After his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said there can be no opposition front without the Congress, in a clear message to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her 'no United Progressive Alliance' taunt, even as another ally Nationalist Congress Party asserted it will make every effort to form a broad-based alliance that will also include the Congress.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh readies to face some tough questions in his interaction with mediapersons on Friday, he will largely base his arguments on a performance report of the United Progressive Alliance government.
A day after making a strong pitch for her party being given the post of Leader of Opposition, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday held a meeting with party members of Parliament in Lok Sabha.
The government hurried through the scheme, which required a complete re-engineering of welfare delivery, severely challenging its implementation.
In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Singh speaks about his candidature from Varanasi, the party's prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and how the Congress is likely to fare in Andhra Pradesh.
Mayawati said that in case of a tie-up with the Congress in the past, the party did not benefit.
A close examination of the government's decision-making process shows there were four specific reasons that influenced the Union Cabinet's Wednesday move to defer a decision on gas prices by three months, to September 30.
A countrywide survey done ABP News and Nielsen spells doom for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.If Lok Sabha polls were held right now, says the survey, the UPA will win only 136 of the 543 seats in the Lower House.
They said the filing of nomination papers will be a big show of strength and the top Congress leadership will be present.
The no-confidence notice moved by 6 Congress parliamentarians against the UPA government on the Telangana issue has found favour with 84 more Seema-Andhra leaders.
The nation will have nine nuclear reactors by 2024 and a new nuclear project, the first in northern India, will come up 150 kms away from Delhi in Gorakhpur of Haryana, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.
Social activist Anna Hazare said he won't be proceeding with the indefinite fast against the new farm laws and claimed that the Central government has agreed to some of his demands.
The exodus in Congress could again momentum (Kiran Reddy, L Rajagopal's resignations) in contrast to which the BJP is adding to its tally of allies and is finding new admirers. Anita Katiyal reports
Addressing a rally, Modi alleged that artificial shortage of coal is being created in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is projected to get 227 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, while Congress will be reduced to 84 seats, according to an opinion poll.
About 10,000 km of state highways were declared national highways during the last 10 years.
The Congress leader, who served as Union home minister during November 2008 to July 2012 in the United Progressive Alliance government, was one of the key guests at the inauguration event of CBI headquarters, held on June 30, 2011, in the presence of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Centre is expected to increase the dearness allowance by 10% to 100% by the end of February.
Party leaders claim the focus is going to be 'reviving growth with job creation' and checking inflation.
Accusing the Union government of using the central agencies to target leaders like former finance minister P Chidambaram and others, Kamal Nath expressed hope that the court will take a right decision in the case.
The Congress leader is also being probed by ED in two separate money-laundering cases of Aircel-Maxis and INX Media.
In Parliament on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party urged Speaker Meira Kumar to suspend Question Hour to discuss activist Anna Hazare's indefinite fast against corruption.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is projected to form the government at the Centre with exit polls on Monday night giving between 249 and 290 seats to the Narendra Modi-led grouping, which is close to the half-way mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, whose appointment as army chief had kicked up a row, will on Thursday take over as the next head of the 1.3 million strong force succeeding Gen Bikram Singh who is retiring.
Chidambaram hit out at former Bharatiya Janata Party Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, saying he was a 'distant memory' for the people of India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is poised to cross 220 seats, well ahead of the United Progressive Alliance and within striking distance of forming a government in 2014 if elections are held today.
Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy, who represents the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh, is considered a front runner for the post of chief minister of the proposed state of Telangana. He gives his first formal interview to rediff.com's Anita Katyal.
Obsessed with spending, the UPA has ignored the vital task of expanding the direct tax net.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, in power since 2004, will have to seek fresh mandate of the people in the coming months.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi Tuesday visited the Army base hospital at Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar to inquire about the condition of jawans injured in the Hyderpora attack.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday lashed out at Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi over the claims made in a book by the Prime Minister's former aide, saying the mother and son would have to pay the "price" for running the United Progressive Alliance government from behind the scene.
The Congress leaders are among those invited by the prime minister to the ceremony.
Sinha said it was not possible to control inflation unless steps were taken to check fiscal deficit.
The Budget is disappointing because it refuses to fundamentally repudiate fiscal populism.
Collusion between ruling parties, corporate donations under Companies Bill is hidden. Environmental concerns made subservient to Cabinet Committee on Investment and regulatory agencies made toothless. Promotion of hazardous technologies for generating power from waste is anti-public health, say activist Gopal Krishna.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been "defanged" by the Congress party in his second term with Sonia Gandhi deciding on key appointments to the Cabinet and to the PMO as he seemed to "surrender" to her and to the United Progressive Alliance constituents.
The farmers' agitation, spread over months, had halted construction and delayed supply of thousands of residential units.
The young MP earned the praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech. In a tweet, the prime minister said the Ladakh BJP MP coherently presented aspirations of people of the region in his speech.
A weak and troubled United Progressive Alliance government has stumbled badly by issuing the ordinance to counter the fine judgment by the Supreme Court that forces the disqualification of lawmakers convicted for a criminal offence punishable with a jail term of over two years.
With the issue of recent clarifications, the government seems to have decided to ensure that few, if any, actual foreign investors choose to enter the sector.
