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.
The proceedings of the House were adjourned till 2 pm as slogan-shouting TMC and other opposition MPs trooped into the well of the House, some holding placards, to demand a discussion on the issue of Israeli-made, military-grade Pegasus spyware being used to snoop on opposition leaders, government critics and journalists.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist has accused the Congress of reversing its own stand of bringing the Prime Minister under Lokpal purview, saying a parliamentary panel headed by senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee had made such a recommendation in 2001.
The government has readied a big legislative agenda for the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning Monday even as the Opposition is raring to corner the ruling dispensation over a host of issues, including handling of the second wave of COVID-19, rise in fuel prices and farmers' stir.
The Congress and Left Front on Thursday finalised sharing of 193 seats of the total 294 in West Bengal assembly with the Left parties getting the lion's share of 101 seats.
Asserting that efficiency of Indian Parliament depends to a large extent on the duration and proper conduct of parliamentary proceedings, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Sunday demanded constitutional amendment making 100 sittings a year mandatory.
'Amit Shah was, briefly, a stockbroker before devoting himself to politics. By instinct or training, he knows the value of keeping blue chips in one's portfolio.'
While it has not publicly announced the constituencies where it would field candidates, CPI-M sources said the states where the party would contest at least one parliamentary seat were Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday referred the issue of some Trinamool Congress members allegedly accepting bribe, as shown in a purported sting operation, to the Ethics Committee, asking the L K Advani-headed panel to examine and investigate the charges.
In a move which could once again put the Congress in the firing line and give them a great deal of negative publicity, the party's core group in its meeting held on Friday evening has given the green signal to bring a fresh bill in the monsoon session of Parliament to keep political parties out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act.
'The decline of the Congress party and its inability to play the lead role in Opposition politics has created a space for the TMC to expand.'
Consensus building is likely to be the biggest casualty.
The video, which has been compiled using clips from RSTV, comprises statements made by the opposition MPs in the Upper House, with the words "farmer" and "Pegasus" in the opening lines.
A bill to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem to weed out duplication was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The winter session of Parliament is set to be stormy with Opposition parties closing ranks to target the government on issues including 'intolerance' even as the ruling dispensation expressed its readiness to discuss all issues.
The government is bracing up for a tough week in Parliament from Monday, with opposition parties giving a number of notices in both Houses seeking a debate on 'intolerance' in society and action against some ministers for their alleged provocative remarks.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
Seeking truce with agitating Opposition members over controversial remarks made by Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the matter should be put to rest after her apology, but it failed to satisfy them.
Union minister Smriti Irani will also contest the Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat from where she is already an MP and her term ends on August 18.
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.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
All eyes will be on the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal and the Sena itself to see which way they vote.
In the eye of storm over his refusal to quit, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday said he will retire at the end of his term and was not keen on rejoining CPI(M) which expelled him recently.
The ruling All India Anna DMK bagged 37 out of the 39 seats in the state, with the Bharatiya Janata Party winning one seat and its alliance partner the Pattali Makkal Katchi winning one.
With Narendra Modi blowing hot and cold against the Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee during his rally in Kolkata, two senior TMC leaders on Thursday dismissed the possibility of an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party even after the Lok Sabha polls.
Politically, women have been making their presence felt in voter turnouts. According to the Election Commission, the female voter turnout was higher than male turnout in 16 states and Union territories.
For the Congress to be taken seriously, it has to convince those around it that it could actually double its Lok Sabha seat share from the existing 52, and vote-share by a third more from the stagnating 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan rejected BJP's criticism against the resolution demanding scrapping of the CAA. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had hit out at Kerala government, saying Vijayan should seek 'better legal advise'.
The West Bengal on Thursday became the sixth state to pass a resolution against the three contentious farm laws enacted by the Centre, even as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party staged a walkout from the assembly amid 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans.
All the major parties seem to be waiting for their rivals to blink first as forging alliances has apparently become a tricky affair in the newly-born state of Telangana, which has 17 parliamentary and 119 assembly constituencies that will go to polls on April 30.
Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary late Saturday night, a BJP leader was hacked to death less than 12 hours later on Sunday morning and later, prohibitory order under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district, additional police force was deployed there and senior officers camped there to monitor the law and order situation.
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Opposition ranks united on Thursday to disrupt proceedings of Parliament over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dig at his predecessor Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, stating that the latter knew the art of taking bath wearing a raincoat as there were many scams during his government but he had remained untainted.
Whatever the outcome from the assembly elections, what's evident is that West Bengal has entered an era of identity politics, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
Dedicating the party's victory to the people of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said voters had "paid back" the BJP for its "arrogance of power".
The opposition parties were demanding a division of votes as they had moved a motion to send the Bill to a select committee, which was rejected by voice vote.
'The feeling is that Rajinikanth is pro-Modi than anti-Modi.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Sunday were set to share the honours in the Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections in 13 states.
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