By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cohesion of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has been severely dented with the Kerala Congress (M) openly hinting at the possibility of the party having tie-ups with ‘like-minded’ parties outside the UDF. The KC(M)’s latest warning came in an interview party president and Finance Minister K. M. Mani gave to a TV channel. In the interview, Mani said that the […]
By Amulya Ganguli Since Maharashtra is the first state to go to the polls after the general election and the subsequent by-elections, it is not surprising that it is experiencing the fallout from these contests in full measure. If the Congress is paying the price for its weakened condition after the May debacle, the BJP is facing the consequences of its poor showing in the recent […]
By S. Sethuraman Tamil Nadu, noted for stability and good governance through decades, may be in for political uncertainty, without a robust leader at the helm like Ms. Jayalalithaa, the convicted and jailed Chief Minister. But this is dependant on the outcome of the 2016 assembly elections. Meanwhile, her ruling AIADMK will hold the fort firm. The space for political rivalry may open wide especially if […]
By Telegraph View 6:00AM BST 15 Sep 2014 The United Kingdom is teetering on the brink of dissolution; opinion polls show that the Scottish referendum is too close to call with any certainty. Those polls also show that half a million Scots have yet to make up their minds. That is an unnerving statistic: the future of the country rests upon how their indecision crystallises on Thursday, […]
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden Photo: AP Were it any other US president in recent memory, delivering a rousing White House address promising to “vanquish” the bloodthirsty militants of the Islamic State from the face of the earth would be dismissed as the “easy part”. Recall Joe Biden, the vice president with half an eye on a run for the top job in 2016, […]
Tory strategists: George Osborne and Lynton Crosby (right) Photo: REX FEATURES The Scottish opinion polls were looking bad for the “No” campaign. Their ratings were sliding downhill faster than a fat man on a skeleton bob. A new report had claimed that there was £300 billion’s worth of oil waiting to be fracked off the coast of Scotland. And all they could offer to stem the Nationalist surge were […]
By Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: BSP decision to back independents has made the by-elections for 12 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency more interesting. With BSP backing powerful independents now, it is going to be four cornered contest with BJP, SP, Congress and independents. When BSP supremo Mayawati realized that her earlier decision not to contest by-elections would help BJP she changed her plans. […]
By Ashis Biswas KOLKATA; In Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) signalled its intent to achieve national party status in September 2012, by quitting the UPA II Ministry over petrol price rise. Soon, it broke off its state alliance with the Congress. It fought the Panchayat, and Lok Sabha polls successfully on its own, amidst complaints of widespread rigging and intimidation by all opposition parties. Last […]
By Kalyani Shankar Just a week before the Modi government competes its 100 days, the by-election results have come as a jolt to the BJP. The saffron party, which witnessed a spectacular victory in the Lok Sabha polls, has faced a setback too soon. No doubt by- elections are fought and won mostly on local factors, but the results have certainly punctured the feel good factor […]
By Nora Chopra There will be no organizational reshuffle in the Congress till after the assembly polls. There are indications that the Congress leadership will wait for the results of the Assembly polls on the hope that the results of these states may not be as bad as predicted by the media and may boost the image of the party vice president Rahul Gandhi who is under […]
By Upendra Prasad The results of ten Assembly Constituencies by- polls are certainly a setback for Bharatiya Janata Party, which was overconfident to repeat its Lok Sabha election performance in the state.. BJP could win only 4 seats out of ten and two of them with narrow margins, while out of the 10 seats, where by poll was held, its candidates had led in 8 Assembly […]
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: Mayawati’s decision that her party BSP will not contest by-elections for 12 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, will help BJP in a big way. It would be worth mentioning here that former chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati had earlier announced that her party would not contest by-elections as Samajwadi Party will misuse the official machinery in […]
From Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: BJP national president Amit Shah faces biggest challenge to retain all the 12 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat going for by-elections in Uttar Pradesh on September 13 this year. Much significance is being attached to maiden visit to Lucknow after taking over as national president of his party…. This content is for Monthly, Annual, Free Trial and Basic members only. […]
MUMBAI: The Adani Group and Indian Oil Corporation are in talks to build a Rs 30,000-crore joint venture refinery at Mundra, which would give Gautam Adani an entry into the oil sector while the state-run company would get land port facilities for the proposed export-focused unit.
The proposed 30-million-tonne refinery at Mundra will make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s native state, Gujarat, a bigger energy hub. It already has refineries of Reliance Industries, Essar Oil and Indian Oil, apart from two LNG terminals and the country’s biggest city-gas distribution network.
Industry sources said Gautam Adani has held initial talks with top executives at IOC and offered around 3,500-4,000 acres of land for th
Frankly, my dear, it could have ended differently. Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in ‘Gone with the Wind’ Photo: ALAMY This week it was revealed that the original script for Gone with the Wind – the classic romance starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable – had a different ending to the one seen in cinemas. At the climax of the completed film, Scarlett O’Hara is portrayed as a […]
The Arab Spring raised awareness of the mobilizing power of Facebook and other social media. Companies and governments have struggled to get to grips with social media over the past few years. Some—notably governments—have treated social media as an existential threat. Others view it essentially as a branding or marketing tool for pushing messages at constituents or customers. Charlene Li, founder of strategy firm Altimeter Group and […]
JERUSALEM — An unusual survey of Iranian public opinion indicates that 40 percent of Iranians would be willing to give up any ability to produce nuclear weapons in the future in return for the full removal of sanctions. Nearly 40 percent of those asked agreed that Iran should recognize Israel if Israel reached a peace accord with the Palestinians and withdrew from the contested territories. Such delicate […]
Election officials began counting votes in Syria’s presidential election early on Wednesday as polls closed in government-held areas. State-run media reported that voting closed at midnight and that officials began the process of checking the number of votes against lists of registered voters to ensure the numbers matched. Syrians on Tuesday voted in their first election in nearly 50 years, which the incumbent Bashar al-Assad is widely […]
By Alan Cochrane, Scottish Editor 8:59PM BST 03 Jun 2014 A FUNNY thing happened to me on my way to save the Union yesterday; Gordon Brown cracked a joke and everyone laughed. Mind you, there was a bit of a delay, a sort of double-take, whilst the people in the room – assorted Labour politicians and reporters – worked out if their ears had deceived them or […]
Voters at a polling station in the Maidan district of Damascus were regaled by Damascene sword dancers and Assad chants. Syria went to the polls Tuesday, despite a civil war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Pro-government voters stuffed ballot boxes and held rallies outside polling stations as Syrians in regime-held areas of the country cast ballots in an election widely seen as a bid […]
CAIRO, EGYPT — Syria is holding presidential elections Tuesday, despite a deadly civil war that has left millions of Syrians unable or unwilling to vote. Voters in areas controlled by Syria’s government went to the polls Tuesday, in an election set to give President Bashar al-Assad his third seven-year term. Syria’s Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi urged people to vote, calling Tuesday a “historic day” for Syria that […]
WASHINGTON — As Syrians go to the polls this week amid civil war, the presidential victor is all but assured: Bashar al-Assad. So why bother holding an election at all? Analysts say Assad has more to gain than votes. He is trying to display political solidarity to the world and to ignore the apolitical transition that the West has called for. Watch related video report by VOA’s […]
JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority swore in a transitional government on Monday intended to unify the West Bank and Gaza after seven years of division, though the run-up was marred by last-minute disputes over its composition. The move is likely to complicate further the Palestinians’ already fraught relations with Israel and put them under international scrutiny because the new government is supported by […]
Spain’s King Juan Carlos is abdicating after almost 40 years on the throne and his son Prince Felipe de Borbon will succeed him, the Spanish prime minister has announced. Juan Carlos, whose health is failing and has had a number of hip operations in recent years, is stepping down for personal reasons, Mariano Rajoy said on Monday. “His majesty, King Juan Carlos, has just communicated to me his […]
