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Seldom we find an important message of the Indian Prime Minister relegated to an inside page in a national newspaper, as it was on Monday (TOI, Capital Edition, June 09, 2014). That too when he was ideating at a social event on a prime intellectual strategy for the country: he mentioned skills development.

KOLKATA: The spectacular victory of the BJP and the dismal performance of the Congress in Assam, long held to be a Congress bastion, has brought about a qualitative change in the political situation in the State and given rise to fear and panic among the Bengali-speaking Muslims. The BJP bagged seven out of fourteen Lok Sabha seats, the Congress three and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) three. One seat went to an Independent.

It is all the number game that matters in Indian Parliament today. The BJP has won a majority of 282 seats on its own in the 543-elected member Lower House – the Lok Sabha. The pre-poll NDA alliance jigged up the number much higher to 336. This places the ruling coalition in a comfortable position in the Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: Coinciding with the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, representatives from 15 Chinese companies from Wenzhou of Zhejiang province visited Delhi on way to their investment destination of Gujarat to scout for fresh investment opportunities.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Old habits die hard. After a brief lull, group rivalry in the Congress in Kerala has flared up with renewed vigour.

Few may be knowing that the demand for the new state originated first among employees of Telengana because of the preponderance of Andhra employees. The fight for justice in employment finally took the shape in the demand for a separate state. They were in vanguard of the 1969 Telengana movement and now during the Telengana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) era. So, employees were emotionally more attached to the Telengana cause than AIS (all India service) officers.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi chooses his team of senior advisers and top bureaucrats who will faithfully further his agenda, some well-meaning commentators are urging him to follow proper appointment procedures, adopt the dharma of inclusion, “reach out” to the 69 percent of the electorate who didn’t vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party, and in particular assure Muslims that he means well and that they should feel secure under him despite the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.

After minimum government, maximum governance, Mr Narendra Modi’s new mantra for development is India can develop only if states develop. Mr Modi set this new tone of challenge of development after reiterating his wishes to work in close partnership with state government, when chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Orissa extended their support to him. Even before he became Prime Minister, in a TV interview, he decimated the much aired belief of adopting Gujarat model at the Centre. He said sarcastically to the interviewer that “you cannot grow date-palm in Chennai”

Going by the idiom, well begun is half done, the eventful first 10 days of the Narendra Modi government may seem to have augured well for BJP. The generous application of Modi ‘balm’ has brought a sudden life to the new national government under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. Last month, Indian electorates had democratically ousted the politically-paralysed, indecisive, governance deficient Manmohan Singh government. The Modi government started with a diplomatic coup of sort with top SAARC and other neighbouring leaders of the stature of Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif, Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai, Sri Lanka’s Mahindra Rajapaksa, Nepal’s Sushil Koirala, Bhutan’s Tshering Tobgay, Maldive’s Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayum, Bangladesh’s Shrin Chowdhury and Mauritius’ Navin Ramgoolam joining the prime minister’s swearing-in ceremony, followed by useful bi-lateral talks the next day.

Now that Telengana has become a reality and has become the 29th state of the Indian Union what next? No doubt the political parties which fought for separate Telengana are gloating over their success but the way ahead is not only full of challenges but also of opportunities. Rather than ruminating over the past, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana should work out their future as friendly neighboring states. The fact that both the chief ministers have won a handsome majority and lead stable governments is a good omen.