Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
'The people of Kota will show Om Birla his place.'
The 14-year political journey of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has encountered both upheaval and elevation, as her expulsion from Parliament in a cash-for-query case marked the culmination of her tumultuous parliamentary term.
Afwaah is a sum of Sudhir Mishra's thought-provoking reflections and appeal to question what's real, what's rumour, notes Sukanya Verma.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday refused to comment on Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed's controversial tweet on the origin of Indian Mujahideen, a banned terror outfit. While Shinde did not comment when asked about Ahmed's tweet that Indian Mujahideen was formed after the Gujarat riots, his deputy R P N Singh feigned ignorance over the tweet.
Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah not only urged his party men to reclaim the government in Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 assembly elections, but also advised them not to cross the line. Sharat Pradhan reports
Experts foresee possible scenarios: A BRS government with less majority, a BRS government with BJP and AIMIM support, or a Congress government.
Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.
More than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory will go to the polls on Tuesday
Once more women assume leadership roles and join the nation-building process, he said, adding they will become a guarantee of the country's bright future.
'The message has gone loud and clear (among the people of Assam) that the BJP is only interested in polarising (the country) and they are basically interested in (capturing votes in) the Hindi heartland and they don't bother much about rest of India.'
At least nine separatist organisations supporting terror groups have their bases in Canada and despite multiple deportation requests Ottawa has taken no action against those involved in heinous crimes, including the killing of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, officials in New Delhi said on Tuesday.
Not all change is good, but this one is, applauds Shekhar Gupta.
Banerjee said that comments made by her and Modi on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC are in public domain, and people will decide who is right or wrong.
Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad stoked a controversy with his "Muslim" terrorists remarks, prompting the BJP to accuse the party "dividing the country on communal lines".
"Until now, the Congress was completely against the current government. Now they have also joined hands overnight. This goes to show how honest their intentions are," he added, taking a swing at the alliance.
A graduate by education, Santanu, the eldest son of former Trinamool Congress minister Manjul Krishna Thakur, was more into the development of the Matuas through various social services run by the Thakurbari in Thakurnagar and was never into politics.
'People tell us openly that in 2024 we will vote for Modi.'
Shah said that the people of the country will decide about the principal opposition party to BJP in the 2024 polls and they have not given this label to any party.
'This time, triumph will belong to the brother who promises a brighter future, not the one who merely remembers his sisters during elections and then vanishes.'
It was not a one-way ride up though for the man who now could potentially become the BJP's national president over time.
Bangalore police have arrested a man who is allegedly responsible for vandalising several churches in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu in the last five years.
According to poll observers, there are about 3.88 lakh voters in Rampur assembly constituency and of them, about 2.27 lakh, about 60 per cent, are Muslims.
A senior Samajwadi Party leader was caught on camera boasting before a rally that he was responsible of the suspension of Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagal, who campaigned against the sand mafia.
Courting controversy Triamool Congress MP Idris Ali on Wednesday made a shocking allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had 'links to terrorism' which is why the attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base was executed resulting in the death of seven defence personnel.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
The verbal duel between the Congress and BJP over the controversial 'love and narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, intensified on Sunday with the former saying it does not want the Sangh parivar to gain foothold here while the latter claimed that both CPI (M) and Congress were cornering the Bishop over the issue.
An uneasy calm prevailed on Sunday in violence-hit Saharanpur where 38 people were arrested as a political blame game erupted with BJP accusing Samajwadi Party of indulging in "vote-bank politics" and Congress blasting the UP government for "lapses".
'Definitely it is being orchestrated.' 'Political parties are indulging in it and trying to gain some points from communities and vote banks they depend upon for their political survival.'
'Haven't you heard of the magical EVM machines? They can negate all our votes.' 'There is no hope. Modi is India's Putin.'
Modi said that for nearly one and a half years he has been putting in place details of new schemes to give new pace to the country's development and curb poverty.
'All appointments are from one family. And this is the fundamental difference between the Congress and the BJP'
After a 6.5-hour debate, the upper house clears the bill. Amit Shah said the bill is not anti-Muslim and Indian minorities have nothing to fear from its passage.
The electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties should not become a tool for "legitimisation of quid pro quo" between power centres and people who are benefactors of that power, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it underscored the need for reducing the cash component in the electoral process.
The "opaque" electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties will "destroy democracy" as it promotes corruption and does not allow a level playing field between the ruling and opposition parties, the petitioners challenging the validity of the scheme told the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday observed election funding was a "complicated issue".
Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday to elect members of a new assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party aiming to unseat the ruling Congress, which is fighting hard to change the trend of alternate governments in the state.
A little over a year after it retained power in Kerala with a massive victory, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front suffered a huge setback on Friday in a bypoll held to Thrikkakara assembly constituency, with Congress candidate Uma Thomas winning with a historic margin of 25,016 votes, giving a boost to the morale of the party-led United Democratic Front in the southern state.
The future challenger to Narendra Modi would be somebody who can bring the Hindus and Muslims together again. The Hindus as Hindus, not broken caste groups, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
