Lalu, Paswan join hands with Mulayam
NEW DELHI: The UPA government's attempts to retain power at the Centre appeared to be in total disarray as it faced a double whammy on Thursday: PMK, a key ally in Tamil Nadu quit the alliance to...
View ArticleNo alliance in controlling position
NEW DELHI: With the Lok Sabha elections expected to go down the wire, every party or combination thinks power is within grasp. Efforts are, therefore, on now to ensure power shift in their respective...
View ArticleCongress' spoilt for choice
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday was on a roll, with even rival formations queuing up outside its door with letters of support. The two UP parties — the BSP and the SP — whose leaders could invite...
View ArticleBSP more likely to continue being a prop for the UPA government
It is now clear that Mayawati's sabre-rattling before a 2-lakh strong crowd at Lucknow's Ramabai Maidan on Tuesday was just that: sabre-rattling and nothing more. At the rally, she made threatening...
View ArticleSonia wants credit for RTI but can’t face truths it unearths
We all know corruption is a disease, a cancer. Who does it affect the most, it is the poor.” You would be mistaken if you think this statement emanated from the activist corner or was the latest to the...
View ArticleVirbhadra's apple economy for mango man
In a prime-time television address to the nation last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said “money does not grow on trees”. This admonition was aimed at political leaders who were asking the...
View ArticleCabinet Reshuffle
Salman Khurshid will be the new external affairs minister -- a slot vacated by SM Krishna. Khurshid, who had functioned as a junior minister in the external affairs ministry during PV Narasimha Rao's...
View ArticleBJP is playing deaf, dumb and blind
It is now clear that the RSS wants its offspring, the BJP to act like the proverbial three monkeys---deaf, dumb and blind. The wise men of Nagpur, anxious to defend scandal-tainted Nitin Gadkari, the...
View ArticleUPA-II: How to lose the plot and still be arrogant
An orgy of self-destruction is underway in the nation's capital. A Prime Minister energetically backs his law minister who brazenly intervened in the CBI's investigations into the coal scam. A...
View ArticleJust cosmetic surgery won't do, Doctor
NEW DELHI: Finally the Manmohan Singh government has conceded that it does not have a favourable national security image. Mr Shivraj Patil, who was dramatically out of sync with the requirement of the...
View ArticleCan Singh become King again?
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must be thanking BJP's pre-election hubris. A setback to Congress would have put a question mark on his government's handling of important policy issues. Mr Singh and his...
View ArticleInflation, national security issues remain relevant
It's not surprising that Congress has used Shiela Dikshit's win in Delhi and BJP's self-created defeat of Vasundhara Raje to come to the conclusion that issues such as national security and runaway...
View ArticleOn the wrong road, as usual
One of the problems of those blessed with the pseudo-secular mindset is the belief that they have a monopoly on compassion. At regular intervals, they spring to the defence of imagined grievances or...
View ArticleDmocracies demand leadership in times of crisis
Dmocracies demand leadership in times of crisis and voters are ruthless against those who fail to act decisively. The attack on USS Cole in October 2000 harmed the Democrats' campaign in the US; in...
View ArticleSatyam scam: Govt bailout may fly into web of lies
NEW DELHI: The truth in Satyam is caught up in such a tangled web of falsehood and forgery that the government now finds it difficult to move ahead with a rescue plan. A stock-taking exercise at the...
View Article2009 Lok Sabha polls may be a re-run of 2004
NEW DELHI: Experience shows that no two general elections are similar. As issues and dynamics that decide the outcome of polls differ, every election throws up a new pattern. However, the 2009 Lok...
View ArticleAt the great Indian carnival, every vote counts
NEW DELHI: It will be more than a month before the first vote is cast in the 15th general elections, but the starting gun was fired months ago. And while elections in India have always been exciting...
View ArticleBJD effect: Regional parties to benefit
NEW DELHI: With Congress and BJP failing to enthuse voters, regional players have reasons to smile. The smile is turning into a glee as it becomes increasingly clear that neither UPA nor NDA may be...
View ArticleCase of tail wagging dog
NEW DELHI: One of the cardinal rules of politics is never to count your chickens before they hatch. It is now clear that the Congress never realised the importance of this dictum and is now repenting....
View ArticleLalu labels Congress spent force in cow belt
NEW DELHI: With Congress alliance built around a shared view of secularism now in disarray, the grand old party and its 'allies' are engaged in a political trapeze to pull down each other. While Lalu...
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