Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget and claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
It referred to Article 105 of the Constitution which deals with powers, privileges etc, of the Houses of Parliament and of the members and committees thereof.
For the first time, Modi is eyeball to eyeball with his bete noire, sitting a few feet across him. Given the last 10 years, a confrontation between them was unavoidable, inevitable, points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The opposition parties did not yield, and the Chairman adjourned proceedings for the day
Ahead of the budget session, PM Narendra Modi appealed to the opposition to allow Parliament to function. While his call was taken positively by most of the parties, the Congress signalled that disruption will be their main weapon to raise several issues.
The issue of imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand echoed in Parliament on Monday with Congress members in both Houses storming the Well and party leader Mallikarjun Kharge staging a dharna in the Lok Sabha.
Parliament was adjourned once again on Thursday amid din as Bharatiya Janata Party persisted with its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation provoking Congress members to raise slogans.
Coincidentally, the two first-term members got seats adjacent to each other in the House.
Sitaram Yechury strived to have the country's Left movement shed its doctrinaire approach to India's socio-cultural complexities and stitch electoral and social alliances to fight the Sangh Parivar.
Hours after Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday said the government might get the Digital Data Protection Bill classified as a money bill, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw refuted the charge and termed it a "normal bill".
After black umbrellas, it was black shawls that Trinamool Congress members used in Lok Sabha on Thursday to rake up the issue of black money.
Because of the protest, Congress member Bhaskar Rapolu even refused to lay the Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy.
The government on Tuesday asserted in Lok Sabha that it was ready to discuss issues related to farmers both inside and outside Parliament amid vociferous protests by the Opposition which forced repeated adjournments of both the Houses.
Despite disruptions over central rule in Uttarakhand and fresh revelations on the AugustaWestland chopper deal, the Rajya Sabha passed four bills and Lok Sabha cleared three.
Key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into law this year may violate certain provisions of India's Constitution, a report issued by an independent research wing of the United States Congress has claimed.
Proving wrong his detractors' claim of being sidelined after denial of chief minister's post for fifth time last year, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan won Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for the sixth time by a record margin of 8.21 lakh votes.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi and the state government on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's appeal challenging the high court verdict that declined to put on hold his conviction in a defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
Smriti Irani took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi and his brother-in-law suggesting that Vadra has an eye on the constituency.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday expressed anguish over Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge trooping into the Well of the House during an opposition protest, saying it is for the first time that a person occupying the post has engaged in such conduct.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident of two persons jumping into the house chamber from the public gallery with smoke canisters.
A huge political row broke out after Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee derisively mimicked Dhankhar during the opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament on Tuesday against the suspension of MPs, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP.
A pepper spray was used, a mic yanked. MPs put on the worst show ever in the Parliament.
The report was earlier listed in the agenda of the lower house for December 4 but was not tabled.
As per the rules and regulations, members must not do anything that brings disrepute to the Parliament and affects their credibility, and members must utilise their position as Members of Parliament to advance general well-being of the people.
Protests continued to stall the monsoon session of Parliament, as it entered the last week on Monday.
As soon as the House met at 2 pm, papers were laid on the table and two resolutions adopted amid slogan shouting and protest by Congress members.
Rajya Sabha is likely to adjourn sine die after taking up five bills on Wednesday, the sources said on Tuesday. The Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla said, will meet at 6 pm on Wednesday instead of the usual 3 pm.
The opposition, which had earlier accepted defeat, is again jumping around today, the UP CM said.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
BJP derided Gandhi saying he "always talks trash" and claimed that unemployment was at its lowest in the last six years.
Anand Sharma said weaponisation of laws and their use to target and humiliate people should not happen.
When asked about the Uniform Civil Code, Gandhi said he would comment on it only after he knows what is BJP's proposal.
Oppn members raised slogans demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the issue.
Kharge wanted to raise the issue of some of his observations being expunged by the chair, but he was not allowed on the plea that he cannot read the same remarks which have already been expunged.
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
Congress Member of Parliament and sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi on Thursday withdrew his plea seeking permission to attend the Monsoon Session of Parliament from the trial court, saying he will approach the Delhi high court for the same. Special Central Bureau of India Judge Talwant Singh accepted Kalmadi's submission that the high court was the appropriate forum to decide his plea for custody parole to attend Parliament.
Some of the Congress's new-found enthusiasm for hitting the streets will show its result in the Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka elections. That is when we will know if the Congress will go to the regional parties or the parties will come to the Congress.
His Twitter bio now describes him as a member of the Indian National Congress and Member of Parliament.
The CPI-M leader was fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, and also Malayalam. He was also well-versed in Hindu mythology, and often used those references in his speeches especially to attack the BJP.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha in April this year, once the remaining six vacancies under the nominated category are filled and those newly elected take oath.
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