Sunetra Choudhury is the National Political Editor of the Hindustan Times. With over two decades of experience in print and television, she has authored Black Warrant (Roli,2019), Behind Bars: Prison Tales of India’s Most Famous (Roli,2017) and Braking News (Hachette, 2010). Sunetra is the recipient of the Red Ink award in journalism in 2016 and Mary Morgan Hewett award in 2018.
Articles by Sunetra Choudhury
Cong makes changes with revival hopes in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal. Will they work?
The changes are aimed at “course correction”, streamlining the party’s messaging and consolidating internal divisions, but challenges remain
Published on Apr 27, 2022 04:35 PM IST
After rounds of hectic parleys, Prashant Kishor declines Congress offer
While the Congress thanked Kishor for his “effort and suggestions”, he said that, more than him, the party needed “leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems” in order to revive its fortunes.
Updated on Apr 27, 2022 01:25 PM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
BJP leaders gear up to celebrate 8 years of Modi government
Elaborate preparations are underway to mark eight years of the Narendra Modi government on May 30 by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the central government, people familiar with the matter said.
Updated on Apr 26, 2022 02:20 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury and Smriti Kak Ramachandran, New Delhi
Modi sends ministers, officials to visit ‘aspirational districts’
While ministers have been asked to spend a day or two in some of India’s 118 “aspirational districts”, bureaucrats of deputy secretary and higher rank have been asked to travel to border areas and give an “on-the-ground assessment’’ of government schemes to their respective ministries.
Updated on May 02, 2022 06:51 PM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
Ahead of Sonia meet, Cong panel submits report on Kishor’s proposal for revamp
The committee comprising AK Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik and others, has given its inputs ahead of Prashant Kishor’s final meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi any time over the next few days to decide if the strategist will become an office bearer of the party.
Published on Apr 22, 2022 02:30 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
Kishor meets Congress brass at Sonia’s house, could join party
Kishor’s presentation was full of data and results of various polls, one of the people cited above said, seeking anonymity.
Updated on Apr 17, 2022 04:54 AM IST
‘There is so much Nagaland can contribute to India’: BJP's Phangnon Konyak
Speaking to Sunetra Choudhury on phone from her home district of Mon, Konyak said deep-rooted patriarchy holds women back, but her election proves things are changing. Edited excerpts:
Updated on Mar 30, 2022 08:50 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Prashant Kishor meets Priyanka and Rahul, political circles abuzz
HT reported last year that Kishor approached the Congress party in early 2020 with a plan to help with its 2024 election campaign.
Updated on Mar 26, 2022 04:47 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
An inside report: What is happening in the Congress?
What’s the problem with the Grand Old Party? What are its roots and symptoms? And what’s the way out? HT spoke to Congress leaders, activists, and former partymen to decode all that has gone wrong
Updated on Mar 22, 2022 05:03 PM IST
CWC rejects Gandhis’ offer to quit positions
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) unanimously decided that Sonia Gandhi will continue as the interim chief till organisational polls are held and announced a brain-storming session, signalling an urgency ahead of assembly elections in other states and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
Updated on Mar 14, 2022 12:57 AM IST
A bipolar UP contest after three decades makes some in BJP wary
The state, which saw the emergence of caste-based parties in the 90s, has typically witnessed a multi-party fight in assembly elections ever since.
Updated on Mar 08, 2022 12:35 PM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Prashant Kishor’s ex-aide who worked on BJP’s 2017 UP campaign joins Congress
Uttar Pradesh polls: Kanugolu, some in the Congress say, could fill the role the party envisaged for election strategist Kishor, who mentored the former and made him part of the team that managed Narendra Modi’s 2014 campaign.
Published on Mar 04, 2022 12:06 AM IST
French woman held under 1897 treaty sues India
The international human rights body confirmed that on February 16, India sent its response to the charge of violating international human rights law and other rights codified in the 2015 minimum standards of treatment of prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules.
Updated on Feb 22, 2022 03:26 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
3 years on, Nagaur MP Beniwal yet to get an official house
It’s not that Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal has been ignored by the committees that allot residences to members of Parliament, but the search for a house for him is stuck in a legal battle and one former parliamentarian’s refusal to vacate his home.
Updated on Feb 18, 2022 07:54 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury and Risha Chitlangia, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
‘Law does not say anything in any way that gives govt power to ban hijab’
‘It says the government has to work to promote the education of weaker sections of the society, of backward classes, and arguably these young women, by virtue of being women if nothing else’
Updated on Feb 17, 2022 03:54 PM IST
Slow pace of donation drive irks BJP chief Nadda
On Tuesday, BJP chief Nadda told his office bearers that he expected senior leaders to motivate workers to not just donate but to also use this as an occasion to recruit new members.
Updated on Feb 05, 2022 05:50 AM IST
Interview: I share a relationship with the people of Karhal, says SP Baghel
After filing his nomination papers, the sitting Parliamentarian from SP Singh Baghel told HT that he was delighted to be the surprise nominee for his party and that he has the requisite experience to take on Yadav as he had already fought against four members of the SP family in the past.
Published on Feb 01, 2022 06:36 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
‘Many people change parties before polls....we have to fight the good fight’
Ahead of the upcoming assembly polls, including in Congress-ruled Punjab, former Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot spoke to Sunetra Choudhury about the rumblings in the party.
Updated on Jan 28, 2022 04:34 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
Centre looks to build brand around National War Memorial
The defence ministry has sought the help of the information and broadcasting ministry for the elaborate branding of the National War Memorial, officials said.
Updated on Jan 21, 2022 05:11 AM IST
BJP sets up committees to strengthen election campaigns
The poll panel has put a moratorium on all large gatherings and rallies, a preferred method of outreach, till January 23, forcing political parties to come up with alternative methods of canvassing.
Updated on Jan 19, 2022 04:52 AM IST
Joining Congress wasn’t my plan... BJP overreacted, says Harak Singh Rawat
Uttarakhand elections: “Congress wanted me to join them but that wasn’t really my plan. I think the BJP overreacted after seeing such reports on social media, and this will prove to be harmful for the party,” Harak Singh Rawat said.
Updated on Jan 18, 2022 09:45 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
UP elections: Recent exits will not have any impact on NDA, says Sanjay Nishad
UP elections: The recent exits will not have any impact on the NDA, Sanjay Nishad of the Nishad party said.
Updated on Jan 14, 2022 05:03 AM IST
BJP enemy of OBCs, many more leaders will quit party: Rajbhar ahead of UP polls
UP polls: In an interview with HT, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) leader OP Rajbhar said BJP was an enemy of OBCs and more party leaders are expected to quit ahead of the elections.
Updated on Jan 13, 2022 04:51 AM IST
Out on harassment charges, Cong leader back in key position
Congress leader Ranajit Mukherjee told HT that he has been punished long enough, and the party was recognising the hard work that he has done since.
Updated on Dec 30, 2021 09:47 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, New Delhi
No plans yet to vaccinate kids younger than 15, say officials
Several countries are inoculating younger children, in some cases as young as five, and there have been stronger calls to expand the universal coronavirus vaccination in light of the threat posed by the highly resistant and transmissible Omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2
Updated on Dec 28, 2021 06:02 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Sunetra Choudhury, National Political Editor, picks her favourite reads of 2021
Former US President Barack Obama’s A Promised Land had brutally honest descriptions of world leaders like Vladimir Putin and closer home, to Rahul Gandhi
Published on Dec 25, 2021 02:39 AM IST
Rawat to meet Congress brass amid Uttarakhand rumblings
The party’s general secretary in charge of organisation, KC Venugopal, reached out to Harish Rawat on Thursday and invited him for a meeting in the Capital.
Updated on Dec 24, 2021 02:55 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Gita Gopinath: Recovery agent
After picking economics by happenstance as a Delhi teen, Gopinath, 50, went on to study at Princeton, teach at Harvard, and is now set to be the first deputy MD at IMF, guiding world economies amid the devastating blows of the pandemic.
Published on Dec 19, 2021 11:31 AM IST
Sunetra Choudhury, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Lots of women before me could have done the job: Gita Gopinath of IMF
Gopinath has studied at Princeton, taught at Harvard, and is now set to be the first deputy managing director at IMF, guiding world economies amid the devastating blows of the pandemic. Excerpts from an interview.
Updated on Dec 17, 2021 11:24 PM IST
Code read: Smriti Irani on her first novel, a thriller called Lal Salaam
A murder mystery set in Chhattisgarh, the book is inescapably political. But the union minister and former TV star knows how to script a twist in the tale.
Updated on Nov 26, 2021 05:39 PM IST