With reports suggesting a rift between the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday dubbed the United Progressive Alliance as a "sinking ship" which is being deserted by its allies.
It also provides that no preliminary enquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an arrest under this law would not be subject to any approval.
Stringent punishment for rape of a girl under 12 years has been provided with the minimum jail term being 20 years which may go up to life in prison or death sentence. Gangrape of a girl under 12 years of age will invite punishment of jail term for the rest of life or death.
With many of its plans to break the impasse over the Telangana issue coming unstuck, the Congress is now reportedly toying with the idea of moving a resolution on the statehood demand in the next session of Andhra Pradesh assembly.
'I don't think there will be many problems after the assembly election results.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party appeared to cede ground in Uttar Pradesh where Samajwadi Party was leading on six of the 11 Assembly seats where bypolls were held while it was neck and neck with Congress in Gujarat and behind in Rajasthan, exactly four months after it swept the three states in Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi, on the other hand, has also reached out directly to the party workers in the three states to know their top choice for the chief minister post through an internal mobile messaging app, party leaders said.
At a rally on the occasion of the BJP's 38th Foundation Day, the BJP president expressed confidence that his party would win the 2019 polls, "not by giving hollow assurances but on the basis of work done by the Modi government".
The Modi juggernaut is all set to paint the five south Indian states in saffron colours, writes R Rajagopalan.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is ready for a discussion on the issue of alleged financial irregularities in the banking sector and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will reply to the debate.
Speaker refuses to adjourn Lok Sabha despite the ruckus, in the Rajya Sabha it was the same old story.
Accusing the Congress party of "failing to keep national interests over its political agenda", Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said the chief opposition party stood "isolated" in disrupting the Parliament at a time when MPs of other parties condemned the Gurdaspur terror attack and stood in solidarity.
As nominations for Rajya Sabha biennial polls closed on Tuesday, a contest is on the cards in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana even as Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram are among those set to be elected to the Upper House.
There is discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party and Telugu Desam Party cadre, and the decision to turn allies could lead to some members turning rebels, says Vicky Nanjappa
The 71-year-old filed his nomination in front of NDA ministers and CMs.
The demand was raised during a debate on the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill 2017 in the Upper House, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 2 superseding the amendments earlier carried out by the Rajya Sabha.
Combative Congress members, upset over the National Herald case, on Tuesday paralysed Parliament protesting against alleged "vendetta politics" leading to repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha.
The first day of the monsoon session of Parliament was marred by uproarious scenes over the decision to form Telangana even as the government said substantive and procedural issues related to the new state would be dealt with in a Cabinet note being prepared.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh and several Congress leaders are against the formation of a separate state but are supporting the decision in the hope that it would win the party seats in the region. Renu Mittal reports
'Freebies are yet be proven a 'pucca' vote-catcher. But don't say that to KCR because he takes pride in two things: His record of delivery and imagination,' says Shekhar Gupta.
At places in the border districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, people walked miles through the desert to cast their votes.
Hijacking of an aircraft will now entail capital punishment in the event of death of "any person" as Parliament on Monday passed a bill to provide widen the ambit of the law in dealing with this crime.
Noisy protests disrupted the both houses of the Parliament on the first day of the second part of the budget session
Given Modi's penchant for springing a surprise, the BJP nominee for next President could be anyone. The only thing certain is that it will be an RSS person, reports R Rajagopalan.
This after high drama in the House over what opposition charged was "intimidation" by the treasury benches to get the motion for sending the amendment to the RTI Act to the select committee rejected.
Opposition parties now recognise that the king on one side of the chessboard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is ensconced, and unlikely to be shaken, although on his side there are no identifiable kings, queens, rooks, bishops or knights.
The Trinamool Congress sought complete withdrawal of the NRC, alleging that Indian citizens have also been left out of the final draft.
It's been 13 days that the Winter Session commenced, but no work has taken place as MPs continue to spar over the note ban.
Opposition members kept on shouting 'Pradhan Mantri sadan me aao'.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi would seek to befriend Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government to forge a good and healthy relationship, and would not be confrontationist with the successor state of Andhra Pradesh but would fight tooth and nail for the rights of Telangana, a key party figure said on Monday.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party snatch two Lok Sbaha seats from the saffron party in bypolls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the passage of bills as a "momentous occasion" in parliamentary democracy and said a new dawn awaits the people there as they are now free from the "shackles" of vested interest groups.
Vociferous protests by Opposition members led by the Congress continued in the Lok Sabha.
The bill seeks to ensure health-care, treatment and rehabilitation of persons with mental illness "in a manner that does not intrude on their rights and dignity."
Setting the stage for confrontation in Parliament, an all-party meeting called in New Delhi on the eve of the monsoon session on Monday ended in a deadlock over controversies related to the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to discuss all issues. The government ruled out any resignations.
Having ensured the passage of the Telangana Bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's main concern now is to see there is no tension in the state and that the decision is accepted amicably by the people of Seema-Andhra following reports of simmering anger in this region over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
K Chandrasekhara Rao is using politics to highlight an administrative and judicial issue, says B Dasarath Reddy.
One can expect that the formation of Telangana will have more positives than negatives. The 'Telangana effect' has already prompted demands for a separate Vidarbha and break up of Uttar Pradesh. This needs to be considered seriously as this can only lead to deepening governance, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
It will now take at least two more years to get a clarity on the priorities and policies of the leadership of the new state of Telangana.
Rajya Sabha also rejected an opposition sponsored motions to send the bill to a select committee of the House and for making triple talaq a civil offence with 100 votes against it as compared to 84 in favour.
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