Rajiv Pratap Rudy secured another term as Secretary (Administration) of the Constitution Club of India, defeating Sanjeev Balyan in a closely watched election that saw participation from prominent political figures.
On joining the party, the former SP leader belittled actor-politician Jaya Bachchan as someone "who used to dance in films".
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal on Monday courted controversy when he sought to reject claims of an alleged rape victim that she was abducted, saying even a calf could not be forcibly taken.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Samajwadi Party rebel candidate Nitin Agarwal was elected deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Monday, defeating Narendra Verma, the official candidate of Akhilesh Yadav's party, by 244 votes.
In a major jolt to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, its national general secretary Naresh Agarwal and two sitting legislators from Hardoi joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday. "I am resigning from the Rajya Sabha and the post of BSP national general secretary," Agarwal said while addressing a gathering at a function at the SP headquarters in Lucknow. Besides Naresh, his son Nitin Agarwal and Rajeshwari -- both BSP MLAs from Hardoi -- also joined the SP.
Gandhi's name was the only name discussed when 18 opposition parties met to decide on their candidate for the vice presidential poll, the sources said.
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.
Agarwal handed over his resignation from the state Assembly to UP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar on Saturday morning. The resignation of Agarwal, who was also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has been accepted, the Speaker told UNI in Lucknow.
Naresh Agarwal, who defected from Samajwadi Party, on Wednesday joined the BSP which declared him as its candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from Farrukhabad seat, a day after another SP leader Dhaniram Verma was inducted into Mayawati-led party. Agarwal, who was transport minister in the erstwhile Mulayam Singh Yadav government, was inducted into the party by chief minister Mayawati.
Accompanied by party leaders Dimple Yadav, wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rajendra Chowdhury and Kironmay Nanda, besides businessman Subrata Roy Sahara, Jaya Bachchan, who turns 70 next month, filed her nomination at the Central Hall of the state assembly.
Sushma said the issue is due to the "tri-junction point that is between India, China and Bhutan" and that if Beijing unilaterally tries to change the status quo at the tri-junction, then it will pose a threat to New Delhi's security.
The saffron party is assured of victory in eight of the ten seats in UP going by its dominant numbers in the state assembly.
While Agarwal said the government was trying to change character of the country, his other party colleagues said the names of persons 'who have made no contribution to the freedom struggle' are being given.
The Congress continued to stall the Parliament over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Pakistan remarks' against former premier Manmohan Singh.
Oppn also objected to the 'illegal disqualification" of rebel JD-U leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari.
Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha's tenures in the Rajya Sabha end this month.
Congress Vice President has been receiving flak for skipping Prime Minister Manmohan Simgh's farewell dinner hosted by his mother Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
While the BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the Upper House, its ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which has four MLAs in the 403-member UP assembly, holds key to the fate its ninth nominee.
The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday witnessed a spat between Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and Samajwadi Party member Naresh Agarwal at the fag end of an impromptu debate on illing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistan troops.
Rajya Sabha failed to transact any business for the second straight day on Tuesday as opposition members persisted with their demand for a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of conversions and created ruckus on government's move to hold events in schools on Christmas holiday.
The case related to two Sahara Group firms --Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd and Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd -- raising more than Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion) from an estimated 3 crore (30 million) investors through issuance of certain bonds between 2008-2009.
Since the trouble in Uttar Pradesh's ruling party became public, Akhilesh has been insisting on sidelining or expulsion of Singh.
With the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh saying there should be no reservation in jobs and education for the affluent, the government on Monday said there is no rethink on the present social and caste based reservation policy and it will continue.
Hardening its stand against senior Uttar Pradesh Minister Mohammad Azam Khan who skipped the party national executive meeting, Samajwadi Party on Thursday said either he should have attended the meet or resigned.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi could only manage 244 votes.
In an apparent reference to Ramgopal, Mulayam Singh said "one person has influenced his son" which has led to "problems in the party".
Azad said electoral laws make it clear that the ruling party should have no advantage during elections and both the Opposition and the ruling side should be on an equal footing.
Reservation was voiced in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday over the decision to shuffle the timing of Question Hour and Zero Hour from Parliament's next session with Samajwadi Party seeking its reconsideration.
The Opposition on Monday stepped up attack on the government over the UPSC exam row, serving a privilege notice in the Rajya Sabha and forcing adjournment of the House demanding a definite time-frame to resolve the issue.
Opposition charged the government with making Parliamentary Standing Committees irrelevant.
SP has fielded Shivpal from Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah district.
Opposition parties in Parliament on Monday vociferously protested the "snooping" on Rahul Gandhi, with the government dismissing their contention saying they were making a "mountain out of what is not even a molehill", leading the Congress to walk out of Rajya Sabha.
The Delhi Police has rejected the allegation of snooping on Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and said that the visit by policemen to his office was a routine practise of being in touch with the dignitaries.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who lost out to Bachchan in the race for re-nomination to the upper house and on Monday quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP, had said at a press conference that the SP denied him the RS ticket and gave it to somebody who used to dance and act in films.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed uproar over the steep Rs 2.35 a litre hike in petrol price and 50 paisa a litre increase in cost of diesel.
The latest incident took place on Saturday night near a hostel where she resides.
Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Left MPs stormed into the Well of the House, saying the people were being cheated.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh puts it succinctly: "Arun Jaitley was every non-BJP person's favourite BJP-ite."
Congress slammed former Comptroller Auditor General Vinod Rai for his claim that he was pressurised to drop names of those involved in scams during the United Progressive Alliance regime, saying "sensationalizing" things has been his staple.
A day after Sonia Gandhi's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking the Centre to ensure that suspended Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagpal is not "unfairly treated", the Samajwadi Party flexed its muscle over the Food Security Bill.
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