A day before the start of the Budget session of Parliament, as many as 18 opposition parties, led by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress, decided on Thursday to boycott the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws.
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
'Most leaders, from Lalu Yadav and Mamata to M K Stalin, respect and trust Sonia. She should continue unless she expressly declines.'
The Bill, which was already approved by the Rajya Sabha, defines child pornography, making it punishable.
The Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by veteran Congress leader Karan Singh, decided to give Mallya one week time to explain his conduct.
The Opposition said the judgement will strengthen the hands of a government.
Actor-turned-politician and sitting MP Locket Chatterjee has been fielded from Chunchura and another MP Nishit Parmanik from Dinhata. Also, a number of film personalities have been nominated as candidates in the high-stakes battle for West Bengal.
"We do not have tanks there, but we have people there going to farmers' houses and beating them up and threatening to kill them."
Expressing 'pain' over opposition parties boycotting the Constitution Day event organised by the Lok Sabha secretariat on Friday, speaker Om Birla said staying away from such non-partisan events held by Parliament is not good for the health of democracy.
Congress leaders told Rediff.com that if Sonia or Rahul Gandhi do not take up the leader of opposition's post in Lok Sabha, it would lead to factionalism and internal dissension, something that the party can ill-afford at this juncture. "Kamal Nath is undoubtedly a senior MP but his candidature is bound to be opposed by the MPs from southern states as they have won more seats," remarked a senior Congress functionary, adding that senior ministers like Veerappa Moily and Mallikarjun Kharge can be expected to push their candidature for this post. Anita Katyal reports.
Two crucial bills, forming part of NDA government's reforms agenda, got approval of Parliament within minutes today after a number of non-NDA parties backed the legislations in Rajya Sabha where the ruling coalition is short in numbers.
A delegation of Trinamool Congress leaders on Wednesday met Election Commission officials here and alleged that the use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photo on advertisements of various central schemes and the COVID vaccination certificates, distributed by the Union health ministry, violated the model code of conduct.
Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
The Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday targetted each other in Parliament, leading to clashes and walkouts. The TMC displayed in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha the copies of some red diary, allegedly recovered from Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, and claimed that it contained the name of a BJP leader.
As many as 51 MPs and MLAs have declared cases of crime against women.
A visibly perturbed Dhankhar termed O'Brien's behaviour "theatrics" that would not be tolerated.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, he said SBI has signed an MoU pledging one of the single largest loans to a corporate house despite five international banks refusing to lend to the Adani project.
Seeking truce with agitating Opposition members over controversial remarks made by Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the matter should be put to rest after her apology, but it failed to satisfy them.
Jaitley keen to uplift the insurance sector.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
The opposition made it clear during the meeting that it will press for a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Rafale jet deal and raise several issues, including the "misuse" of probe agencies and the autonomy for Reserve Bank of India.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who is also a spokesperson of West Bengal's ruling party, was asked to appear before a CBI team in the first week of August, officials said on Friday.
Video footage of BCCI secretary Jay Shah appearing to turn down an offer to wave the national flag after India beat Pakistan in a thrilling cricket match at the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday has sparked a controversy, with Opposition leaders taking a dig at him.
Parliament proceedings were washed out for the fifth straight day, as members from parties including the Telugu Desam Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, continued their protests on various issues.
'I think there must be some sort of a nexus between the rioters and a section of police officials which resulted in gruesome killings and arson'
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said they will pose three questions a day to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue.
While the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress alleged that the killings were a fallout of the TMC's infighting, the ruling party pointed fingers at the grand old party of India.
The Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by Congress veteran Karan Singh on Monday took cognizance of the issue of Vijay Mallya, who has allegedly defaulted on over Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) bank loans.
If the Opposition is bent upon shouting its own agenda on a deaf ruling dispensation, then it becomes binding upon the chair to ensure that the parliamentary affairs aren't reduced to a farce.
Congress preparing a dissent note on the issue
'Who knows, they might now want to rename the Eden Gardens and call it Modi Gardens!'
The report by Association for Democratic Reforms has the highest number of such politicians at 12.
Ending a weeklong logjam, Rajya Sabha on Monday resumed normal functioning during the Question Hour after government and opposition leaders agreed to a compromise formula to end protests over Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's controversial remarks.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has ordered magisterial enquiries into the demolition and also the death of a six month-old child.
For three days, no business has been transacted in the Rajya Sabha with the Opposition digging in its heels.
Dinesh Trivedi, Rajya Sabha MP and Trinamool Congress general secretary, speaks on party chief Mamata Banerjee's hunger strike to protest the West Bengal government's decision to acquire 1,000 acres of agricultural land in Singur.
Uddhav claimed that splits were engineered in many parties using central agencies and arrests were made illegally.
Government's reforms agenda in Parliament is in for trouble with its biggest ally Shiv Sena on Monday joining some Opposition parties in declaring resistance to a bill on raising FDI cap in insurance sector from 26 per cent 49 per cent.
With 200 MPs out of 785 above the age of 65, there is a serious shadow of COVID-19 looming over the monsoon session Of Parliament.
Jaitley, the first Union minister to meet Jaya since her conviction, manages to secure the AIADMK's conditional support to the government's crucial legislations in the Rajya Sabha.
