"Yes, it is almost that," senior CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia told reporters when asked whether the Budget was the Trinamool Congress' manifesto for the Assembly polls. However, Acharia and CPI national secretary D Raja welcomed several 'positive' features like no raise in passenger fares or freight charges and the concessions given to various sections of people.
Old habits die hard.This adage was proved true in the Lok Sabha today as CPI(M) veteran Basudeb Acharia continued to address Meira Kumar as 'Sir' instead of 'Madam Speaker'.
A bill to establish a statutory independent regulator for biotech sector covering research, transport, import, manufacture and use of organisms and products of modern biotechnology was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
In August, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, headed by Basudeb Acharia, had recommended to the government to stop all open-field trials of transgenic crops until it develops a better system of monitoring and oversight.
The controversial Land Acquisition Bill is set for further delay as its consideration was on Tuesday deferred by the Lok Sabha till the next session bowing to the wishes of opposition members.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties on Tuesday demanded separate debates with voting on Foreign Direct Investment in retail and related amendments in Foreign Exchange Management Act rules in Lok Sabha, but it was vociferously opposed by the government and rejected by Speaker Meira Kumar.
Accusing Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee of "stoking panic" amongst Muslims in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday asked the government to take note of her statements and set at rest the apprehensions caused by them.
The standoff in Parliament over remarks of Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Mani Shankar Aiyar against Opposition ended on Wednesday with the Trinamool Congress member being reprimanded by Speaker and Aiyar expressing regrets.
"We have tabled a notice of privilege against the civil aviation minister in the House and demanded that he come and explain why he made policy statements on the issue outside when Parliament is in session," CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia told reporters in New Delhi
The opposition in Lok Sabha on Tuesday took the government to task over various scams including allocation of 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games and Adarsh housing, and said the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan was "not enough".
The Communist Party of India - Marxist on Wednesday threatened to disrupt Parliament proceedings unless Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay apologised for shouting at a Member of Parliament of the Left party."Apologise, otherwise the House will not function," CPI-M's Leader in Lok Sabha Basudev Acharia threatened. The Lok Sabha was adjourned for over three hours on Tuesday when the entire Opposition demanded an apology from the Trinamool chief whip.
The government on Tuesday stated that terrorism has no colour or religion and if any case of prolonged incarceration of any individual belonging to any community without any charge sheet against him is brought to light, it will take appropriate action to ensure justice.
The Communist Party of India on Thursday demanded in the Lok Sabha that the existing airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore should not be closed down to "protect interest of private sector".
Three MPs, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, came on wheelchairs.
The Opposition on Thursday accused the government of "surrendering" to the US and allowing an "infringement on the sovereignty" of the country and warned that India should not pursue talks with Pakistan unless it took credible steps to control terrorism.
The delegation, which was led by Communist Party of India-Marxist member of the Parliament Basudeb Acharia, told Mukherjee that the urban cooperative banks have been put to 'extreme hardship' due to the hefty 30 per cent tax on profits.
The Left parties were on Tuesday subjected to ridicule by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who suggested that they were not keeping pace with the "moving" world and contended that the UPA would have met its Waterloo if it had followed economic prescription of erstwhile allies.
Denying desisting from their stated position on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left parties on Tuesday asserted that they were ready for "any eventuality" even as they continued their engagement with the government to break the impasse over the issue.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav joined the protest in the Lok Sabha and, along with Left leaders, demanded suspension of the Question Hour to take up a discussion on the issue. The House was adjourned for about 20 minutes and later parliamentary affairs minister P K Bansal said a structured discussion on the price situation would take place on Wednesday.
Feeling "tortured" by the Left parties' repeated "questioning" of his decisions, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday threatened to step down "here and now" as a protest against "insult" to the Chair. Chatterjee said a "new culture" had emerged in the House wherein the members "go on questioning" the Speaker's ruling.
The issue was raised by Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav who alleged that the government lost as much as Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) because of 'wrong policies' of the telecom department while Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia dubbed it as the 'biggest scam'.
Members of the four Left parties and the Samajwadi Party on Friday walked out of the Lok Sabha to protest the government's 'lack of response' to their demand for a white paper on the rise in prices of essential commodities, especially food articles.Raising the issue, Communist Party of India - Marxist's Basudeb Acharia sought a white paper on the price situation, saying the government had 'failed' to take any steps to curb the rising trend of prices.
"The Central Bureau of Investigation has issued lookout notices against 14 accused, 13 of whom are still absconding," Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha.
For the second successive day, the Opposition disrupted proceedings in Parliament over the government's new sugarcane price policy.
An uproar over the opposition's demand for an immediate discussion on the drought situation in the country on Tuesday led to a brief adjournment of the Lok Sabha.
Although the CPI-M has emphasised that the railway panel's post is its top choice, Congress floor managers have already conveyed to the comrades that 'it will be difficult' to fulfil their dreams. The CPI-M is likely to get the chairman's seat in the Standing Committee on coal and steel or energy.
MPs figuring in expose sent show cause notice
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday raised in the Lok Sabha the issue of Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed staying in a five-star hotel for six months and questioned who would foot the bill of Rs 37 lakh.
With the Congress suffering a shattering defeat, party president Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi are said to be averse to taking up the post of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.
The Lok Sabha will have a sitting on Saturday, despite being a Saturday, notwithstanding strong demands by several members of Parliament, leaders and ministers against it
Amid demands for getting the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill passed, the government on Wednesday said it is ready to extend the last session of the 15th Lok Sabha if the House agreed.
Several members had moved adjournment motions to raise the issue, but Speaker Meira Kumar said she has not accepted the demand.
With A K Antony speaking of involvement of Pakistani troops in the LoC attack, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday came out in support of the government on the response over the killing of Indian soldiers, saying it was happy that the defence minister has accepted his mistake and rectified it.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday condemned the attacks and harassment of people from the northeast in various parts of the country in the wake of the killing of a boy from Arunachal Pradesh in Delhi and said a message should go out that they should be protected.
Political parties slammed the government in the Lok Sabha on Thursday over the sliding rupee, which has breached the Rs 68 to a US dollar mark, and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh make a statement on the issue.
PMO's stance came as part of a reply to the whistle-blower forest officer, Sanjiv Chaturvedi, after he dragged the PMO to the Central Information Commission for denying information under the RTI Act.
The 15th Lok Sabha, perceived as the worst-ever with many unprecedented low moments, came to an end on Friday on an harmonious note, with leaders from the ruling and opposition sides showering praises on each other.
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