Sources said the report of the law panel on simultaneous polls is not yet finalised. They said "some more things are required to be done", indicating that the law panel will be invited again by the high-level committee.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured her counterpart from Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, that her party would support him in his fight against the central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured at the all-party meeting that the government is ready to discuss all issues.
West Bengal, which is governed by the Trinamool Congress, became the second state after Congress-ruled Punjab, where such a resolution has been tabled and passed.
Sharma had on Monday slammed Congress' association with the ISF led by Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui in West Bengal, contending that it was against the "Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism" and the party cannot be selective in fighting "communalists".
Upholding principles was a luxury when there were charismatic leaders capable of winning elections without stooping low to indulge in identity politics, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Addressing a public rally in Sabroom in poll-bound Tripura, Shah said that the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist had put the Ram Mandir issue in the jurisdiction of the court for long, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for it after the Supreme Court's order.
Opposition members hit out at the government for the introduction of the bill in a 'hurry' and 'without any consultation with stakeholders'.
A bill to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem to weed out duplication was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra was expelled on Friday from the Lok Sabha after the House adopted the report of its Ethics Committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest.
Hazarika and Deshmukh were given the Bharat Ratna posthumously.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the opposition on Monday to allow a debate on the Manipur issue to begin in Parliament but the deadlock persisted in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as both sides refused to budge from their stand, with Congress and its allies insisting on a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi first.
Bengali sub-nationalism is slowly emerging as a rallying cry ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections due next year.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
Sources said former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for early passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha during the upcoming session as the same has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
The combined vote share of the Left Front was also reduced to nearly 24 per cent from 41 per cent in 2011.
A day after the Congress said the 'doors are open' for Pilot and gave him a second chance, the party virtually closed them for him on Tuesday, sacking him as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state party chief, three days after he mounted a rebellion against his state chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
At least 22 people, most of them pilgrims, were crushed to death under the wheels of Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express at Bhamara Railway Station in Bihar on Monday morning.
Belligerent Congress members trooped into the Well during the Question Hour and raised slogans, even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan went ahead with the proceedings.
Both Houses of Parliament witnessed multiple adjournments on Monday as opposition MPs continued their protest over the Pegasus snooping row and other matters. Amid ruckus by the Opposition, the Rajya Sabha passed the Inland Vessels Bill-2021 while the Lok Sabha passed the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill with voice-vote.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Opposition parties on Tuesday asked the government to call an all-party meeting to resolve the current impasse in Parliament, while sticking to their demands for a discussion on Pegasus snooping issue and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
Fearing political gain for the Congress from the padayatra, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is making 'frustrated attempts' to scuttle it, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday, as their march demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entered its third day.
'Political convenience' and 'personal ambition' played a major part in Scindia's decision to the Congress, said a party leader.
With the all-party meetings called by Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla producing no breakthrough to end the deadlock in Parliament, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi accused opposition parties of repeatedly 'insulting' Dhankhar.
The apex court, which dismissed the pleas filed by the West Bengal government and the State Election Commission (SEC) challenging the high court order, said the tenor of the high court order was ultimately to ensure free and fair election in the state.
'The consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has demoralised them.' 'And, now it is reflecting in their individual reactions as they are losing hope to take on the BJP in 2024.'
'It would indeed be difficult for someone from outside the Gandhi family to run the party'
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
Lending his support to the ongoing farmers protests, he said in Lok Sabha that it was not an agitation of the farmers only but a movement of the country and the government will have to repeal the laws.
When the House was taking up private members' business, Chowdhury urged Rajendra Agrawal, who was presiding over the proceedings, to allow Gandhi to attend the House.
The government on Thursday tabled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 in the Lok Sabha with an aim to protect the privacy of Indian citizens, while proposing a penalty of up to Rs 250 crore on entities for misusing or failing to protect digital data of individuals.
The ruckus began during the procedure for the introduction of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020.
Congress leaders and workers continued their protests in several states on Thursday against Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money-laundering case with many of them taken into preventive custody including former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury in Hyderabad after she allegedly grabbed the collar of a police official.
Addressing a press conference, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the party's chief whip in the Upper House Jairam Ramesh alleged that the government is throttling the voice of the Opposition leaders to prevent them from raising issues of public importance.
The Opposition alleged that without any provocation from the Opposition, "outsiders who were not part of Parliament security were brought in to manhandle the Opposition leaders and members, including women Parliamentarians who were only protesting against the Government's conduct, highhandedness and muzzling of the voice".
Hooda and Azad were reported to have discussed concrete proposals to strengthen the Congress and ensure collective leadership and decision making as demanded by the grouping which met on Wednesday and signed a joint statement.
The Congress will hold a chintan shivir immediately after the Budget session of Parliament and the CWC will meet again before that, he told reporters
The move came a day after Parliament approved two agriculture sector-reform bills which have been bitterly opposed by the opposition parties like Congress and TMC.
