New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday ruled out change of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the run up to next Lok Sabha elections but steered clear of questions whether he would again be at the helm if the UPA-III comes to power. In reply to questions about change of the Prime Minister soon and holding of early Lok Sabha elections, Congress spokesman PC Chacko said "please do not think of a change of the Prime Minister.. We have a strong Prime Minister".
He said "we have the time. Elections are far away. The question of leadership is not with us". Chacko's remarks came when reporters asked him about the possibility of Singh again becoming Prime Minister if UPA emerges victorious in next Lok Sabha elections.
The Prime Minister had sometime back neither ruled himself in or out of a third term. "Holding of early elections is out of question. Government is in a comfortable position. No plan for early elections. We have an agenda to implement", he said.
With the ninth anniversary of UPA scheduled on May 22, Chacko highlighted the achievements of the coalition in various sectors and targeted the opposition for having "obstruction as the only slogan" in the pro-people legislative agenda of the government. Replying to questions, he said Congress is for an early discussion and passage of the Food Security and Land Acquisition bills. "We are not against a special session of Parliament. It will have to be a unanimous
07:50 PM, May 18, 2013
Jammu: BJP on Friday said the Congress-led UPA should declare its Prime Ministerial candidate first and whether Rahul Gandhi is a stakeholder for the top job or not. While insisting that BJP Parliamentary Board will take a decision regarding its PM candidate at an appropriate time BJP national general secretary and former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah said, since UPA was in power, it should first take a decision in...
07:28 PM, May 17, 2013
Guwahati: The Assam government might take up the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) throughout the state, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Thursday. Meeting a delegation of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), which made the request, Gogoi said this will be considered subject to approval from the central government. The AASU delegation had also sought the updating be completed before the Lok Sabha elections in...
05:30 AM, May 17, 2013
Sultanpur: Amid speculations of him contesting the next Lok Sabha elections from Sultanpur, BJP MP Varun Gandhi today said his visit to the district is like a homecoming and a new politics should start in the region. "Today I have come home. I was blessed with a daughter on March 19 but God took her away on April 19. She was my first child. Only I can feel the pain...
09:30 PM, May 16, 2013
Jaipur: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi met party workers and office bearers here on Thursday while continuing his task of collecting feedback over the party's prospects in the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, party sources said. Rahul arrived in Rajasthan's Bikaner district on Wednesday to hold "feedback meetings" with the party's workers. He left for Jaipur in the evening. Assembly polls are scheduled in Congress-ruled Rajasthan at the year-end....
07:33 PM, May 16, 2013
Lucknow: Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Tuesday accused Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of conniving with BJP leader LK Advani to bring down the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Congress leader Verma said in Lucknow that after detaining BJP leaders like Advani and Vinay Katiyar at a guest house in Faizabad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, had met them discreetly and it was...
03:26 AM, May 15, 2013
New Delhi: There's nothing like a feel good advertisement when you are down in the dumps. And no one needs it more right now than UPA-II. Faced with uncertainty, embarrassment and an election in the next one year, the government plans to bombard us with not-so-subtle reminders of what they did get right in the last nine years. This is the Congress's Rs 180 crore ad blitz 'Bharat Nirman', written...
09:20 PM, May 14, 2013
Gandhinagar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday nominated controversial MLA Vitthal Radadiya from Porbandar for Lok Sabha by-poll. Radadiya, a former Congress MLA, had quit the party weeks after he was caught on CCTV brandishing a gun at a toll-booth attendant at Karjan near Vadodara in October 2012. Radadiya had then said that he took out his gun as the toll-booth attendant had called him a fake MP. Soon...
04:22 PM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: With an eye on 2014 Lok Sabha elections, government on Monday unveiled a series of audio-visual clips as a part of its multi media campaign to highlight its achievements and showcase impact of UPA's policies in the last nine years. Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari, in whose presence the presentation was made, said the multimedia initiative was different from the 'India Shining' campaign of the NDA in...
09:40 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: With Lok Sabha elections due next year, newly appointed Law Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said he would strive to achieve objectives in the run up, including making legal procedures help fuel economic growth and appointment of judges through a transparent process. Outlining his "broad objectives", Sibal said, "Legal processes and procedures should not be an impediment to economic growth, but must fuel it." He said simplification and...
02:19 PM, May 13, 2013
Bangalore: The BJP on Sunday dared the Congress to hold Lok Sabha elections along with Assembly polls due in five states later in 2013 if it was confident after its triumph in Karnataka. Capitalising on anti-incumbency, Congress unseated the BJP in the May 8 elections to the Karnataka Assembly winning 121 seats in the 224-member House. "If the Congress is confident after winning assembly elections in Karnataka, it should conduct...
06:03 PM, May 12, 2013
A BSP member on Wednesday left the Lok Sabha as the national song was being played to mark the sine die adjournment of the Budget Session of Parliament. ...
11:57 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: The Janata Dal (United)'s Sabir Ali on Thursday sought to defend BSP MP Shafiqur Rahman Burq who had walked out of Lok Sabha while the Vande Mataram was being played, saying that it was his personal opinion. He, however, said that the act was against national integrity and Speaker Meira Kumar would be the best person to decide the course of action against him. "This is his personal...
05:15 PM, May 09, 2013
Reacting to the controversy stirred by BSP MP Shafiqur Rahman Burq, who walked out of the Lok Sabha while Vande Mataram was being played, former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said as an MP it is his responsibility to respect the national song. ...
04:08 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: Controversy over the walkout by BSP MP Shafiqur Rahman Burq from the Lok Sabha took a new turn as he refused to apologise for walking out of the House while national song Vande Mataram was being played. Burq said that as a Muslim he cannot show respect towards the national song. "I won't apologise to anyone. I respect the National Anthem, not the national song Vande Mataram. Vande...
03:05 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: Deploring the act of a BSP MP walking out of the Lok Sabha during playing of the National Song, BJP on Wednesday said the Speaker should act "firmly" on the issue. "Members have no right to insult the National Song especially when they have taken oath. The Speaker has taken the right move by naming the MP. He has insulted Parliament," party leader Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters outside...
04:10 PM, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: Union Labour Minister and senior leader from Karnataka Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday indicated that he was ready to be considered for the Chief Minister's post following the electoral victory in the state. "I don't want the post because of my caste (dalit). I am not interested because of long-standing service to the party. If they think that I am fit for the post, then it is upto them...
02:35 PM, May 08, 2013
Chandigarh: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday will hold confabulations with state party leaders and workers here in his bid to further strengthen the party in Haryana. The closed door meeting of Rahul, to be held in three rounds with Haryana Congress leaders and activists, will last till evening, party sources said here. Rahul will be having a meeting with the party MPs and MLAs from the state, besides...
02:25 PM, May 08, 2013
New Delhi: A BSP member on Wednesday left the Lok Sabha as the national song was being played to mark the sine die adjournment of the Budget Session of Parliament, prompting an angry rebuke from Speaker Meira Kumar. "One honourable member walked out when Vande Mataram was being played. I take very serious view of this. I would want to know why this was done. This should never be done...
01:20 PM, May 08, 2013
JD(S) leader Danish Ali said the BJP must realise that general elections won't be easy. "The third alternative will be a reality in the coming general elections," he said. ...
11:40 AM, May 08, 2013
