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Providence has again demonstrated its habit of springing surprises. After months of electoral drought, the Congress experienced a slight drizzle as it won all the three seats in the recent Uttarakhand by-elections.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If the Congress-led former United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government was a disaster for the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), the Narendra Modi-headed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is turning out to be a calamity.

LUCKNOW: Majority of Congress workers and leaders in UP feel only Priyanka Gandhi Vadra can revive the flagging party.

History bears testimony whenever the central leadership of the Congress becomes week, dissidents in the party-ruled come to the fore. After India’s defeat in India-China war of 1962, Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership became weak and the dissidence rose in states (at that time most of the states were ruled by the Congress). Little known word “dissidents” became common in politics. Rival groups came up in the states and the target of the dissidents were Chief Ministers. The result was that, for the first time, since independence the Congress suffered a huge set back in the states. At that time assembly and the Lok Sabha elections were held simultaneously.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has introduced a bill in the ongoing budget session of the Assembly, which, if passed, will result in complete erosion of the autonomy enjoyed by the universities of the state. The provisions of the bill are such that they will reduce the universities to the status of Government Colleges.

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress observes 21 July every year as Martyrs’ Day. It was on this day in 1993 that thirteen youths were shot dead by the Left Front Government’s police in Kolkata. They had gathered at various points in the city to participate in a ‘march to Writers’ Buildings’ (the State Secretariat) at the call of the All India Youth Congress of which Mamata Banerjee was the State President. Their demand was that voters’ identity cards be made the only document to verify a voter’s identity, to prevent the mass-scale ‘scientific rigging’ that the CPI-M was allegedly resorting to. Mamata was still in the Congress. The TMC was formed in 1998. Since then it had been religiously observing this day with Mamata as the main speaker.

After getting decimated in the last Lok Sabha election, the grand old party of India, Indian National Congress is facing unprecedented crisis of its history and the way, the party is functioning only suggests that it is in a self destruction mode. It is not facing any problem from outside. It did not get defeated because BJP was better than it. It is facing the problem, which it has created for itself. It has stuck itself in the mire and it is not showing the will power, which is needed to get out of the mess it has landed in.

NEW DELHI: This year’s Railway Budget seems all set to give lip-service to development. Bullet trains, which are the preserves of the affluent citizens of the country, would definitely give wings to imagination of all, but fail to serve the purpose to ensure the greatest happiness to the largest number of travellers, which quality good governance demands. This demand is also the call of democracy.

Challenging developments across the world, with rising battle zones and growing risks of volatility in financial markets and oil prices, now threaten an orderly pace of growth recovery for emerging nations like India, at a time the advanced economies themselves, chiefly USA, face headwinds.

The UPA allies are leaving the sinking ship looking for better opportunities. The latest to do so is the National Conference. Others are not far behind as the already shrunk Congress-led UPA will soon realise. The Congress party remains almost isolated with barely a handful of allies like Muslim League and RJD and NCP.