Bihar assembly Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, against whom the newly formed National Democratic Alliance government has moved a no-confidence motion, on Wednesday dug in his heels.
The productivity of the Budget session was abysmal. The Lok Sabha functioned for 33% of its scheduled time (46 hours); the Rajya Sabha 24% (32 hours).
Ironically, rival Tamil Nadu governments expend the most on social welfare schemes, especially targeting women and youth and children, but that money comes only by selling more liquor. There is always the specious plea, which has been peddled very many times in the past, that without licensed liquor, drinkers would go after hooch and there could be more hooch tragedies and hooch deaths. No one is convinced, but no one can dispute it either, comments N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pralhad Joshi on Friday said the government was not keen to suspend MPs from Lok Sabha, but opposition members came with requests for suspension after action was taken against some of their colleagues.
Apparently aimed at keeping the flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, all ruling Congress MLAs in Karnataka will stay put together at a hotel in Bengaluru on Monday after the budget session of the state legislature concludes and will later also travel together for voting the next day.
With clouds of storm hovering over Parliament's budget session, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday sought the "cooperation" of all MPs in the smooth conduct of legislative business but gave no indication of plans to bring changes in the controversial land acquisition ordinance.
The incident took place at Kurumahat in Hansdiha police station area, around 300 km from the state capital Ranchi, on Friday night when a tourist couple from Spain was spending the night at a makeshift tent.
AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi made the allegations against the agency at a press conference and called the entire probe a "scam" in itself.
Asked if he is joining the BJP, Nath said, "If there would be any such thing, I would inform you first."
Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday sought an apology from the Congress for the controversial statement by party MP that suggested a call for a separate south nation over fiscal injustice, but the opposition party's president said it stands for a united nation and will not tolerate any such call.
Addressing a joint press conference of opposition leaders at the Constitution Club after a 'Tiranga March' from Parliament House to Vijay Chowk, he said the government's intention was to get the Budget Session washed out.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday revoked the disqualification of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Afzal Ansari as a member of the Lower House after the Supreme Court conditionally suspended his conviction in a Gangsters Act case.
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.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, was passed unanimously as besides the BJP MLAs, members of the Opposition Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party extended their support to it.
The assembly also witnessed a brief adjournment after the ruling alliance members pointed to remarks of Jarange and alleged there was a conspiracy to create unrest in the state.
Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar sought views of leaders of various political parties on ways to curb disruptions in the House at a meeting held on Sunday on the eve of the start of the second phase of the Budget session.
Emerging out of the ED grilling in Mumbai, Rohit Pawar denied any wrongdoing and asserted struggle was imminent in fight for ideology while declaring he wasn't scared.
President Murmu reached the new Parliament building in a six-horse buggy accompanied by the Presidential Bodyguards riding horses.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar's decision to allow Singh to speak on the Bharat Ratna honour to Charan Singh drew sharp protest from the Congress, leading to a heated exchange of words between the opposition and the treasury benches.
Except for Anant Patel, the rest 16 MLAs of Congress were present in the House on Monday.
Confident of securing a massive majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday outlined his vision for his next five-year term saying the Modi 3.0 government will put all its might to strengthen the foundation of 'Viksit Bharat' or a developed nation.
The Congress rebels are seeking to install a person of their choice as the new chief minister of the state.
They said the proposal to bring a motion was mooted at the meeting of party MPs this morning and Congress leaders are now talking to other party leaders over it.
Members of the Congress and AIUDF, protesting against a Cabinet decision to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, staged walkouts later.
The bench gave liberty to Sharad Pawar to move the poll panel for allocation of the party symbol and directed the poll panel to allot it in one week of the application.
The Question Hour in Lok Sabha has been disrupted every day since March 13.
The Supreme Court on Friday termed the deadlock between the Punjab government and its governor over assent to bills passed by the assembly a matter of "serious concern" and said it is not happy with what is happening in the state.
'The people of Tamil Nadu in particular Chennai know about the double standards of the BJP. Nothing will work for them here.'
When the Chair asked Chowdhury to raise a point of order, Goyal stood up and said that he would not allow the Congress leader to speak in protest against the disruption of the external affairs minister's statement earlier in the day on India's foreign engagements since the Budget session.
The government has exhausted only 39 per cent of its fiscal deficit target in the first half of FY24.
'We want to send a notice to the BJP that Rajputs are no longer their slaves.'
The Budget Session of Parliament commences on January 31 and the first leg will go on till February 13.
The Lower House of Parliament took up the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bills after two adjournments as the ruling and Opposition MPs engaged in a matching duet over demands for an apology by Rahul Gandhi and the Adani issue.
The Upper House was earlier adjourned twice in the afternoon session when it took up the discussion on the Budget after Prime Minister Narendra Modi finished his speech on the motion of thanks on the President's address and the motion was passed.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
The Delhi high court on Friday set aside the one-year suspension of BJP lawmaker Vijender Gupta from the Delhi legislative assembly and permitted him to attend the remaining budget session while directing him to maintain the dignity of the House.
Congress leader K C Venugopal on Friday gave Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar a breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on why former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's family did not use his surname.
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
Assuming we still have a Modi-led majority government after May 2024, there is no guarantee that reforms will move at anything more than a snail's pace, though we must be thankful even for that, notes R Jagannathan.
A 'White Paper' versus 'Black Paper' battle erupted on Thursday as the Centre and the Congress unveiled documents and crossed swords over the handling of the Indian economy during the nearly 10 years of the BJP-led NDA rule and the previous 10-year tenure of the Congress-led UPA government.
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