' of the United Progressive Alliance government.
In light of the recent announcement of the government to introduce Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector, the United Progressive Alliance government is facing a backlash from its allies.
Describing Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's remarks favouring a third front, as 'misleading', senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh on Thursday sought a firm assurance from the SP on withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance.
Attacking Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party on Wednesday said he has shown little to prove that he can lead politically and the country's future would be safe in his hands.
Hitting out at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for favouring a Third Front, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday dared him to first cut off ties with the United Progressive Alliance government, of which his party has been a "part and parcel". BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy claimed that Yadav is "showing a lot of desperation" about a Third Front, though he himself is supporting the "corrupt" UPA government.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to subvert India's growth story, Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the party was suffering from 'paralysis' as it was not allowing Parliament to function, returning the barb directed at the government by the opposition.
Maintaining that the United Progressive Alliance government is not in favour of "censorship but self-regulation" by the media, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Monday said certain ground rules for respect of national symbols have to be followed by every Indian citizen.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh, the young face of the UPA government, talks to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt about the protests that rocked the national capital over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in a bus.
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