Rahul Gandhi has caused a flutter in political circles by announcing today that his government will offer Rs 12,000 per month, or about Rs 500 per working day, to any family that does not earn any income from any other source. UPDATE: The Congress Party has clarified that the guarantee of Rs 12,000 per household […]
Crowds at a poll rally in Gandhinagar in Gujarat chanted ‘Indira! Indira!’ when Priyanka Gandhi was called to address the crowd, perhaps for the first time outside the Congress pocket borough of Amethi. It was not clear if the chanting was being done by Congress office bearers or the crowd that had come to listen […]
Harvest TV, led by journalists like Barkha Dutt and Karan Thapar, has got permission from an industry disputes settlement body to use the name ‘Tiranga TV’. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has overruled the objection by the government of India that Tiranga referred to the Indian flag and can therefore not be used […]
One of the biggest and first pre-election surveys held in Kerala has pointed to strong gains made by the United Democratic Alliance led by the Congress, and the National Democratic Alliance led by BJP due to the Sabarimala controversy. Even as the Left Front was riding high on a wave of popularity before the Sabarimala […]
With India’s general elections only weeks away, a large section of ‘secular’ voters in India are learning to live with Rahul Gandhi as their most viable bet for a non-Modi prime minister. However, a deeper look, along with recent experience, suggests that it is Mayawati, not Rahul Gandhi, who has everything going for her to […]
The Income Tax Department has ‘provisionally attached’ Mindtree shares worth Rs 660 cr belonging to VG Siddhartha, the founder of Cafe Coffee Day and the son in law of former Congress leader and Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna. Mindtree said it received intimation from the Income Tax Department that it had provisionally attached about 75 […]
Retired Supreme Court judge Markandeya Katju, known for his frank and often outrageous political statements, has forecast chaos and instability after the upcoming 2019 general elections. The elections, he said, would create conditions similar to the mid 1990s and 1977, when no single party had the critical mass to form a stable government at the […]
After waiting patiently for a breakthrough, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prayers in Kerala seem to have been finally answered in the form of a crucial development in the Sabarimala temple standoff with two women entering the temple at night under police protection. The BJP has already kicked off a massive campaign to exploit the emotional […]
Veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath is learnt to have more or less been decided as the new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. According to sources, both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party — which are supporting Congress’ government formation efforts in Madhya Pradesh — have clearly made their preference for a government headed […]
Early election leads indicate a slight edge for the Congress in elections to five states, with the party leading in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Please refer to the table to see the updated results. STATE SEATS BJP CONG TRS/MSF MP 230 108 111 0 RJ 199 77 98 0 CG 90 21 63 0 […]
Kadakampally Surendran, the Kerala minister in charge of Devaswom affairs, called the move by Hindu groups to confine Trupti Desai to the Cochin Airport ‘barbaric’ and wondered if it was part of a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar. He said Desai is close to both the BJP and the Congress in Maharashtra, and that it […]
The Kerala unit of the Congress Party today called on the BJP to issue an ordinance to give denominational status to Ayyappa devotees and reiterated its stand that it was against the entry of young women into the temple. Ramesh Chennithala, the leader of the Congress Party in the state legislative assembly, took aim at […]
An array of politicial parties, including BJP allies Shiv Sena and BJD, are likely to write to the Election Commission to ask for the next general election to be conducted using ballot paper, media reported. The parties include opposition outfits like the Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, CPI(M) and Rashtriya Janata Dal, […]
Congress politician Shashi Tharoor has avoided going to jail immediately after he won anticipatory bail from a Patiala House court. The bail has been granted with two conditions — he cannot go outside India without taking prior permission from the court, and he should not try to influence witnesses or evidence. The trial of the […]
Omar Abdullah, leader of National Conference party, is currently holding talks with Jammu & Kashmir governor N N Vohra, leading to speculation that a ‘mahagatbandhan’ or grand alliance of non-BJP parties could be on the cards. The PDP government in the state can continue to rule if the National Conference lends its support. Traditionally, National […]
The coveted finance portfolio of the newly formed Congress-JDS alliance is likely to be retained by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, while Home is likely to go to the Congress, according to sources. The two alliance partners have been in talks for several days on dividing the various portfolios between themselves. It has already been […]
Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress Party in Kerala have reason to worry from the results of Chengannur bye-election conducted on Sunday. With nearly all votes in — including those from areas considered strongholds of Congress and BJP — the Left Front candidate Saji Cherian was comfortably in the lead. The vote share […]
Boosted by the first big victory since in several years, Congress Party president Rahul Gandhi said his party will join hands with the opposition to “protect Indian institutions” from the attacks of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtreeya Swayamsevak Sangh. Speaking in the aftermath of the BJP failing to win majority in Karnataka Assembly, Gandhi […]
Two MLAs of the Congress Party in Karnataka, Pratap Gowda Patil and Anand Singh have missed the roll-call for taking oath have been tracked to Goldfinch hotel in Bangalore. A team of police has been dispatched to the hotel to ‘rescue’ the MLAs who are reportedly ‘being held captive’. UPDATE: ALSO SEE Karnataka Trust Vote: […]
The Supreme Court has refused to remove BJP leader KG Bopaiah as the temporary speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, but restrictions on the live broadcast of the trust vote on TV channels have also been removed. The same bench that had earlier directed the trust vote to be conducted today also said that the […]
