Author: News Analysis India

Nearly 50 days after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as Congress president, taking moral responsibility for the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the grand old party is yet to finalise a new chief. Gandhi, now an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, became the Congress president in 2017. He offered to step down from his post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on May 25, taking moral responsibility for the party’s drubbing in the 17th Lok Sabha elections. In these 50 days that went by, not only has Gandhi made his resignation public but also removed the tag of…

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said if his minister Navjot Singh Sidhu did not want to do his job, there was nothing he could do about it. This came hours after the cricketer-turned-politician sent his resignation to the chief minister on Monday. “If Sidhu doesn’t want to do the job, there is nothing I can do about it… how could a soldier refuse a job assigned by the General,” said Amarinder Singh. “There has to be some discipline in the government if it is to function effectively,” added the CM. “The minister should have accepted his new portfolio instead of shunning…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the United States in September for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly meeting and is likely to address Indian-Americans in Houston during his trip, community leaders said Friday. Chicago and Houston are the two American cities in contention for the Prime Minister’s venue to address the diaspora when he is likely to travel to the U.S. later this year to attend the United Nations’ Annual General Assembly in New York. No official announcement about the trip has been made yet. According to informed community sources, the Prime Minister is likely to travel to…

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant dropped four ministers from his cabinet on Saturday and replaced them with three defectors from Congress and a BJP MLA.Former opposition leader Chandrakant Kavalekar, former minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues and Jennifer Monserrate were administered oath of office by governor Mridula Sinha at Raj Bhavan. All three rebels were part of the 10-member Congress splinter group. Calangute MLA and BJP leader Michael Lobo was also sworn-in as minister in the state cabinet.Kavalekar, who led the Congress rebels to join the saffron party, is likely to be made deputy chief minister. He is a four-time MLA from Quepem.Jennifer is the…

Earlier today, specifications and renders of the Xiaomi Mi A3 leaked telling us what to expect from this smartphone. And now, an anonymous tipster has sent us a few images of the Mi A3 and its retail box which confirm the phone’s design and key specs. The white-colored retail box confirms that Mi A3 will come in Blue and White shades. But one of the images show the phone in Black as well. Rest of the specs include a 6.08″ AMOLED display, UD fingerprint scanner, and a 4,030 mAh battery with 18W fast charging support. There’s also a 48MP camera at the…

Future conflicts will be “more violent” and “unpredictable” with technology, cyber domain playing a greater role, Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday. He was speaking at a seminar in New Delhi to mark the 20th year of the Kargil conflict. “The military must be ready for a mutli-spectrum war. The rise of non-state actors and the rapid changes in technology is changing the nature of warfare. Cyber and space domain will increasingly play a bigger role as the battle field becomes more contested and at the same time will be seamlessly connected,” General Rawat said drawing…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet women lawmakers of the BJP over breakfast at his official residence today, sources said on Thursday. This will be the prime minister’s fifth such interaction with party lawmakers as part of series of meetings planned by the BJP, a source said. In total, seven meetings of BJP lawmakers with the prime minister have been planned. The lawmakers have been divided in seven groups and PM Modi has already met party parliamentarians belonging to the OBC, SC and ST categories, and those who were ministers once. These meetings have been planned so that BJP lawmakers from…

Both Houses of Parliament worked extra time to finish the legislative business on Thursday. In fact, Lok Sabha functioned till 11:58 pm. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to reply on demands of grant for his ministry, in Lok Sabha. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may give reply on Budget discussion in Rajya Sabha. Then there is Private Members’ business too.

Rahul Gandhi continues to enjoy a “larger than life image’ among Congress workers and the next party president should be someone who can work in tandem with him, said former Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday. Admitting that the current state of affairs appears to be “a little confused run to the finishing line”, Mr. Khurshid appealed to his colleagues to “courteously find a way forward” on the leadership. “I am very clear that Rahul Gandhi is not walking away. He has said that he is going to be in fight. Now, if he has said he remains in fight,…

The Jharkhand High Court Friday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam relating to Deoghar treasury. Justice Apresh Kumar Singh granted Yadav’s bail plea in the case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury on the ground that he has served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years. However, the RJD chief will remain in jail as he is also serving sentence in two other related cases. Lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, he has been convicted in over Rs 900-crore fodder scam cases which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal…