DK Singh

Between the lines: NDA’s grand 2nd year gala impresses pro-Modi mood

The Narendra Modi government’s second anniversary celebrations were remarkable, both for what was showcased in terms of achievements and also for what wasn’t.

Two years of Modi rule have changed parameters of politics, governance

There are many firsts associated with Narendra Modi: the first Prime Minister to be born in independent India; the first to clock 174,000 lakh air miles in two years to sell the India growth story abroad; and, the first PM to share his ‘mann ki baat’ with people. It’s a long list.

BJP is driven by the workers, not a mother-son party: Gadkari

Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari is credited with a turnaround in the highways sector, which was adversely affected by the policy paralysis during the UPA II regime. In an interview with Moushumi Das Gupta and DK Singh, he talks about his future plans and also shares his views on the Congress’ dismal show in elections. Excerpts:

The battle for India: What lies ahead for Cong, BJP in 2019 elections

The 2016 Assembly elections have seen the BJP expand its national footprint while the Congress slide continues .

NDA’s reform push to grow stronger as BJP base broadens

Saffron surge a shot in BJP’s arm: Why the outcome is crucial for Modi

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s dramatic gains in the assembly elections may not be a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governance, but they will have a significant bearing on national politics and the pace of economic reforms.

Assembly polls: Fate of major parties, bigwigs to be decided today

The counting of votes in the latest round of assembly polls starts Thursday morning, the finale to a ten-week long political drama that began with the announcement of polls in early March.

Jury split over integrity clause for bureaucrats seeking posts at Centre

Mid-level bureaucrats wishing to be part of the Narendra Modi government need to be “efficient” and rated highly by their peers and seniors for “integrity” and “objectivity”.

Tables turn on BJP in AgustaWestland scam: What went wrong in RS

At a time when the Congress has been cornered over the AgustaWestland chopper deal, the ruling BJP suddenly found itself in choppy waters following concerted counter-offensive strikes by Congress veterans.

Uttarakhand crisis: Modi govt aping Congress to steamroll it

The Uttarakhand stunt may have brought the BJP within striking distance of realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of “a Congress-mukt Bharat”, but even die-hard BJP supporters can’t miss the irony

Come August, NDA may get the better of Congress-led bloc in RS

Come August and the NDA government at the Centre may be able to get the better of the Congress-led bloc in Rajya Sabha.

Politically correct: Budget 2016 perfect for Modi govt’s plans

Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget speech on Monday marked a shift in the NDA government’s economic and political outlook from its belief in the trickle-down effect of big-ticket foreign and domestic private investments to reliance on rural India to drive the economy.

Will Hindutva plank do the trick for BJP in upcoming state polls?

The moot question is whether abandoning Narendra Modi’s development plan and returning to the original Hindutva plank would do the trick for the BJP in the coming polls.

Not just concerned, BJP is rattled by Jat quota protests

The Jat reservation stir, which is spreading outside Haryana, could not only spoil the BJP’s game plan in western UP but also adversely affect the party’s outreach to other backward castes in the run-up to the assembly polls next year.

All party meet today; Will PM Modi break his silence on JNU row?

Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his silence on the controversial arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ union president at the all party meeting.

‘Modi-versus-all’: Political stakes run high as state elections near

The political sweepstakes in the April-May assembly polls in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry could be encapsulated in two words: survival and redemption.

Who is playing politics over Rohith Vemula’s death?

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s act of joining fasting students on the University of Hyderabad campus on Saturday drew words laced with fire and brimstone from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which alleged that the Opposition was playing “politics” over Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula’s deat

Do you think I can manage as PM, Rajiv asked Pranab after Indira’s death

Shortly after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot by her bodyguards in 1984, her son Rajiv wanted to know “how potent” the bullets were and if his mother deserved the violent death.

VK Singh wanted me to pay Ulfa, alleges Assam CM Tarun Gogoi

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has alleged that then Eastern Army Command chief General VK Singh, now a Union minister, advised him to “buy” insurgent groups of the state to bring them back to the mainstream.

Dalit student’s suicide: Is Modi losing touch with the youth?

Are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre losing the plot? Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi losing touch with students and the youth who catapulted him to power at the Centre barely twenty months ago?

Khurshid reveals Manmohan favoured Batla House inquiry

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had agreed “in principle” to institute a judicial inquiry to probe allegations that the controversial 2008 Batla House police encounter in Delhi was fake, a book by former minister Salman Khurshid has revealed.

Kejriwal govt worst Delhi has ever seen, says Jaitley

Calling the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government the “worst government” in Delhi’s history, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday it made the controversy-dogged Congress regime of Sheila Dikshit seem like a “golden era”.

Pawar says Narasimha Rao backed his move to reject Dawood’s surrender

Former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar has said the then prime minister Narasimha Rao backed his decision to reject 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim’s conditional offer of surrender, a statement that comes at a time when authorities are making fresh efforts to catch the fugitive gangster.

BJP’s Bihar loss raises questions over national expansion ambitions

In a huge blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which fielded Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chief campaigner in the Bihar assembly elections, the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance virtually swept the polls with almost three-fourths of the 243 seats.

BJP left red faced over Rahul’s ‘private’ US visit

The Congress leader’s visit to Aspen in the US for “Weekend with Charlie Rose” quickly snowballed into a political issue with Union minister Ravishankar Prasad seeking to “know his location” and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra calling it a “forced vacation” to keep him out of Bihar.

From New York to San Jose, Modi unites Indian diaspora

How well his outreach to the Indian diaspora translates into a foreign policy instrument depends on their effectiveness as pressure groups but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to be on course to attain two other objectives: “Unite” the Indian community abroad, and “revive” their links with the motherland writes DK Singh

Still hope for GST bill being passed: Venkaiah Naidu

The planned rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) from April next year may be in ‘danger’ after the government’s failure to get parliamentary approval for the enabling bill in the monsoon session, but the NDA regime is preparing to give it another shot after the Bihar elections in a last-ditch effort to meet the deadline.

Bihar poll verdict has national consequences for BJP, Opposition

If the NDA is able to neutralise caste-based alliance with Modi’s development plank in Bihar, it could compel political parties across India to re-calibrate their strategies.

Narendra Modi's shuffled bureaucrats get a big dose of reality

When the official announcement of Home Secretary LC Goyal's removal came on Monday afternoon, over a dozen bureaucrats were attending a farewell party for Additional Secretary Tuk Tuk Kumar at Transport Bhavan in the capital. There was a stunned silence when one of them broke the news of Goyal's ouster.

FTII row: Govt ready for compromise on Gajendra Chauhan

The NDA government is willing to keep FTII chairperson Gajendra Chauhan away from the Pune-based premier film institute’s academic affairs to end a weeks-old students’ stir.