The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance were ranged against each other both inside and outside the Parliament on the opening day of the budget session on Monday.
The session will begin with the address of the President to the joint sitting of the two Houses on Friday morning followed by the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1.
'Modi is not assuring the nation that if he gets back to power in 2024 and remains in power till 2029, he will not change the Constitution.'
Raising serious objections against the manner in which the entire Anna Hazare episode was handled by the Congress leadership during the absence of its President Sonia Gandhi, a Congress member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh has shot off a letter to party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, urging him to get the whole affair investigated by a panel of seasoned Congressmen.
The monsoon spelt mayhem in several parts of the country on Monday, particularly Mumbai where local train services and flight operations were hit and everyday life disrupted as well as Assam that was grappling with floods yet again.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for nearly two hours.
Dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot began a 125-km foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur on Thursday, challenging Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the party's top brass as assembly elections in Rajasthan approach.
Leaders of the JD-U, which has two ministers in the Union government, insist that the resolution also spoke of "special package and other types of help" and that Bihar could still get a lot from Narendra Modi government.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday rejected allegations of paper leak in medical entrance exam National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), saying there is no evidence of it.
Parliament sources said this has been done not for any particular issue but keeping in view the possibility of some "important business".
According to an analysis by PRS Legislative Research, 172 bills were discussed and passed during the term of 17th Lok Sabha, of which 86 bills in the Lok Sabha and 103 bills in the Rajya Sabha were discussed for less than two hours each.
Now, every state election -- first up, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year, then Delhi in January and Bihar in September next year -- will be seen by his followers for evidence of his recovery, and by rivals of sharpening decline, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The campaign vehicle carried a banner with photographs of Sunetra Pawar and Ajit Pawar with the symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party.
The Congress on Monday termed as "deeply disappointing" the Supreme Court ruling upholding the SIT's clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots, and asked whether Modi and the state government will ever be held accountable.
He was elected to Rajya Sabha on a seat left vacant after TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi joined the BJP before the recent West Bengal assembly elections.
For that to happen, Moitra's much followed speeches should be heard outside Parliament so that the PR spins of the ruling dispensation are countered with informed debate, argues Shyam G Menon.
It's been 13 days that the Winter Session commenced, but no work has taken place as MPs continue to spar over the note ban.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
In a veiled attack on Modi, Rahul said he has never come across a senior public representative who has constantly chosen silence in the face of untold violence against women.
Lawyers have pointed out that the new laws increase police powers by extending the maximum limit of police custody from 15 days to 60 days or 90 days.
A private member resolution seeking that the government implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report and other reports that have discussed the educational and social backwardness of Muslims and enact a legislation for the prevention of atrocities against minorities was moved in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
In his reply to a letter written by Dhankhar, Kharge said the Chairman's letter 'unfortunately justifies the autocratic and arrogant attitude of the Government towards Parliament'.
As Prabhakaran was leaving his house, Rajiv Gandhi called his son Rahul and asked him to fetch his (Gandhi's) bulletproof jacket. He put the jacket on Prabhakaran's back and remarked with his usual charming smile: "Take care of yourself."
The two Houses would now meet on December 27 as there would be no sitting on December 24 and December 26 in view of Christmas.
The Congress leaders from Telangana region have made it clear that they would not resign from their posts as there has not been any indication from the party that they would not grant a separate state.
Gandhi said the Opposition wanted the House to function "often and well" and added that it was very important that cooperation happens on the basis of trust.
The storm over the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in retail refused to subside with the matter, along with quota in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, paralysing proceedings in Parliament for the second day on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the party's chief whip in the Upper House Jairam Ramesh alleged that the government is throttling the voice of the Opposition leaders to prevent them from raising issues of public importance.
Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal explains why the Congress is ill-equipped to battle the Narendra Modi government in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament.
'The BJP knows only one language, intimidation!'
In separate letters to the speaker, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Supriya Sule of the NCP, DMK leader Kanimozhi and TMC's Aparupa Poddar said what had happened with Ali is unfortunate and that action should be taken against Bidhuri.
The opposition battled it out with the Centre over farmer issues, the suspension of 6 MPs and the privileges of MPs.
Congress Member of Parliament from Banaskantha, Mukesh Gadhvi, on Friday passed away at a private hospital in Ahmedabad, party sources said.
'The people of Tamil Nadu in particular Chennai know about the double standards of the BJP. Nothing will work for them here.'
The Congress and the National Conference on Monday announced they will fight the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in alliance, with both parties contesting three seats each.
Lok Sabha on Thursday passed two bills before the proceedings were adjourned for the day amid continuous protests by opposition members over the Pegasus spying row and farmers' issue.
On June 26, for the likes of me, the music died. Any impression of potential change held forth by the outcome of the 2024 general election, was vaporised, reveals Shyam G Menon.
What some of our leaders were up to this week.
The government assured the Opposition that reservation to Anglo-Indians will be considered later.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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