A young entrepreneur Ritu Mathur is now open to politics, something she shunned till the other day. The HT UP First conclave, a first of its kind initiative that brought leaders like arch rivals Rajnath Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav on one platform, motivated her enough to contemplate serving the nation. Read more

A colleague of mine told me the other day how Akbar Ahmad Dumpy had entertained him while he accompanied him on his rathyatra in Azamgarh during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Read more

As I watched the swearing-in ceremony of new Uttarakhand chief minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri, I couldn’t take my eyes off the person who had literally been discredited in the public eye, not by any opposition party but his own the Bhartiya Janata Party. Read more

Once former national president of the Bhartiya Janata Party Rajnath Singh had shared his concern with me in a private conversation. “We are losing credibility in the public eye. All political parties should initiate some steps to improve the credibility quotient.”

Today as public blindly rally behind Anna, his words ring true. Read more

Here comes some good news. The BJP is now planning to embrace the Bihar model for UP polls to counter BSP chief Mayawati’s caste card with its slogan of ’state pride and development,’ something on the lines of Nitish Kumar’s ‘aam janata’ slogan that had cut into Lalu Prasad’s caste base in the neighboring state in the recent assembly elections. Read more

I have had a few opportunities to meet Congress veteran Digvijay Singh. Every time he came out as an astute politician, a thinker and a man of few words. Read more