Manmohan Singh, reveals the former President, was keen that either P Chidambaram or Montek Singh Ahluwalia be the finance minister.
Troubleshooter for the Congress and the government not long ago, Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday refrained from making any comments on UPA-II at a time when it is accused of non-performance.
Agriculture credit jumped seven-fold to Rs 7,00,000 crore (Rs 7 trillion) in the past ten years of UPA government, boosting foodgrains output to a record and enabling enactment of food law.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Friday lashed out at the United Progressive Alliance government describing it as "indecisive and incompetent."
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee declined to attend the dinner being hosted by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on the eve of Presidential elections.
The RSS has accused Congress-led UPA of dilly-dallying over the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to appease the minority community.
For the entire UPA regime, from 2005-06 to 2013-14, the average annual farm growth according to the GDP back series data is 3.8 per cent, which too is higher than the first four years of the NDA, though these two periods aren't comparable because one spans nine years and the other four.
Lalu was apparently referring to his wife Rabri Devi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday named 14 candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls including former Union minister R P N Singh and Sudhanshu Trivedi -- the only outgoing MP renominated by the party.
UPA-II has yielded a 7.5 per cent average annual growth rate
NDA should not repeat former govt's mistake of holding back much-needed reforms
The infrastructure sector received a huge facelift in the last nine years with improvement in road and railway networks, power generation and teledensity, among others, says the UPA government's report card.
Fondly remembering the contribution of retiring members from the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday said the wisdom shared by them would be greatly missed and their departure would leave a void.
The CAG observed there was no change in the price of 'flyaway aircraft package'.
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
Years before the Supreme Court struck down as 'unconstitutional' an opaque political funding tool that allowed individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley -- the prime mover of electoral bonds -- had termed them legitimate and transparent.
Uma Bharti, who recently made a comeback to Bharatiya Janata Party, on Tuesday said the United Progressive Alliance government was deliberately 'discrediting' Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev for channelising growing discontent among common people against the UPA government.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday upped the ante against the Centre's recent policy moves, stating, "The UPA government is unfazed by the sufferings of the common people, small traders and small farmers. The UPA's latest FDI flag is diversionary -- more to anesthetise the mammoth corruption charges against the UPA government especially when elections seem imminent."
Amid reports of its closeness with the Third Front, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday said that it was with the United Progressive Alliance but dismissed suggestions that Congress was the only national party in the country.
The meteoric rise of Shajahan Sheikh from a modest background of a helper in a local transport company to becoming the so-called 'tiger' of Sandeshkhali is what Bollywood film scripts are made of. And so does his fall.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday night withdrew its support to the United Progressive Alliance over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and ruled out any reconsideration, a move that makes the government vulnerable despite its assertions of having a Parliamentary majority.
'BJP leaders ask you not to learn English. We want the tribal youth to learn Chhattisgarhi, English as well as Hindi'
Following the fallout with the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and given the uneasy relationship with the Samajwadi Party, rumours are abound that the now-vulnerable UPA may very well go the general election way, says Sunita Moga
'Congress leaders who are making strategy for the Congress to win elections have not even won a class monitor elections.' 'When you have not contested school monitor elections, what will you know about the ground reality?'
It is in power on its own only in three states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana -- with a big question mark on whether it can even stake claim to be head of the INDIA bloc.
Similarities between NDA and UPA on some key policy issues are now becoming too stark to be ignored, says A K Bhattacharya.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal, with five members in the Lok Sabha, on Monday formally joined the United Progressive Alliance amid speculations that its chief Ajit Singh would be included in the Cabinet as the civil aviation minister. With the RLD joining the ruling coalition, its strength has gone up from 272 to 277 MPs. In the backdrop of speculations that Ajit Singh will be inducted into the Cabinet, Digvijay Singh was asked who will be the next civil aviation minister.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has withdrawn her party's support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. Mayawati has accused the UPA of neglecting Uttar Pradesh and meting out step-motherly treatment to her party and the UP government.
The BJP is now inventing new angles to keep its campaign relevant -- even if it's old wine in an old bottle, which is what the allegation on 'Katchatheevu' is, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The NDA govt will carry forward "good" policies and rail projects of UPA.
Mamata Bannerjee, a key United Progressive Alliance constituent, has put the cat amongst the pigeons by demanding that the UPA set up a co-ordination committee to discuss important issues and decisions before they are made and implemented. She said the recent petrol price hike was undertaken without her consent.
Ruling out any differences between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said Sharad Pawar is the biggest "supporter and well-wisher" of the United Progressive Alliance government. "There are no differences with Sharad Pawar. He is the biggest supporter and well-wisher of the UPA," Azad told reporters.
Senior Trinamool Congress leaders on Tuesday said that quitting the United Progressive Alliance government had brought them a sense of freedom and relief.
Accusing the United Progressive Alliance of being in power at the Centre only by 'manipulating smaller parties', the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said, the Manmohan Singh's government has completely exhausted its mandate to rule the nation.
The UPA-II may not talk about this, but it continues to implement its programme to revive ailing PSUs by investing fresh capital.
Unlike 2004 when Sonia Gandhi took things into her hands and hit the road and stitched up alliances, there is a lack of grip this time, as if things are on auto pilot. Cabinet meetings get over in minutes. People are glibly talking of a third front government in 2009 supported by the Congress.
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.
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.
