By Nora Chopra The much awaited reshuffle of the Congress party is likely to be deferred indefinitely till the organizational elections next year. Disillusionment is fast taking over within the party in the wake of a defeat after defeat since 2011 when state after state started falling like nine pins. The worst was of course the Lok Sabha polls where the party faced a defeat like never […]
From L.S. Herdenia BHOPAL: After Assembly and Lok Sabha elections Madhya Pradesh is again in election mode. While Madhya Pradesh electors voted for Assembly at the end of 2013, the first five months of the current year were also marked by election fever, now the stage is set for local elections in November and December. Elections mean total suspension of developmental activities. The ruling Bharatiya […]
NEW DELHI: Private-sector power plants with a combined capacity of over 1 lakh MW, including plants of 36,500 MW that have been deprived of their captive coal blocks thanks to a recent Supreme Court verdict will get “firm coal linkage” if the Cabinet approves a plan put forth by the power ministry. Pooling of domestic (Coal India) and imported coal will be done to ensure these […]
By Praful Bidwai With its impressive performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has clearly reconfirmed its status, established by the Lok Sabha elections, as the principal pole or central point of reference in Indian politics. Behind its latest success, and not least its marginalisation of established regional parties in the two states, lie medium- and long-term factors which are likely to […]
NEW DELHI: The NDA government has finally taken the first step towards formulating a policy for hydropower projects on the Ganga — Alakananda and Bhagirathi rivers —in Uttarakhand. Water resources minister Uma Bharti informed the National Ganga River Basin Authority on Monday that a committee comprising officials of the environment and water resources ministry had been asked to review the reports of three committees dealing with […]
By Nora Chopra Rahul Gandhi will contest the party president post next year. Before July 2015, Sonia Gandhi is likely to abdicate In favour of her son and will hold the post of some kind of local guardian of the party depending on the name being given to her position on the liens of the kind of a Marg Darshak in the BJP. In a meeting with […]
Russell Brand shares his views at the Occupy Wall Street Rally in New York Photo: REX FEATURES Oh dear, what a fusillade of hatred against poor old Brandy Wandy. I have before me a slew of Sunday papers and in almost all there is a broadside against Russell Brand, the crinkle-tressed comedian. Commentators from Left and Right denounce him as a prancing, prinking, pompadoured popinjay; a know-nothing narcissist […]
The atmosphere at Westminster has always been more to Alex Salmond’s taste Photo: Getty Images So, will Alex Salmond make that return trip to Westminster, again? And does anyone care? His almost coquettish refusal to say for definite, on BBC’s Question Time, whether he plans to swap the IKEA-like backbenches of Holyrood for their green-leather equivalents at Westminster created a fair old stir in certain quarters yesterday. And, […]
By Kalyani Shankar The BJP is jubilant after its spectacular success in Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls this week. Coming as it does on the heels of the recent impressive Lok Sabha victory, the BJP can claim that the momentum as well as the Modi magic is intact. The Congress on the other hand is demoralized further after its humiliating defeat in both the states. There is […]
By Ashok B Sharma What is behind Modi magic BJP sweeping the polls in Haryana and emerging as the single largest party in Haryana? Some point to the record voter turnout of 76 per cent in Haryana and high turnout of 64 per cent in Maharashtra as the cause of BJP’s success. It is true that high voter turnout has always favoured the BJP. BJP had […]
By Amulya Ganguli As always, the electorate has sent a clear message to every party in the just concluded elections. For the BJP, the memo is that the regional parties cannot be ignored, as the Maharashtra results have shown. It was the same lesson which the BJP learnt in the parliamentary polls when it could not breach the regional fortresses of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, […]
New Delhi: The government on Monday allowed private companies in the defence sector to sell equipment to state-run entities without prior approval of the defence ministry, a move that could attract investments in the sector. The decision came after the government opened the sector for higher foreign direct investments (FDI) and relaxed compulsory licensing for a number of equipment. “The licencee shall be allowed to sell […]
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: The three-day RSS national conclave, which ended in Lucknow, the city of erstwhile nawabs, on Sunday expressed concerned over decline in people’s participation in RSS shakhas all over the country. Much significance is being attached to the speech of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who not only expressed his concern but asked all senior leaders and workers to enroll more members in […]
There were six in contention; four were dropped, and one became the Chosen One: The Rafale. In French, ‘Rafale’ poetically means a ‘sudden gust of wind.’ It was one of the six fighter aircraft in competition for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, MMRCA, when the Indian Air Force wanted to acquire 126 polyvalent fighter planes. In April 2011, the IAF shortlisted two birds — […]
By Nora Chopra Congress is supposed to have conceded defeat both in Haryana and Maharashtra even before the results are out. The general secretaries in-charge of Haryana and Maharashtra Shakeel Ahmad and Mohan Prakash have submitted their reports to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and are supposed to have made the submission that the Congress does not stand any chance to win in any of the two […]
NEW DELHI: Having proved himself as a ‘rock star’ abroad and a vote-getting machine at home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now going to do what people are telling him to do: Take policy decisions that cannot be put off any longer. The first of these is a Cabinet reshuffle likely by the end of this month – after Diwali. A brace of decisions on economic […]
By Amulya Ganguli West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s decline in the eyes of the middle class began within days of her assumption of office when she rushed to a police station to secure the release of several anti-socials who had been rounded up by the police on the charges of hooliganism. That the head of the government would personally go to a thana in aid […]
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo. Mayawati is unnerved at the prospects of her party at the next assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh scheduled in May 2017. After the BSP’s disastrous results at the Lok Sabha elections in May this year, the BSP chief made another mistake by not fielding party candidates in the by elections to the state assembly in September this year. […]
By Kalyani Shankar Will the ensuing Assembly polls to Haryana and Maharashtra be seen as a referendum on the new Modi government? No doubt stakes are high for both Prime Minister Narendra Modi who feels on the top of the world after his landslide victory and congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is suffering from the most humiliating defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls. It is […]
By Nora Chopra While Narendra Modi has already held a number of rallies, the central leadership of the Congress is missing from action in both the states of Haryana and Maharashtra. Rahul began his campaign in Maharashtra on 8 October in Mahad in Raigad district and the second rally Ausa in Latur district. With these two rallies he has covered Konkan and Marathwada. He is supposed to […]
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: In the name of memorial for late Prime Minister Charan Singh, various political parties are coming together to face the challenge from BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Much significance is being attached to Meerut rally on October 12 when Samajwadi party national president Mulayam Singh Yadav and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav and JD President Sharad Yadav could share same platform. […]
By Nora Chopra There is a saying that great men think alike so does Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi and his man Friday Amit Sharma. Rahul who is all set to take over from his mother the reins of the Congress Party does not want to have any pre poll alliance. He wants to start from scratch and go alone so that the Congress base which it […]
By Ashok B Sharma Engulfed with scams and scandals in the functioning of the government, the Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik is finding himself difficult to manage the growing dissatisfaction within his own party. There is no other option left for him but to expel anyone who raises voice against him. The party vice president and former finance minister Prafulla Ghadai was expelled from the party […]
By Kalyani Shankar While there could be debate about the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five day visit to the US this week, there can be no doubt that he had conquered the 3 million strong Indian American community. The Madison square garden rock show on Sunday was a shining example to prove this. Although his meeting with the US President Obama was spent on substantive […]
