The lure of the17 Lok Sabha seats in the new Telangana state is driving Sonia Gandhi and her party to make every effort be made to push it through Parliament at the earliest.
Rae Bareli and Amethi -- the respective parliamentary constituencies of United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, have ceased to enjoy a VVIP status, following withdrawal of "no power cut" order by the Akhilesh Yadav government.
Among the sectors seen as most vulnerable to corruption are the government and the public sector, infrastructure, real estate, metals, mining, aerospace, defence, power and utilities.
However, Congress strategists are not unusually perturbed over the critical barbs aimed at Rahul. They believe his aggressive posture was meant to showcase the 'real Rahul Gandhi'.
K T Rama Rao, Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader and son of party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, and Dr Prithviraj, Telangana Students Joint Action Committee chief, explain to Rediff.com what the immediate changes would be in the event of Telangana being declared as a separate state.
"These are irrelevant questions. It's all smoke." This was how Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi described speculation about his becoming the prime minister and getting married while addressing business barons of the country.
In his first interaction with India Inc, Rahul Gandhi said the politics of alienating communities is affecting growth.
Days after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam pulled out of the United Progressive Alliance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday candidly admitted that managing coalitions is not easy and urged industry leaders to have faith in government's determination to revive the economy.
The Congress is a dismal third in 17 of the 19 constituencies where the party's general secretary (east) campaigned in Uttar Pradesh.
Reiterating his determination to wipe out the Congress, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday challenged the United Progressive Alliance to a direct debate on its performance at the Centre compared that of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The frenetic activity currently being witnessed in the Congress combined with the United Progressive Alliance government's move to postpone the monsoon session of Parliament till end-August has once again fuelled speculation about the possibility of an early election, says Anita Katyal.
In the nationwide CNN-IBN Election Tracker conducted by Centre for the Study of Developing Societies today we look at the northern states -- Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and how has been the performance of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Regional parties currently outside the ambit of both United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance will hold the key to formation of next government at the Centre in 2014 with BJP-led alliance projected well ahead of the ruling UPA headed by Congress, an election survey has predicted.
India along with 24 other countries on Thursday backed a United States-sponsored resolution at United Nations Human Rights Council against Sri Lanka asking it to conduct an "independent and credible" probe into allegations of human rights violations, an issue on which Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam pulled out of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government.
Expressing 'surprise' over India supporting a 'weak' and 'diluted' United States resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council, former United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday said New Delhi had by its action "totally disappointed" the entire Tamil diaspora.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday accepted the resignation of five ministers belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which withdrew support to the United Progressive Alliance government on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. "The President of India, as advised by the prime minister, has accepted the resignation of the following members of the Union council of ministers with immediate effect," a Rashtrapati Bhavan release said.
The political situation in the country is fluid and could change significantly. But as things stand, India could be headed for an unstable minority government dependent on uncertain "outside" support, says Praful Bidwai.
The United Progressive Alliance's estranged ally Trinamool Congress on Wednesday sprang a surprise by promising to support the government on whatever stand it takes on Sri Lankan Tamils issue at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday met Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, amid speculation about the possible political realignment following the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam pulling out from the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
An opinion poll on Monday night projected the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance securing majority with 275 out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the elections.
Political analysts are deciphering her desperation as Mamata Banerjee's last resort to fight several investigations launched by the Centre against her party colleagues and close aides.
Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is in prison as an undertrial in a disproportionate assets case, stepped out of Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail to cast his vote at the Andhra Pradesh assembly in the ongoing presidential elections.
Last Monday, she termed the Centre's silence over loan repayment restructuring as a 'political vendetta' to ruin Bengal.
The Indian economy has been shaped by 22 finance ministers till date.
The government plans to convene a special session of Parliament for passage of the Food Security Bill as a divided Cabinet Thursday shunned the idea of promulgating an ordinance to implement the watershed legislation.
Responding to the NCP leader's remarks, Tomar said Pawar, who is a veteran leader, is also considered well-versed with the issues and solutions relating to agriculture. "Pawar himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier."
The year began with major infrastructure players like GVK, GMR exiting out of mega road contracts on account of problems such as delays in receiving the green nod, funding crunch and regulatory hurdles.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday came under sharp attack from Opposition as well as ruling United Progressive Alliance allies Samajwadi Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which trashed his statement on Hyderabad blasts as "totally disappointing" and "devoid of any concrete and meaningful plan of action".
The BJP top leader's Tamil pitch assumes significance Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had some days back alleged that the saffron party had no respect for Tamil language and culture.
There are a number of problems that plague the implementation of MGNREGA, including corruption, administrative paralysis and other hardy perennials. Massive amounts of funds on this scheme remained unspent in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Seeking to gauge his party's strength and weakness in Odisha ahead of next general election, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi Monday wanted partymen to make people aware of various development and welfare schemes undertaken by the United Progressive Alliance government.
The grilling of IB officials by the CBI in connection with the Ishrat Jahan encounter case smacks of vendetta against the Gujarat government. The myopic political regime in Delhi has not realised the significance of destroying institutions. Only Pakistan and LeT would have the last laugh, says Arun Jaitley.
Key United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday condemned the petrol price hike and demanded that the government retain its control on the pricing of petroleum products, besides seeking a change in the pricing policy. Party chief M Karunanidhi said the issue had become similar to that of attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen -- allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy -- with political leaders issuing statements expressing concern during such incidents.
It's the floundering economy that caused the Congress' grievous loss in the Assembly elections.
The central government will hold an all-party meeting this week to finalise a strategy to resolve the Maoist problem decisively in the wake of the audacious attack in Bastar that killed 27 people, including three prominent Congress leaders.
Gandhi's thrust on the scheme comes at a time when the Congress is bracing for Lok Sabha elections due next year and assembly elections in five states, including Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, this year.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked critics of the Food Security Bill which was passed by Parliament last week, saying money spent on providing meals to the poor cannot be called "wastage" of financial resources.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived here today in the wake of the deadly Naxal attack on a convoy of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district.
Green signal from Jaitley; CVC okays Hemant Contractor for head of PFRDA
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the United Progressive Alliance's wrong policies, wrong methods, wrong implementation and corruption are the reasons behind the economic crisis that has engulfed the country.
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