India

New Delhi, Jul 6: Two years can be a long time in politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised many, both within BJP and outside, when he appointed Smriti Zubin Irani his Human Resources Development minister. It was seen as more than recognition of the spunk the former TV star showed as BJP spokesperson when she would gamely take on detractors of the then Gujarat chief minister or the scare

Mumbai, Jul 5: The Shiv Sena-BJP rift is set to intensify with the ally failing to get any berth in today's expansion of the Union Council of Ministers, prompting it to issue a veiled threat to the senior partner that it will keep it in mind during the Mumbai city corporation and other local body polls across Maharashtra. Grumbling that BJP "took it for granted", Sena said it felt "hurt" by the

New Delhi, Jul 5: 17 new faces including BJP leaders S S Ahluwalia, and M J Akbar and allies Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal and Ramdas Athawale of RPI were today inducted along with two old hands Vijay Goel and Faggan Kulaste into the Modi government in expansion and reshuffle in which five were dropped and Environment Minister Prakash Javedekar was elevated to the Cabinet. The second exercise by

Jhangar (LoC), Jul 4: Over 200 heavily armed militants were waiting across the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, a senior army officer today said but asserted that troops are fully geared to thwart their nefarious designs. "Exact details of the infiltrators cannot be said with surety but with our experience, having known their modus operandi and from inputs of various

New Delhi, Jul 4: In a major development ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, Apna Dalhas been merged with BJP. Political experts see this development as a big boost for BJP in UP polls as Apna Dal has a huge support base mainly among the OBC communities of the Varanasi-Mirzapur area. Also, the merger may boost the winning prospects of BJP in UP elections as it is likely to attract Kurmi

New Delhi, Jul 4: An expansion and reshuffle of the Modi government will take place tomorrow with a dalit tilt in the exercise possibly eyeing the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year. Prominent among the names doing the rounds for induction include Anupriya Patel, an OBC Lok Sabha member belonging to ally Apna Dal, and a number of BJP leaders, who met party chief Amit Shah today. The BJP

New Delhi, Jul 4: With an eye on the politically crucial assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh scheduled next year, the much-awaited expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet will take place on Tuesday. In what can be seen as an attempt to woo the alliance partners, the ruling BJP at the Centre is likely to induct several new faces from smaller and local parties. Leaders from the Apna Dal

New Delhi, Jul 3: Slamming AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi over his decision to provide legal help to men arrested for allegedly being members of an ISIS module, BJP today accused him of "betraying" the country and sought action against him for "helping" the terror group. Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi alleged that Owaisi is giving "oxygen" to terrorists and that he is seen as "standing with

New Delhi, Jul 3: The Delhi High Court has put on hold the rustication of a JNU student who had accused a hostel warden of sexual harassment, saying the university did not follow the prescribed procedure while taking the decision. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva stayed the May 30 decision of Jawaharlal Nehru University to rusticate the female student for one semester saying the varsity did not provide

New Delhi, Jul 3: Isolated on the Goods and Services Tax Bill, the Congress has admitted that differences with the Modi government on the indirect tax reform measure have “narrowed down”. A senior leader said the Bill could be passed in the monsoon session of the Parliament beginning July 18 if the NDA government’s interlocutors reach out to the Congress to iron out the differences over the lone