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Vajpayee Resigns After Poll Upset May 13, 2004 NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has resigned after a stunning election upset, ending his nearly six years in power and setting the stage for the return of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. The move follows a stronger than anticipated showing from the main Congress party headed by Italian born-Sonia Gandhi. Though the party won't be able to form a majority, the stage is now set for Gandhi to be the next leader of the world's biggest democracy. In brief comments to reporters on Thursday Gandhi declined to say...

  Jubilant Congress supporters take to the streets of Delhi India's main opposition Congress party has begun celebrating after gaining a lead in India's general election that has taken observers by surprise. Its alliance has won 48 of the 89 seats declared so far and is projected to beat the governing BJP-led alliance. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called the poll six months early in a move that appears to have backfired. Three weeks of polling ended on Monday, with 56% of the 675m people eligible to vote taking part. Counting of votes is taking place in 1,214 centres...

NEW DELHI, India -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party has conceded defeat in parliamentary elections in a stunning voting upset that should see the return of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to power. Vajpayee -- who called the election six months earlier -- is also expected to resign within hours, India's defense minister said.

US offered nukes to India: PM April 10, 2004 - 10:30AM India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that the United States offered to supply his country with nuclear bombs in an attempt to dissuade it from launching nuclear tests in 1998. Strobe Talbott, who was the US State Department's No 2 official at that time, said there was no basis for Vajpayee's statement. Vajpayee told an election rally in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of eastern Orissa state, that he rejected Washington's offer because India needed to demonstrate it was capable of building its own nuclear weapons. "When I told them...

Kashmiri separatists have paid a courtesy call on Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi, the first ever meeting between an Indian premier and separatists. Five moderate members of Kashmir's main separatist group the All Parties Hurriyat Conference went into the meeting at the prime minister's residence at around 6:10pm, reporters at the scene said. The meeting, which was not expected to be long, follow substantive talks on Thursday between the Hurriyat moderates and Mr Vajpayee's deputy, Lal Krishna Advani. Umar Farooq, one of the five separatist leaders, overnight told the Press Trust of India that the delegation...

INDIA'S Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will meet tomorrow on the sidelines of a regional summit, a Pakistani official announced. "The meeting will take place sometime tomorrow," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a press briefing late today, after Vajpayee issued a request to meet the Pakistani President. Vajpayee earlier held ice-breaking talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali after the opening of the 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Vajpayee and Musharraf have not spoken formally since July 2001 when they attended a bilateral summit in the Indian city...

Indian policymakers have no love for him but cannot see who else could lead rival Pakistan NEW DELHI - The latest attempt on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's life has reinforced feelings in India that Islamabad without the general would throw a question mark over the region's future. General Musharraf escaped unhurt on Thursday when suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives rammed the Pakistani leader's motorcade at a petrol station 2km from his residence in Rawalpindi. Indian analysts said yesterday that while Indian policymakers still have little love for Pakistan's President, they are unsure about who else could lead Pakistan....

NEW YORK: Notwithstanding its self-professed role as a frontline state in the war on terrorism, Pakistan finds itself cornered on the issue. The US, India and Afghanistan have come together to warn Pakistan's military government not to mess around in its neighbourhood. US President George Bush bluntly told Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday to "stop cross-border terrorism in Kashmir" and "infiltration" into Afghanistan. Despite effusive public praise for Pakistan for its role in the war on terrorism, Bush appears to have got tough with Musharraf during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN session in the face...

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's meeting with US President George W Bush has been deferred by a day to September 24, according to Indian officials in New York. However, no reason has been given as yet for the postponement. Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf is also scheduled to meet Bush on September 24. The same day, Musharraf will address the UN General Assembly. Vajpayee will address the world body on September 25. Foreign office spokesperson has said that the Indian delegation at the United Nations would focus on tackling terrorism. They would also raise the issue during meetings on the...

Delhi Statement on Friendship and Cooperation between India and Israel September 10, 2003 Joint statement issued on conclusion of visit to India by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 1. At the invitation of the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, paid a State visit to India from September 8-10 2003, the first-ever by an Israeli Prime Minister. 2. Prime Minister Sharon was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Yosef Lapid, Minister of Culture, Education and Sport, Limor Livnat (-together with a cultural delegation) and Minister of Agriculture, Israel Katz. The...

US clears Israel-India radar deal   The radar will be mounted on Russian aircraft The United States has given the formal go-ahead for Israel to sell its Phalcon early warning airborne radar system to India.State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Washington had informed both governments that it had no objection to the $1bn sale. He said the improving security situation between India and Pakistan made the sale of the radar less likely to destabilise the region. The deal had been held up for 18 months because of fears it could heighten tension between Delhi and Islamabad. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry...

Sunday September 7, 12:21 PM In India, Israeli PM to find small but resilient Jewish community A stone's throw from the hotel where Ariel Sharon will stay on the first visit by an Israeli premier to India, a minuscule but ancient part of the Jewish diaspora perseveres after decades of emigration. Behind a simple padlocked fence on one of central New Delhi's broad avenues lies the Judah Hyam Hall, northern India's only functioning synagogue, offering a spot to worship and to socialize for both the 50 Indian Jews in the city of 14 million and Jewish expatriates. Fifteen people turned...

Sep. 6, 2003 Editorial: Seek India's support Several months ago, while visiting Washington, Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra addressed members of the American Jewish Committee and recommended that free societies join hands to combat terrorism. He noted that India, America, and Israel are all targeted by the terrorist scourge, and ought to develop "multilateral mechanisms to counter it... Such an alliance would have the political will and moral authority to take bold decisions in extreme cases of terrorist provocation... It would not get bogged down in definitional and causal arguments about terrorism. Blocking financial supplies, disrupting networks, sharing intelligence,...

LAUSANNE: US President George W Bush has not sipped liquor for the past 16 years. This interesting nugget was disclosed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at a press conference here Monday. "How many of us know that Bush does not drink liquor?" he asked in a lighter vein, relating anecdotes about his three-nation European tour during which he interacted with several world leaders. Vajpayee said when the toast was raised at a dinner table Saturday night in the Russian city of St Petersburg, he was surprised to see that the US president's glass was filled with water. "Don't you...

The United States views Monday night's telephonic talk between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan as a "positive development" and one that could pave the way for greater engagement between the two countries. "We welcome the news. We hope this will lead to lessening of tensions and further discussions between the two countries," a State Department official said in a brief response to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's conversation with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Though the official declined to elaborate, the feeling in Washington is that Vajpayee's recent offer of friendship and Jamali's response now signify a...

<p>Whereas Vajpayee was the human face of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which has led a coalition government for four years, Advani is more in tune with the party's base of radical nationalists who seek to undermine the secular India of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. In addition, Advani's policy towards Pakistan is larded with nuclear threats and bellicosity.</p>

<p>ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) -- Pakistan's president traded angry accusations with his Indian counterpart Tuesday and then said having atomic weapons implies they might be used -- stoking fears the conflict over Kashmir will explode into full-scale war.</p> <p>Efforts by Russia, China and other nations failed to get Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to hold face-to-face talks Tuesday.</p>

India fears Mush may pull off media coup RAJESH RAMACHANDRAN TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ MONDAY, JUNE 03, 2002  8:04:11 PM ] ALMATY: A war of nerves is on at the Kazakhstan Asian leaders summit where Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are attending the CICA conference. It is not cross-border terrorism that is troubling the Indian side most now, but the fear that Pakistan's President might stage another media coup. With his Agra performance fresh in their mind, Indian media managers are in reactive mode, waiting for Musharraf's first move. On Monday evening, the Indian Ambassador held a reception for...

India and Pakistan toned down the rhetoric yesterday in the bitter Kashmir dispute that has fuelled international fears of the world's first nuclear war.But the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, continued to reject proposals for a direct meeting with the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, to defuse the crisis, despite the presence of both leaders at a regional summit in central Asia.Mr Vajpayee ruled out face- to-face talks with General Musharraf until India obtained proof that Pakistan had stopped incursions into the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir.The two leaders have been under international pressure to back away...

India:Border With Pakistan Stable Fri May 31, 4:55 PM ET By BETH DUFF-BROWN, Associated Press Writer NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India's defense minister insisted Friday the border with Pakistan was stable, even as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz warned that a war between the South Asian rivals would be "somewhere between terrible and catastrophic." Diplomatic pressure grew to avert another war between the nuclear-armed rivals, and the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Australia urged their citizens to consider leaving India. Indian officials played down fears of a conflict over disputed Kashmir (news - web sites), even as...