Why weren't the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana -- all of which have borders with Karnataka -- not invited to Saturday's swearing-in ceremony, asks Shyam G Menon.
Congress leader K C Venugopal and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's T R Baalu walked out of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's office, refusing to endorse NDA candidate Birla without being offered the Deputy Speaker's position.
Kodikunnil Suresh, the Opposition's pick for the Lok Sabha speaker who will go up against the Bharatiya Janata Party's Om Birla, is a Congress veteran, an eight-term MP and one whose election in 2009 was declared invalid by the Kerala high court before being restored by the Supreme Court.
Months after winning the Lok Sabha polls from Sirsa, the former Union minister and the Congress' prominent Dalit face also indicated her desire to contest the upcoming assembly elections and said she wishes to work in the state but the high command will take a final call on the matter.
They said members of Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party urged committee chairman Jual Oram to allow a discussion on the Agnipath scheme, arguing it has huge implications and required parliamentary scrutiny, but were denied from doing so.
Moitra was heard using an objectionable word to which the Chair objected and urged members to avoid cuss words.
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
Soon after the suspension of 33 opposition Lok Sabha MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all democratic norms have been thrown into the dustbin by this "autocratic" government and it has shown zero accountability towards Parliament.
With the monsoon session being a washout, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday directed the National Democratic Alliance members of Parliament to fan across the country to "expose" the Congress whose disruption of Parliament he equated with Emergency when the party wanted power to be concentrated in one family.
The trouble started when the SP member wanted to make a point on an ongoing heated discussion between Opposition parties and the Chairman in the Rajya Sabha over certain remarks made by BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari on Kharge a few days ago.
Since Independence, Lok Sabha Speakers have been chosen by consensus.
The political discourse hit a new low on Monday with Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri making disparaging remarks targeting Rahul Gandhi and the Congress paying him back in the same coin.
Kharge was elected Congress president, defeating Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, the sixth in the party's 137-year-old history.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
Samajwadi Party MP R K Chaudhary's demand to replace the Sengol installed next to the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair with a copy of the Constitution triggered a war of words on Thursday, with opposition leaders backing him, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party castigating him for 'disrespecting' Indian and Tamil culture.
The Rajya Sabha chairman asked him to authenticate his assertions and refused to accept newspaper clippings that the Congress leader showed to buttress his points.
Opposition leaders led by senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi on August 3 took out a cycle march to the Parliament as a symbolic protest against the rising fuel in the country.
Singh targeted the Congress using a 'snakes and ladders' analogy, saying the party will fall to zero from 99 after being bitten by a snake -- referring to the grand old party winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
'The Congress is not pragmatic about politics or about people.' 'Rahul's intention is good, but good intention does not win you elections.'
'Has the BJP not announced its candidates in Raebareli?'
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is open to the idea of having a deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha, sources said on Thursday, stressing that a call on the matter will be taken later.
Joshi, however, clarified that he did not support the banned practice and that his remarks were on the tradition of 'Jauhar'.
Amidst repeated disruptions in Rajya Sabha by Congress members over Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's remarks, Bharatiya Janata Party MPs of the Upper House on Friday gathered before Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament House complex praying for "wisdom" to the protesting members.
He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to the commercialisation of education.
The development comes a day after clashes broke out in Parliament on Sunday between pro-government MPs and opposition lawmakers over differences over the approval of four members of the pro-China President's cabinet.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urged MPs on Monday to follow the prescribed format while taking oath or affirmation and not add words as it lowered the dignity of the Constitution.
Both Houses met for the first time in the second part of Budget Session and saw repeated adjournments as the Opposition continued protests.
Unfazed by Bharatiya Janata Party's aggressive stance on Robert Vadra land deals controversy, Congress on Tuesday ruled out discussion on the issue in Parliament and dared Yashwant Sinha to move court after he sought a probe by Special Investigation Team into the matter.
Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan on Sunday said the UDF will take part in all the rehabilitation efforts and work towards restoring normalcy in the lives of the survivors.
BJP will find it tougher to push contentious Bills, especially those that would require Constitutional amendments, without the support of its allies and cooperation from the Opposition.
Amarinder Singh was ousted from the party and he later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
NDA-MEETING-RESOLUTION PM Modi unanimously elected as NDA leader as he gets ready to form govt (Eds: With pics) New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) Leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance unanimously elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ruling bloc's leader on Wednesday, passing a resolution to underscore the government's commitment to serving the poor, women, youths, farmers and deprived sections of society. They met at Modi's residence here a day after the NDA won a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha election, paving the way for him to take the oath for a third consecutive term, a first for any ruling alliance since 1962. TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, LJP(R) leader Chirag Paswan and NCP leader Praful Patel were among those who attended the meeting. The resolution said the NDA government will continue working to lift people's living standards for the country's all-round development while conserving its heritage. "We are all proud that the NDA fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and won. We all NDA leaders unanimously elect Narendra Modi as our leader," it added. The resolution also said that people have seen the country being developed in every sector in the last 10 years due to the pro-people policies of the NDA government under Modi. PTI KR
Chaos is expected to return to Parliament.
Parliament was adjourned for the day on Wednesday due to uproar by the Opposition members over Lakhimpur Kheri killings in Lok Sabha and the suspension of 12 members in Rajya Sabha.
'How can a citizen of this country having been a Member of Parliament, and the other who has seen enough of Foreign Service takes no time in saying that what happened in the neighbourhood will happen in India'
National Democratic Alliance nominee Om Birla was elected as Lok Sabha speaker on Wednesday after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted through voice vote, capping intense debate on the issue with the opposition in a rare move proposing its own candidate.
Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday suspended Congress member of Parliament Rajani Ashokrao Patil for the remainder of the current Budget Session for filming House proceedings.
The leader of Nepal's largest communist party was appointed as prime minister on Sunday by President Ram Chandra Paudel to lead the coalition government with the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in Parliament, apart from other smaller parties.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while legal affairs secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
"Gandhi's disqualification is illegal and the case is also bogus. I am sure that a higher court in Gujarat will do justice to Gandhi," said Raut, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.
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