Following a defeat in the Bihar elections, opposition parties in India are calling for introspection and course correction, with some criticizing the concentration of power within their ranks.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has launched a 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar to advocate for fair elections and protect voting rights, alleging irregularities in electoral rolls and accusing the BJP of attempting to disenfranchise voters.
The Congress was the only party in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to demand a discussion on setting up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe allegations against the Adani group. Other opposition parties gave similar notices on different issues, including violence in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal. The Congress members sought a JPC to investigate the alleged misconduct, including corruption, bribery and financial irregularities of the Adani Group in connivance with other authorities. However, other opposition parties raised different issues, with the AAP seeking a discussion on "increasing crimes in Delhi" and the TMC, DMK, AAP and CPI seeking a discussion on violence in Manipur. The CPI-M, SP and IUML sought a discussion on the recent violence in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh.
Parliamentary proceedings were disrupted for the third consecutive day in the Winter Session as opposition parties continued their protests over the Adani issue and violence in Manipur and Sambhal. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned within minutes of convening, despite appeals from the Chair to engage in productive dialogue and refrain from disruption. The opposition members raised slogans demanding action against the perpetrators of violence in Sambhal, and sought discussions on allegations of irregularities against the Adani Group and the violence in Manipur.
The Yatra comes a day after the Congress was left high and dry with former ally Nitish Kumar, the Bihar chief minister, making a return to the BJP-led NDA.
Eighteen more people lost their lives after allegedly consuming illicit liquor in dry Bihar's Siwan and Saran districts, taking the toll in the tragedy to 24, officials said on Thursday.
The personnel who lost their lives were from the CRPF 128 Battalion deployed at the Naransena area in Bishnupur district in the state.
The 77-year-old former Congress president is set to enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan.
Asked how many seats the Congress would fight on, Singh said they would be flexible in seat sharing.
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
The Mahagathbandhan's seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was an experienced leader and it would be great if a proposal came to make him the convenor of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
The Congress also asserted that the opposition INDIA bloc had been formed for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at the national level and was not state specific.
'It was the Congress which nurtured democracy, making it possible for Narendra Modi to become the Prime Minister despite his humble origins'
A meeting of Opposition parties, organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be held in Patna on June 23, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
Top leaders of Opposition parties will brainstorm at a meeting in Patna on Friday to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with sources saying that they would look to avoid the prickly leadership question and emphasise on common ground.
Among the suspended members, six are from the Congress, two each from the TMC and Shiv Sena and one each from the CPM and the CPI.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.
Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda are the members of the pro-reform G23 group who wrote a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
Several opposition MPs have petitioned President Droupadi Murmu for immediate action over social media trolling of Chief Justice of India Justice D Y Chandrachud while he was deliberating on a case related to the Governor's role in Maharashtra during the last government formation.
The Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge, Tewari said.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also decided to convene a 'Chintan Shivir', a brainstorming session from May 13-15 in Udaipur.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
The joint Opposition including the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool Congress, the Left, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Aam Aadmi Party did not join the Question Hour of the session when the House reassembled after its first adjournment till noon.
The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders -- Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma -- joined them.
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday for the remaining part of the Winter session after he threw a Rajya Sabha rule book at the Chair.
After some recent events that turned against the party, including the Congress' G-23 Group asking for a revamp in the party, Congress leader and MP Manish Tiwari has been included in the star campaigners list of Congress for Assam and West Bengal Assembly polls.
To maintain dignity of the House, government was forced to place this proposal of suspension, minister Pralhad Joshi said
Sinha is a two-term BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib Singh but has been dropped by the saffron party which has chosen to field union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the seat.
Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal parliamentarian Akhilesh Prasad Singh allegedly beat up the station manager of Kingfisher Airlines at Patna Airport on Monday after he was not allowed to board Patna-Kolkata flight as he reported late at the airport.
The notices were issued to ten RJD leaders including Union minister Akhilesh Prasad Singh and MP Sadhu Yadav for arranging a dance by bar girls and playing loud music beyond the permitted time.
The food and public distribution minister also said that the government did not agree with the Abhijit Sen Committee's recommendation that the universal Public Distribution System be re-introduced.
Releasing the manifesto titled 'Badlav Ka Sankalp' (commitment to change) in the presence of All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and other Mahagathbandhan leaders, Tejashwi Yadav said their government, if elected, would first approve the process for appointments on about 10 lakh jobs in the government.
It was only after initial tough posturing, that the two brothers of Rabri Devi promised to vacate the premises.
Several people clicked snapshots of the leader having his meal from a distance that the SPG -- which looks after Gandhi's security -- permitted.
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