Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Former Chief Minister Biplab Deb, whose sudden resignation on Saturday evening got Saha the top job, was present at the ceremony along with BJP MLAs and state ministers.
The BJP on Sunday authorised its president J P Nadda and Union minister Rajnath Singh to hold consultations with different political parties, including those in the opposition, on the president's election, in what is being seen as an outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post.
PMO officials said while they had got a request from Trinamool Congress MPs for a meeting with the PM, no letter recommending Trivedi's replacement had been received till late Wednesday night.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid has favoured reaching out to the Opposition and the ruling coalition's allies on Lokpal and other issues and dismissed suggestions that Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee was a 'difficult customer'.
The meeting of the Congress Core Group was held at a time when government is scrambling for numbers to pass the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha with Trinamool Congress insisting that it will move amendments to delete the provision for setting up Lokayuktas at the state level.
Apparently, Mithunda has shared with BJP leaders that becoming West Bengal's chief minister is his only motive for the political jump from the Trinamool Congress, which sent him to the Rajya Sabha, to the BJP.
'My role will be to take her message across the country.'
The Trinamool Congress on Monday hinted that the winter session of Parliament is set to be a stormy one, as opposition parties would do all that it takes 'to stop India from turning into an elected autocracy'.
The government may drop the clause on setting up of a Lokayukta in states in the Lokpal Bill to bring some opposition parties as also allies like Trinamool Congress on board.
The Goods and Services Tax Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May.
In an unprecedented act, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien on Friday gave a 10-minute speech, not in the House but from a corridor of the Parliament building, in protest against, what he called, the government's reluctance to discuss the Delhi violence. Before beginning his speech, O'Brien, who is leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, said that opposition parties have given notices five days in a row to discuss the issue, but these have not been accepted.
"I have already said whatever I have had to say. Now the government has to decide. Mukul Roy will be our candidate for the Railway minister," Mamata said during the filing of nominations for Rajya Sabha elections by Roy, the Union minister of state for Shipping, and three others.
The bill is unlikely to have a smooth passage in the committee with the Congress party making it clear that "there is no compromise on the land bill."
Opposition parties on Thursday agreed to jointly raise the issue of allegations of fraud against the Adani Group in Parliament but were yet to agree on the mode of inquiry into the Gujarat-based corporate major.
In the absence of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Rajya Sabha, a Bahujan Samaj Party member described her junior E Ahammed as a "duplicate minister" on Friday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered cases against six sitting and former members of Rajya Sabha in connection with the LTC scam in which travel reimbursement was allegedly claimed by them through purportedly forged bills.
The opposition Congress raised in the Rajya Sabha increased instances of hate speeches against minorities in the country, including controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand's call to Hindus to take up arms.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday termed the cancellation of over 25,000 school jobs as 'gross injustice' and alleged that it was a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to stop these job losers from being deployed in poll duty.
The Congress party, which seems to be short of the numbers to shepherd the Lokpal bill though the Rajya Sabha, is trying desperately to avoid voting on the bill in the upper house as the debate over the bill winds down in Parliament on Wednesday evening.
TMC and other opposition party members rushed into the well of the House as Vaishnaw was called to make a statement over the issue.
The opposition has decided to continue with their winning streak and further embarrass the government.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
CBI sources said Bose was interrogated for more than three hours.
Though embattled Biren Singh has survived the crisis, media reports suggest that restructuring of the cabinet will not be an easy task for him.
The opposition parties were demanding a division of votes as they had moved a motion to send the Bill to a select committee, which was rejected by voice vote.
The main Opposition party is likely to lose some more of its strength in 2016-17
The Congress was in a tizzy trying to clean up its own mess in West Bengal, worried that it will have to get its own candidate defeated in West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha elections, or else face Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee rocking the United Progressive Alliance government's boat.
Alleging that a Union minister was openly supporting Maoists, the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday joined hands in the Rajya Sabha to slam Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for her controversial remarks on the killing of Maoist leader Azad
The Bharatiya Janata Party also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to take cognisance of the emerging evidence concerning Subba and his Nepal citizenship and refer the issue to Ethics or Privileges Committee of the House.
The opposition on Tuesday termed as an 'election jumla' the women's reservation bill brought by the government with many leaders raising questions over the proposed legislation, contending it doesn't account for reservation for OBC communities and that it will be effective at the earliest by the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
In Tripura, the challenge for the chief minister is less from the alliance partners and more from his own party, the BJP.
Despite being cleared in the lower house, the GST bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha for clearance, where the Congress enjoys numerical strength, reports Kavita Chowdhury.
"No lndian Prime Minister has so brazenly indulged in an unethical and undemocratic act and violated the Model Code of Conduct by indirectly campaigning for his party from foreign soil," he said.
Given the Opposition majority in the Rajya Sabha, the LARR Bill passed by the Upper House may be a deeply diluted version of the government's own 2015 Bill
The Trinamool Congress on Saturday launched its slogan for the upcoming assembly elections -- 'Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaye', adding to the shrill insider vs outsider debate while portraying Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the daughter of Bengal.
The BJP has the maximum number of such politicians.
'I could have joined the BJP in 2014, the doors were open.' 'I stayed on with the TMC, a party I was involved with since its very inception.' 'But today enough is enough.'
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told the Lok Sabha that the issue of perks and pensions to MPs are given as per provision of the law and it is in the exclusive domain of Parliament.
