The alleged scam pertains to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government at the Centre.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN Editor in Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Mamta Banerjee about the recent row over former Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi and the strained relationship with the Congress.
Blaming the incompetence of the Central government for the revocation of the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said that it reflects the 'real face' of the United Progressive Alliance."The UPA has been incompetent in defending the ban on SIMI. This reflects the real face of the government and its soft attitude towards terrorism," party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
The Janata Dal United said that it will wait for Congress-led United Progressive Aliance to announce its nominee for the vice Presidential election and will talk to its NDA allies before taking any decision on the issue.
India Inc has given the United Progressive Alliance government a 65 per cent score, a shade better than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
'The cousins do not have a good rapport with each other in politics, though they may be having a good rapport with each other in family life.'
'We are not here to hold brief for Adani. But Gandhi has sought to mislead the people to link his disqualification with Adani. He has been disqualified because of conviction in a case that relates to defamatory remarks he made in 2019'
Singh, who drove to Chatterjee's residence in New Delhi, did not speak to the waiting media persons after the meeting that lasted about 10 minutes.
Moily, a former Karnataka chief minister and Congress spokesperson, spoke about the chances of the UPA government, the emergence of the third front and the nuclear deal.
"It is most unfortunate that the UPA government, whose formation was made possible by secular forces, has been unable to confront the Hindutva forces and on the contrary adopted a vacillating position," CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told a press conference on the sidelines of the 19th CPI-M Congress. This, he said, was "seen in the unwillingness to punish those guilty of complicity in communal rioting and carnage, to help the victims to access justice."
Quoting statistics, Patil said that during the previous regime, 11,000 persons had lost their lives due to terror activities but under his regime the number of lives that were lost was 6,000.
Several opposition leaders hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party following the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as an MP on Friday, alleging the ruling party was involved in vindictive politics, and said it was a new low for democracy.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has objected to exclusion of terrorism from the agenda of National Integration Council (NIC) meeting.
Amid the growing strain between the Congress Party and its ally the Trinamool Congress over the choice of Pranab Mukherjee as the United Progressive Alliance's presidential candidate, the latter has said it would quit the ruling alliance only if asked to do so.
When asked about the UPA government's apprehension about the possibility of Left parties taking stern action -- like withdrawing support to government on the issue of price rise -- Prakash Karat, general secretary of the CPI (M), in an exclusive interview with rediff.com, ruled out any such possibility.
A report card titled '10 Years of Progress and Growth' highlighting achievements of the government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said 'average GDP growth rate during the period of UPA government (2004-05 to 2013-14) has been 7.7 per cent despite two global slowdown in this period'.
Among them is the situation in Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir.
On the third anniversary of UPA 2 the government lacks energy. Sonia Gandhi can no longer afford to continue with the fiction that someone else can do the job and should take over from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Initiating the discussion on demands for grants of Home Ministry, BJP member Anurag Thakur demanded a White Paper on government's initiative to deal with naxalism, which has become a big threat to the nation.
Gandhi said the budgetary cuts were weakening the legal guarantee of timely payment and employment. She noted that the Supreme Court had likened the delay in MGNREGA payments with forced labour.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday ruled out the possibility of joining the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
Attacking the Congress and United Progressive Alliance on price rise at a massive BJP rally in Bengaluru, Narendra Modi tells the crowd that Congress is worried sick about the BJP's growing popularity. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will present a report card to the 'aam aadmi' on the 'successful completion' of six years of the United Progressive Alliance's stint at the Centre at a massive media conference on June 24. The occasion will commemorate the sixth anniversary of the UPA regime at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
Gandhi, then a newly appointed Congress chief, had staked claim to form the government at the Centre after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 1999.
Even as speculation over the assurances given to the Samajwadi Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for their support to the United Progressive Alliance refuses to die down, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukjerjee on Saturday said that he was not aware any promises made to the parties.He claimed that both the SP and the JMM were part of the UPA from 2004 and their letters of support were not withdrawn. "Can you tell me, when they have left us (UPA)," he asked.
A meeting of the United Progressive Alliance leaders with the Left Front leaders is expected after April 23, in which a number of matters including the Supreme Court verdict on the Other Backward Classes quota issue, are likely to come up. This would be the first UPA-Left meeting after the apex court judgment, which has seen division in the ruling alliance on the creamy layer issue.The meeting could also be an occasion for consultations over the Women's Reservation Bill.
The SP is not thinking of opposing the central coalition because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 'has not given us any personal cause to take a hardline stand', general secretary Amar Singh said.
The beleaguered United Progressive Alliance got a boost on Saturday with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, led by Ajit Singh, deciding to join the coalition at the Centre and fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the Congress. Ajit Singh, whose RLD has five members in the Lok Sabha, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday evening and expressed his willingness to join UPA. His decision was welcomed by the Congress president.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has justified the Narendra Modi government's move to raise the rail fare by 14.2 per cent, saying it was a result of the policies undertaken by the previous United Progressive Alliance government. In an exclusive interview to CNN IBN, Prasad blamed the UPA II government for leaving Indian Railways in shambles, adding that his government never knew that the railways was bleeding, thanks to the Congress-led regime.
CPI-M has rejected all arguments of the government so far to sign the IAEA safeguards agreement. The party has firmly said that it believes once the IAEA phase is over, the deal will be on an 'auto-pilot' and even if India, a non-member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), does not approach the forum, the US would pressurise it to approve the deal.
The United Progressive Alliance government will move the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha in the coming session, Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said on Monday. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties have assured their "unconditional" support to the bill, which has prompted the government to introduce it for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha, Moily told media-persons in Karnataka.
Hamid Ansari was on Friday declared the United Progressive Alliance-Left candidate for the vice president's poll.
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 failed alliance with Congress for the May 30 civic polls in West Bengal notwithstanding, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her party did not want any rift with the United Progressive Alliance government.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also alleged that foreign policy has been reduced to photo-ops and a chest-thumping exercise and is being used to secure contracts for a businessman.
Sonia made the announcement while addressing a press conference at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence at 7, Race Course Road.
The CPM will review its decision to support the UPA only if the govt operationalised the N-deal, leader Nilotpal Basu said. The CPI(M) also downplayed the apparent differences between the party's Bengal leaders and General Secretary Prakash Karat.
In less than a week after bailing out the UPA-II during cut motions in Lok Sabha, Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday announced programmes to "expose" the Congress-led coalition on May 22 when it completes one year in office.
Political observers say that neither Mulayam Singh Yadav nor Mayawati have any intention of toppling the UPA government, as neither stand to gain from it. Sharat Pradhan reports
Attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for its "utter failure" to check rising prices, the CPI(M) on Friday said the Centre's "faulty approach" in blaming states, without taking effective steps to tackle the real issues, would not solve the problem.
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