It has been lowered to 'IND BBB+' from 'IND A-', besides placing the rating on 'Rating Watch Negative' (RWN).
The future challenger to Narendra Modi would be somebody who can bring the Hindus and Muslims together again. The Hindus as Hindus, not broken caste groups, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Metro man' E Sreedharan, a much-admired technocrat who is credited with changing the face of public transport system in the country, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party giving a boost to the saffron party ahead of the assembly polls in Kerala.
'If Pinarayi Vijayan gets another term, Kerala will be a state where everybody has a house.'
A college student and a Communist Party of India-Marxist member, she was administered the oath of office by collector Navjot Khosa at the corporation council hall.
The veteran Kerala Congress leader had been a dominant player in Kerala's coalition politics, serving under six chief ministers.
While the Congress was a unifying force, the Left front was divisive, he said adding "wherever we go, we unify everybody. We are a unifying force. Wherever we go we identify everybody and unite them and make them strong".
Emerging Kerala Global Connect Summit, a government initiative to attract overseas capital to the state, is set to begin from Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating the summit.
CPI-M veteran Pinarayi Vijayan, who led the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to an unprecedented consecutive victory in the April 6 assembly polls, on Thursday took oath as chief minister of Kerala for the second time along with 20 ministers.
'How and why did we lose so many seats in places where we were expected to win?'
Unlike previous days, the House even saw Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front members standing up from their seats and locking horns with opposition members, prompting the Speaker to warn both sides.
'We just cannot accept the interference of the government in matters concerning religion and faith.'
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
Firming up plans to drastically reduce availability of liquor, the Congress-led United Democratic Front government on Tuesday decided to issue notices to hoteliers below the five-star category to shut their bars by September 12.
'Rahul Gandhi wants a group under the name 'new generation'. But look at the people who surround him.'
'It is sad that Kerala had so many Covid patients which is primarily due to the mismanagement of the Left government.' 'The technical committee was full of CPI-M leaders who happen to have medical degrees with no experience in public health.' 'They were advising the CM and we are paying for those mistakes.'
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had moved the resolution at a special session on Thursday which was unanimously passed by the House with the ruling Left Democratic Front, Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front and the BJP supporting it.
The BIAL proposes to levy a UDF of Rs 675 on domestic passengers and Rs 955 on international passengers. This would mean that every passenger flying out of Bangalore will have to cough up this additional amount.
'Continuity in a common agenda is essential, not to disrupt the progress achieved so far,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Oommen Chandy may well prove to be the Teflon chief minister whose reputation cannot be tarnished,' predicts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Emerging from a meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat, Yadav said that the first priority of his party was to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party's progress in West Bengal.
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here has got clearance from the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to increase the user development fee (UDF) levied on all outbound passengers.
The fight for chief ministership in the next United Democratic Front government has begun in the Congress party ,albeit in a subtle and subdued way. The recent report of the Intelligence Bureau that the Congress-led UDF would win around eighty five seats and head the ruling coalation has set the ball rolling in the Congress party for the post of chief minister.
After coming under fire for his sexually-coloured remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former member of Parliament Joyce George on Tuesday withdrew his comments and expressed regret publicly, even as the national party demanded his arrest while the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist distanced itself from the slur.
'If you want to really grow, it has to be geometric progression like it happened at the Centre or Haryana or Tripura, where you made a quantum jump.' 'This is possible in Kerala provided we present a better alternative with a great leadership, but the current leadership is busy fixing each other.'
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
Pinarayi is exploring the potentials of 'socialism with Indian characteristics'. The next five years under Pinarayi's watch will be a transformative period for Kerala's development, observes M K Bhadrakumar.
Instead of the special session earlier, the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to recommend to the Governor to convene the 21st session of the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly on December 31 to discuss the farmers' issue.
'The condition of some of the Adivasi hamlets is worse than Somalia, worse than what the prime minister described.' 'There are instances when Adivasis have to demolish the hut they live in to bury the dead as they do not have any other place to bury their dear ones.' 'There are tens of thousands of Adivasis who do not have land, a house or even good food to eat.' 'What kind of human development are you talking about?'
'The feeling is that Rajinikanth is pro-Modi than anti-Modi.'
Protesting against the police action, BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Thiruvananthapuram district on Tuesday.
'During Amit Shah's recent visit to Kerala, the strategy of concentrating the attacks on the CM on false charges was clear enough.'
Rampant corruption by Congress ministers must be counted as the single biggest factor to prompt the electorate to hand over a thumping mandate to the Communist parties, says M K Bhadrakumar.
The Kerala cabinet on Wednesday ratified the new liquor policy of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government, which envisaged to shut down bars attached to hotels below the five-star category as part of its plans to reduce availability of liquor.
The victory of the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front in 12 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state has made Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stronger as Kerala is one of the few states that bucked the anti-Congress trend in the country.
Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the operator of the new airport at Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city, has ruled out withdrawing the user development fee (UDF) on both domestic and international passengers, saying it is needed to fund future expansion. On the contrary, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL) withdrew user fees for domestic passengers bowing to pressure from public, budget airlines and the government.
Private airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad have proposed heavy user development fees. The UDF is much higher compared to leading airports in the world.
The airport had asked for a UDF of at least Rs 600 from domestic passengers travelling out of Andhra Pradesh. For passengers travelling within the state, it had demanded a user fee of Rs 350. UDF is the fee levied at the airport on departing passengers to enable the airport developer bridge the gap between expenditure and admissible revenue as stipulated by the ministry guidelines.
Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani resigned on Tuesday night after pressure mounted on him from the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front to quit.
'The presence of Rahul Gandhi and his campaigning for the Congress will make a general difference, but whether it will make a saving difference, not sure.'
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