Thane: Voicing concern over deficient monsoon rains, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday said the country may face a "serious" situation if it does not rain in the next two months. "Everything depends on the return of rains in August and September. But if it doesn't, the situation would become serious," he said. Pawar was speaking at the inauguration of a skywalk at Bonkode in Navi Mumbai. Monsoon rains...
02:41 AM, Jul 30, 2012
Pune: With the country receiving deficient rainfall, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday said weather experts did not seem to be optimistic about revival of monsoon in the parched regions, forcing the government to draw water management plans till July next year. "Reports from experts on the monsoon making up the deficit in the rest of the season are not optimistic. We are making plans for water management till...
10:34 PM, Jul 29, 2012
New Delhi: Monsoon rains continued below average in the past week, the weather office said on Thursday, keeping much of India's rain-fed areas still thirsty halfway through the June to September season. Monsoon rains were 20 per cent below average in the week to July 25 after a 22 per cent shortfall the previous week. But the rains improved over rice and soybean growing areas of eastern and central India,...
07:41 PM, Jul 26, 2012
New Delhi: Nearly a week after skipping work over problems with the Congress, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar resumed office on Thursday, a day after NCP-Congress announced a truce. The NCP's tiff with the Congress came to an end on Wednesday with both parties agreeing to set up coordination centres. Pawar had stopped coming to the ministry from June 23, and also was not responding to calls from ministry officials. ...
11:28 AM, Jul 26, 2012
New Delhi: NCP leader Praful Patel on Wednesday evening did a u-turn and said the NCP never wanted to opt of the UPA alliance. While speaking to IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Praful said, "We were not fighting all guns or anything. We were simply stating a fact better coordination both at the Centre and the State and I think after the meeting with Mrs Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh, I...
10:20 PM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi: The week-long NCP-Congress crisis is finally over as both the parties agreed to set up coordination committees in Delhi and Mumbai to resolve differences. NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday evening in New Delhi to bring an end to the stand off. Addressing the media after the meeting, Praful said that he and Pawar discussed...
06:29 PM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi: 5:19 pm: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel at his residence. 4:58 pm: Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel reach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence at 7, Race Course Road ahead of the meeting. 4:48 pm: Praful Patel meets Sharad Pawar ahead of latter's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi. 4:30 pm: NCP, Congress reach agreement and a...
04:18 PM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi: The stand off between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress is easing off with the Prime Minister's Office set to announce the setting up of a co-ordination committee, which has been a key demand of NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi will meet Pawar on Wednesday evening. While Congress President Sonia Gandhi declined to comment on...
01:07 PM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi: At a time when drought is looming large over the country and food inflation is going up, it seems Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has gone missing, forcing the Prime Minister's Office to virtually take over the ministry. Pawar, who turned vocal with his ire over "lack of coordination" within the UPA alliance, had on Thursday sent a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi...
09:10 AM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi/Mumbai: There is rebellion against Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan as 43 of the 82 Congress MLAs wrote a letter of discontent against his style of functioning even as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) kept the Centre guessing on its next move. The letter signed by the MLAs points that there is anger among the constituents of the government over the lack of progress on several projects. It lists...
11:55 PM, Jul 24, 2012
New Delhi: Hours after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that it would decide on ties with the Congress by Thursday, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the rift between the parties. Earlier on Tuesday, NCP sources said, "If we don't attend Cabinet meet on Thursday, then there is no turning back." The Maharashtra unit of the NCP also conveyed to its central leadership...
06:58 PM, Jul 24, 2012
New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday said that it will take its final decision on its ties with the Congress by Thursday morning. "If we don't attend Cabinet meet on Thursday, then there is no turning back," said party sources. The Maharashtra unit of the NCP has conveyed to its central leadership that if the Centre walks out, the state coalition would be put in jeopardy. The NCP-Congress...
02:19 PM, Jul 24, 2012
New Delhi: The NCP kept the Congress guessing on quitting the Union cabinet as party chief Sharad Pawar and party leader Praful Patel skipped the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday evening. Although, the sulking ally had made it clear that it will not rock the UPA boat and continue its support "till the end". At stake is the NCP's demand to remove Prithviraj Chavan as Chief...
08:31 PM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday vowed to remain with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) till the 2014 General Elections, saying that the current standoff is not a ploy to seek anything from the government. NCP leader Praful Patel said that the final decision on whether the NCP would remain a part of the government or support it from outside would be taken in a day or...
05:08 PM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: The stand-off between the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress took a turn for the worse with party chief Sharad Pawar now asking Minister for State for Rural Development Agatha Sangma to stop attending office. Whether the party should pull out from the UPA or not, will be decided by the party leadership soon. Sources say that the root of the problem lies in Maharashtra where ties...
03:55 PM, Jul 23, 2012
Mumbai: It was the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel who first indicated that the germ of the current political standoff between the party and the Congress lay not in Delhi, but in Mumbai. NCP sources had then said that the party leadership wanted the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi to rein in Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Chavan's refusal to back any ministers, several of them from the...
03:26 PM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: There seems to be no end to the stand off between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress. The NCP leadership met in New Delhi on Monday and decided to skip the dinner being hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the honour of outgoing President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, sources told CNN-IBN. The dinner is at 8 PM at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. NCP chief Sharad...
02:01 PM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: The power tussle between allies Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) seems far from over. The NCP is meeting on Monday at its president Sharad Pawar's residence to decide on the future of its partnership with the Congress. Ahead of that meeting, however, Pawar made a courtesy call on President-elect Pranab Mukherjee on Monday morning. On Friday, the party had put the UPA on notice, with Pawar...
11:47 AM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is expected to hold a party meet at its president Sharad Pawar's residence on Monday. The party is set to decide on the future of its partnership with the Congress. The party had put the ruling coalition on notice on Friday, with Pawar and his colleague Praful Patel offering to resign for not being consulted on important matters. Patel had later clarified that...
09:26 AM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: Despite UPA ally NCP targeting him, Congress on Saturday ruled out removal of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. "Where is the question of change of Maharashtra Chief Minister," a senior Congress leader, who declined to be identified, said. NCP, which has decided to pull out of the UPA government in protest against the way the party was being treated by Congress, has been complaining that the Chavan Ministry...
10:00 PM, Jul 21, 2012
