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The United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the third largest party in the National Assembly of Nepal, has once again rechristened itself following its merger with the split-away section of Communist Party of Nepal - Revolutionary Maoist. The other party is CPN(Maoist), the mother party of Nepali Maoists, led by its chairman Matrika Yadav. The new party is Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center, which came into being last week.

The outcome of the five assembly elections raises issues which will impact the future course of Indian politics. These include the form the divisive saffron agenda is likely to take and whether the Congress will be able to regain its lost political ground which has been further eroded by the party’s demoralizing performance in the five elections.

It is no fault of the Modi Government that, on the economic front, its overall performance in the first two years have remained less productive, given far too many challenges for stabilising the fundamentals for growth and jobs, no matter the beguiling assertions from its economic chieftain, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

BHOPAL: The month long Simhastha has ended on May 21. The Chief Minister and high officials who were directly involved heaved a sigh of relief that the mega event ended without any major mishap. It was a huge task to handle the event, specially crowd management, which was very difficult on the shahi snan days when crores of pilgrims want to take a dip in the sipra, which is considered to be one of the holiest rivers of India.

LUCKNOW: Muslim community which constitute more than 18 per cent votes in Uttar Pradesh is unhappy with Samjwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party when they failed to include even a single person from minority community in their list of candidates for Rajya Sabha biennial polls.

LONDON: Leader of opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has set out party’s path to reach to the Downing street. The Westminster bubble and particularly the Labour detractors owing allegiance to Tony Blair had questioned his leadership and expressed apprehensions about his calibre to rejuvenate the party and present it as a ruling alternative. Corbyn has however shown that it is the left in the party, not the right that can show a path to Labour’s return to power. He believes it is the principle and the strategy that works.

An almost audible sigh of relief escaped the CPI(M) central and state leaders when V S Achuthanandan avoided making any controversial remarks at the first press conference he addressed after being denied the Chief Minister’s post.

That the Congress has a number of admirable qualities is undeniable. For one, its stoicism in the face of repeated defeats borders on the heroic. For another, the devotion of the foot soldiers towards the feudal overlords of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty can be the envy of a monastic order. For a third, the discipline which the rank and file displays in the face of a situation which is progressively becoming worse is worthy of a resolute army.

Weather-wise, May-June makes life little pleasant in India with heat waves sizzling most of its parts. Educational institutions, judiciary and even parliament observe summer vacation or recess during this period. Rich Indians and business leaders organize holidays and business meets in climate-friendly Europe partly to beat the heat. Ministers, top government officials and legislators too look for opportunities to stay out of the country as long as possible. The less fortunate ones look for a break in the cooler chimes of local hill resorts like Darjeeling, Shillong, Gangtok, in the north-east, Srinagar, Shimla, Mussourie, Dharmashala, Nainital and Manali in the north and Ooty, Kodaikanal, Coonnoor and Munnar in the south. Few business satraps and political heavyweights from western countries and Japan ever come to India during this season. If the summer of 2016, which has already recorded the highest temperature in memory topping 51 Degree C in parts of North India, is making an exception for the likes of Apple’s head honcho Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to visit the country, it has to be on the most important business call that can’t wait until the winter.

While domestic investors are sulking, foreign investors are upbeat. During the second year of Modi government, domestic investment plummeted. New investment dropped sharply from Rs 10.4 trillion in 2014-15 to Rs 8 trillion in 2015-16, according to CMIE. But, this could not dismay the foreign investors. Despite global crisis, foreign investors continued to be euphoric to invest in India, reposing confidence in Modi’s charismatic image of investment friendly leader.