The Opposition hit out at the government over the absence of Rajya Sabha Chairman, Lok Sabha Speaker and ministers from the traditional event marking the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn Parliament's Central Hall.
The Union home minister said he firmly believed that Article 370 that gave the special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be removed as it was not beneficial to the country.
Party's general secretary Ram Madhav, whose name was doing rounds as a contender, is not among the six candidates with sources saying he is likely to get a bigger responsibility in the organisation following a rejig expected soon.
While Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is considering staying away from mainstream politics for a few months after resigning, Seema-Andhra MPs are gearing up to join the BJP or YSR Congress. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The 15th Lok Sabha will go down in the history as the most disrupted in Independent India so far including the pepper spray incident which marked a new low in parliamentary conduct.
The minister said NIA investigations have revealed that the Islamic State is most active in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
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.
President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the appointment of a few Governors and changes in portfolios of some others.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress and Telugu Desam members of Parliament are to strategise their approach on how to plan an agitation inside Parliament on Friday. Groups of MPs have already fixed dinner meetings. News is that Telangana MPs are also planning such meetings.
The issue of missing files relating to coalgate paralysed proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding an immediate response from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, even as the government said it will leave no stone unturned in tracing the documents.
Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi and former Union minister Renuka Choudary on Monday filed their nominations on behalf of the ruling Congress for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. Former state minister Palvai Govardhan Reddy and former journalist Rapolu Ananda Bhaskar too filed their papers as Congress nominees on the last day of the nomination process.
As soon as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan took up the Question Hour, members from these parties trooped into the Well holding placards.
Amid continued disruption of Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for dinner on February 12 to seek their support for the passage of the crucial Telangana bill and other anti-corruption legislations in Parliament.
As the US gets tougher with visas, the prayers of US-bound devotees in India are getting more fervent, and their purse strings looser. Called Visa Hanuman temples (there are half a dozen all over India), some of them ask for a 'fee'.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha's tenures in the Rajya Sabha end this month.
During the 16th Lok Sabha, 180 bills were passed and 45 ordinances promulgated.
The Telangana Bill will not come up in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday with the House secretariat on Monday seeking clarifications from the Union law ministry over whether or not it is a money bill.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the session has been "more productive and satisfactory" than the previous Budget Session and last year's monsoon session.
A total of 5,711 cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have been registered in Madhya Pradesh in 2006, while in Rajasthan, the number was 4,877.Northeastern states of Meghalaya and Mizoram registered zero cases of atrocities against SC/STs and similar was the case with Lakshwadeep and Puducherry.In Uttar Pradesh, 4,838 cases were registered, 4,579 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,918 in Karnataka.
The Congress will be wiped out in the next elections, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, one of the six MPs who was expelled by the Congress for opposing the creation of Telangana, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
He argued that if inflation is low, stable and moving towards the 4 per cent target, why has the RBI not revised downward the bank rate fixed in June 2023?
Congress Members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly from Telangana on Monday slammed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and accused him of weakening the party in the region that is witnessing an agitation for statehood. The MPs also condemned the "repressive measures" against Telangana protagonists and alleged that the chief minister's actions were "provoking" people of the region.
The new Council of Ministers has representation from almost all the states, except Andhra Pradesh and the north-eastern states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.
As Congress lawmakers from Telangana stepped up pressure by tendering their resignation, the Centre on Monday said it had not taken a final decision on the 'extremely sensitive and complex' issue of separate statehood.
The imapsse continues over issues like bank scams and special status demand for Andhra Pradesh.
The train accident in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh occurred as the Bangalore-bound Hampi Express jumped the signal at Penukonda station, the Rajya Sabha was informed.
Urging the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh to dissociate itself from the allegations of corruption during late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure, a party member of Parliament has also said that YSR's photographs should be stopped from being used in party's publicity material.
Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked 16 individuals for posting alleged defamatory material against Supreme Court and Andhra Pradesh high court judges on social media, taking over investigations from the state CID, officials said on Monday.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the BJP is looking to fill the Opposition slot and not aspire to occupy pole position.
With the number of Members of Legislative Assembly from the Seema-Andhra region exceeding those from Telangana, it is very likely that the resolution favouring Telangana will be struck down in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
Reacting to the development, Naidu said such crises were not new to the party.
Suicide by farmers due to agrarian reasons have dropped significantly to 152 in the current year, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said `on Friday.
In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, senior Congress leader Keshava Rao says that people's patience had run out and that they will settle for nothing less than a separate state
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament K Chiranjeevi expressed grief over the death of Bollywood star Rajesh Khanna on Wednesday.
The government is working with the aim of "One Nation, One Policy" for organ donation and transplantation in consultation with the states, she said.
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