Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said it's a pity that since switching sides, Scindia has adopted the Modi government's "uncaring attitude" to the public.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday said UPA-II's report card presented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has nothing to do with ground realities and the first year of the alliance's second stint in office has been disappointing for the people of the state.
It said AMU is not and cannot be a university of any particular religion or religious denomination as any university which has been declared an institution of national importance cannot be a minority institution.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday sought to paint a dismal picture of United Progressive Alliance-II holding it responsible for the economic gloom and failure to give the country leadership while accusing it of diminishing the role of the prime minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of encouraging Hurriyat Conference leaders to hobnob with anti-India elements abroad by allowing them to visit Pakistan. BJP was referring to the purported meetings held in Pakistan by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat delegation with Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul chief Sayed Salah-ud-Din and senior functionaries of the Inter Services Intelligence.
In an apparent attack on the UPA government, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday alleged that no other country in the world had seen the kind of deteriorating situation as India did in the last 10 years, saying people were now looking for an alternative.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave a couple of names to BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for her consideration for the post of Vice President.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday termed the railway budget as "anti-development" and said that it reflects the "non-performance of the UPA government".
The poll-wary UPA allies are understood to have suggested a government-Left patch up by which the government will not go ahead on the nuclear deal after completing the pending business on the India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Economists Maitreesh Ghatak, Parikshit Ghosh and Ashok Kotwal challenge the prevailing view that the diminished electoral prospects of the United Progressive Alliance government is the result of neglecting growth to launch populist welfare schemes. They look at a wide range of economic indicators to argue that compared to the National Democratic Alliance regime, the UPA period has been characterised by faster growth, higher savings and investment, growing foreign trade and capital inflows, and increased infrastructure spending in partnership with private capital.
'Without a poverty line, how are we to know whether poverty is the same, or it has come down or it has gone up?'
Sitharaman said the weapon systems, avionics and other key add-ons to the Rafale aircraft, will be 'much superior' than that negotiated by the UPA.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
Asserting that inclusive growth will remain as central plank of the United Progressive Alliance, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said it was in tune with this concept that the government had launched a series of welfare programmes and legislative initiatives, especially for the weaker sections.
Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress alleging that the opposition party has become outdated and has always been against any kind of reservation.
Agricultural Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said Trinamool Congress, which has withdrawn support from UPA government over FDI in retail issue, had every right to take its own decision and work for it and so has the UPA government to persist with its policy.
After attracting criticism on the social media for "taking credit", Khurshid on Sunday said that he had only "stated the truth".
This is the first bill passed by the Lower House of Parliament in the Winter session, which began on Monday.
As he gets ready to launch his indefinite hunger strike from Tuesday to demand a strong Lokpal, Anna Hazare on Monday said people are angry with the UPA government over "uncontrolled corruption" which has been reflected in the results of the state assembly polls.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Friday said it is confident that the UPA leadership will fulfill the announcement it made for the formation of a separate Telangana state despite vehement opposition from other regions of Andhra Pradesh over the issue.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
It will expedite disposal of cases as they won't get inordinately delayed, Shah said.
The BJP game-plan: Take the top slot, or a close second, either for the 'Lotus' or the larger NDA, if it can and push the AIADMK to the third place, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
If the DMK sticks to its position and withdraws from the UPA, one thing is certain: this government will be crisis-ridden and crisis-driven till the next election. The Congress party will run a paralytic government at the dictates of the parties supporting it from outside, says Sheela Bhatt.
Even if the SP doesn't immediately withdraw support, the UPA government will remain helplessly dependent on the SP and the BSP. Withdrawal of support by either could destroy the UPA's paper-thin majority. It will have to do a balancing act between these two rivals on a day-to-day basis, says Praful Bidwai
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday hit out at the government for the recent hike in petrol prices and alleged that this increase is a result of the UPA regime's wrong economic policies and not an outcome of any current global situation.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Congress party's only hope now lies in its desperate wish that an unstable conglomerate of non-BJP, non-Congress parties comes to power with its support and collapses within a couple of years by which time the party hopes to salvage whatever it can from the debris of 10 years of the UPA's incumbency, says Saroj Nagi.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand to cooperate with the Gujarat Police in connection with a case filed against them over alleged misappropriation of funds.
Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday talked to allies, informing them about the intent to withdraw the controversial Ordinance on convicted lawmakers.
Justice (retd) Chandrashekaraiah's appointment as Karnataka Upa (deputy) Lokayukta was on Friday set aside by the Supreme Court which held that the chief minister had committed an 'error' by not consulting the chief justice of the state high court in the selection process.
A meeting of the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee is being held on Thursday against the backdrop of the political crisis in Maharashtra that has seen cracks widen in the ruling Congress-NCP coalition in the state.
She said that earlier governments used to sell dreams to people while the present regime is fulfilling the dreams.
With Tamil Nadu reeling under acute power shortage, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday squarely blamed the Congress-led UPA and her arch rival Dravida Munettra Kazhagam for the crisis but said load-shedding would gradually ease from next month and the state will be free of power cuts from end 2013.
'After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai on January 20, he kept increasing his demands and the government meekly surrendered to him.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday sought public views on the 'charge sheet' it intends to prepare in seeking to corner the UPA government over its "failure" on several fronts and to highlight the scams unearthed during the present regime.
'The government must give up its neo-liberal polices and obsession with GDP growth and shift its ideological centre of gravity leftwards.'
Pledging to take corruption head on, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance on Sunday night promised to punish the guilty in scams and assured the people that it would demonstrate through actions and not words what it meant.
'The planning and implementation has gone horribly wrong.' 'What they are doing is in effect, establishing a large cheetah zoo.'
