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If political alliance is not only about a combination of numbers but also their traits, the next Lok Sabha may witness the emergence of a new front led by regional powers that may choose to stay together to provide greater and more meaningful autonomy to states for economic development and social justice and redefine the country’s federal structure. As top regional political satraps are engaged in pre-poll permutations and combinations, the possibility of emergence of a new alternative to the two belligerent national parties – Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – as a new ruling political front at the Centre despite sharp differences among some of the constituents at local or state levels.

A month after storming to power in Delhi following a spectacular electoral debut, the Aam Aadmi Party has tarnished its image by taking three false steps. First, its law minister Somnath Bharti and women and child welfare minister Rakhi Birla indulged in obnoxious vigilantism. Second, AAP’s top leadership, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, defended their conduct and even commended Mr Bharti’s actions.

In a keynote speech to the Jaipur literary festival, Amartya Sen said something which he might not have done some years ago. ‘I want to see a party’, he said, ‘that is pro-market and pro-business to come to power and doesn’t prioritize one religion over another’.

Indian diplomacy on China has failed squarely as it has not been able to assert the Johnson Line in the northern sector and the McMahon Line in the eastern sector, drawn by the colonial rulers as India’s boundary line. This is despite the fact that India’s official map has recognised these lines since Independence.

NEW DELHI: The stand of the US state department that the Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade presently does not enjoy immunity from prosecution for the “crimes charged in the indictment” exposes the double standard of the US Government in applying its laws, according to the diplomatic sources. Sources say that a French diplomat, charged for much graver crimes, was allowed to leave USA and then after a gap, returned again as the consul general in San Francisco.

KOLKATA: There has been an unusual lull in Bangladesh after the elections and after Sheikh Hasina was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second time in succession. The BNP-Jamaat led Opposition, which had boycotted the 5 January, threatened not to recognise the new Government as a legitimate one and to carry on their agitation till fresh elections were held. Hasina’s response was that the elections were perfectly valid and her government would last its full term of five years.

The DMK Patriarch, 90-year old Mr M Karunanidhi, is in agony as the battle for succession within the family reaches a new pitch, before he can devise a credible poll strategy with trusted Dravidian satellites, to arrest a galloping race by Ms. Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK for capturing all the 40 seats of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in Lok Sabha.

Strange and unpredictable are the ways of politics. Fortunes undergo such wild fluctuations within the wink of an eye as it were that one day you are up in the clouds and the next day you find yourself down in the dumps.

Rarely has an interview drawn so much attention, both for right and wrong reasons, as that of Rahul Gandhi’s to Times Now. Almost the entire media—both print and visual—pounced on him, accusing him of being repetitive, ridiculous, there is much to criticize, superficial, a coup by Times Now, uttered the world “system” six times. He uttered the word in such dire tone, you felt a monster is waiting for the interview to end before it systematically gobbled us all in its “predatory” way. However, empowerment of women, youngsters, RTI, deepening democracy are real issues for Rahul.

New Delhi: Indian Coast Guard is expected to add another 20 vessels in the current year to guard 7500 km long country's coastline.