| Sushma Swaraj's college mate | 22-NOV-09 |
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| The sugarcane pricing ordinance not only created an uproar outside Parliament but also in the internal meetings of political parties as sparks flew between BJP and Congress leaders. At the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Council meeting last week, when BJP’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, assured the government that BJP would support efforts to offset the Rs 14,000-crore burden, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal quipped, “I thought you didn’t know about this aspect (Rs 14,000 crore were supposed to be given to the mills) of this ordinance.” Swaraj snapped at Bansal, “Do you think we are illiterates? And don’t forget we passed from the same college and studied under the same professors. |
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| Newsmaker: Nitin Gadkari | 20-NOV-09 |
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| He is not known for a sophisticated world view but Nitin Gadkari, the front-runner for the party’s national president, is likely to be just what the RSS ordered. |
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| No leadership change in Karnataka, says Rajnath | 06-NOV-09 |
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| Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh today held a meeting with senior party leaders here to resolve the ongoing crisis in Karnataka but ruled out a change of leadership in the state after dissident leader Janardhana Reddy refused to meet Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. |
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| Keeping Bush at arm's length | 01-NOV-09 |
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| CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri was invited to participate in the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. While giving him the invite, the organisers told him about the other participants, including former US president George Bush. When Yechury was asked the time that would be convenient to him, he made just one request — ensure the maximum possible time gap between his and Bush’s sessions. |
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| Aditi Phadnis: Sushma's swaraj | 31-OCT-09 |
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| The BJP is to have a new president by the end of the year. The RSS has already said that it proposes to take the BJP in hand by seconding more lieutenants to the organisation and by ensuring that the BJP has a president whose overall handlers are the RSS. Accordingly, any one of the three Marathi speakers in the BJP leadership could become the party’s next president — Maharshtra BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Goa leader Manohar Parrikar and BJP Vice-President Bal Apte. |
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| Left may co-ordinate with BJP to tackle 'aggressive' UPA | 17-SEP-09 |
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| After voting with sworn political enemy Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against its one-time ally — the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) — last year, the Left is again considering floor co-ordination with the BJP in Parliament. |
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| No provision of removing PAC chairman: Pranab | 12-SEP-09 |
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| Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP's) efforts to build a consensus for the ouster of its expelled leader Jaswant Singh as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman hit a wall, with the government today saying he can continue with the post. |
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| Velvet gloves | 10-SEP-09 |
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| After all the bad publicity it received on Jaswant Singh’s expulsion, the BJP is treading cautiously. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj spoke of Singh in flattering terms while talking of their meeting recently. She said Singh had very cordial and friendly relations with her as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and so she had taken special permission from LK Advani to see him even after the expulsion. It’s a different matter that, in the meeting, Swaraj had asked Singh to resign as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. |
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| No second term for Rajnath | 31-AUG-09 |
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| The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) today obtained a commitment from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) warring leaders that they would stop their infighting even as moves were initiated for a major overhaul of the party’s top brass, which will see the exit of Rajnath Singh as party president in the next three months and likely stepping down of L K Advani as leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. |
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| Sushma's advice to potential ally | 23-AUG-09 |
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| The marginalised Left parties are desperate to get new friends in Parliament. Recently, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta held a secret meeting with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) deputy leader in the lower House, Sushma Swaraj, and asked her if there could be “floor co-ordination” between the two sides. According to BJP sources, Dasgupta told Swaraj that the Left (with 34 MPs in the Lok Sabha) was not getting to raise its voice in the House. “Trinamool Congress MPs get a lot of chance to speak but we can’t raise our issues. At times, our notices on important matters don’t even reach the ballot box of the secretariat,” Dasgupta told Swaraj. Swaraj told Dasgupta that her party had no problem in coordinating with the Left but asked, “Will CPI(M) also agree to this arrangement? You please go and talk to them.” While CPI is eager to forge an “alliance” with BJP, CPI(M) may be worried about the possible consequences. |
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| Aditi Phadnis: Fired and brimstone | 22-AUG-09 |
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| Ahead of cabinet reshuffles in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, a group of five used to take all the important decisions: Atal Behari Vajpayee (now virtually bedridden), George Fernandes (ditto), Pramod Mahajan (dead), Jaswant Singh (expelled) and L K Advani. |
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| Jaswant Singh expelled from BJP | 19-AUG-09 |
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| Jaswant Singh, whose book eulogising Mohd Ali Jinnah has come under attack from BJP and the sangh parivar, was today expelled from the BJP. |
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| LS adjourned as Budget session ends | 08-AUG-09 |
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| Although the Budget session of the 15th Lok Sabha achieved its main objective — passing the Finance Bill 2009 — it could get very little other business done in that session. |
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| Uproar in LS over corruption charges against Virbhadra, Buta | 07-AUG-09 |
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| On the last day of the Budget Session, NDA today created uproar in the Lok Sabha over the issue of alleged corruption involving Union Minister Virbhadra Singh and Scheduled Caste Commission Chairman Buta Singh and demanded action against them. |
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| BJP's 'chintan baithak' to focus on future | 05-AUG-09 |
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| In a mood to let bygone be bygones, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) proposed ‘chintan-baithak’ — the brainstorming session — is all set to focus on the party’s future strategy, instead of making a threadbare analysis of why it lost the general elections under the leadership of L K Advani. |
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