The electoral message for the Congress and the BJP in the recently concluded Assembly elections was rather sharp and blunt as regional parties threaten to overtake the two mainstream national parties. In spite of what the political spin doctors may say, weak ruling authority at the centre has always led to chaos in Indian history. Read more

National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently but he negotiates with Beijing in English. He is a pedigreed diplomat with roots in Kerala, but he is equally at ease with Punjabi aggressiveness in Delhi — including all the cuss words. Read more

A day before Prithviraj Chavan was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister, he was with Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, at his residence in Mumbai at 3 am waiting for word from party-designated central observers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony. Read more

On his return from the UN General Assembly session in New York on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh desperately tried to paper over cracks within his Cabinet over a controversial finance ministry note of March 25, 2011 which surfaced through an RTI application from his very own office. Read more

It is called the “us versus them” play and the game is unique to South Block on Raisina Hill. Read more

The deadly Delhi High Court blast on Wednesday morning is a clear indicator that indigenous terror groups, or so-called remnants of Indian Mujahideen, have re-grouped. Read more

Embedded in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s get-well-soon message to Anna Hazare, who is recuperating in a Gurgaon hospital, was a tacit admission by the UPA government that Gandhians should be won over with flowers, not force. Read more