'When voting clause by clause on Waqf came up in the JPC, the TDP and JD-U supported the BJP on each and every clause.'
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday met Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking her party's cooperation for smooth functioning of the Parliament session beginning June 17.
The bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
"Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted," Prakash Ambedkar, who heads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, told reporters in Pune.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
"He has already apologised," Sonia Gandhi responded to the media on party's Adhir Chowdhury's 'rashtrapatni' remark.
Dev had been serving as the national spokesperson of the Congress and its women's wing chief.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) could have performed better in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls and perhaps, too much time was spent in reaching seat-sharing agreements, Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has said.
A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, claiming it was a "blatant intrusion" into the rights of a religious denomination to manage its own affairs in the matter of religion. The plea, filed by Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, argues that the amendments would distort the religious character of Waqfs and irreversibly damage the democratic process in their administration. Several other petitions have been filed in the apex court challenging the validity of the bill, including those by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, and AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan.
The parliamentary committee scrutinizing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill has been granted an extension until the last day of the next Budget Session. This decision follows a heated meeting marked by a walkout from opposition members who expressed concerns about the committee's draft report. The committee will visit several states to meet stakeholders and finalize its report.
Deora further said the Congress has not only failed to come back to power but has also failed to effectively serve as a constructive opposition at the Centre.
Shahu Chhatrapati, scion of the Kolhapur royal family, has said he chose the Congress for his poll debut as he draws inspiration from his great grandfather Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, a hugely revered figure among all segments of society for his bold social reforms.
The proposed no-confidence motion by opposition parties is bound to fail the numbers test but the latter argue that they will win the battle of perception by cornering the government on the Manipur issue during the debate.
The assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the deputy leader.
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.
The Congress president during his year at the helm of the party has repaired the citadel for far more challenging years ahead, and played a crucial role in shaping the Opposition alliance.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had recently blamed unemployment and price rise for the Parliament breach on December 13, when two protesters jumped into the lower house chamber and opened smoke cans.
'How can the voting percentage be higher than the actual polled votes?'
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded immediate arrest of industrialist Gautam Adani after the billionaire industrialist was charged in the United States for alleged bribery and fraud.
Right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nation-wide caste census and scrapping of Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released on Friday.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has distributed portfolios among the new ministers, keeping key departments such as Home, Personnel, and several others to himself. The Congress' Radhakrishna Kishore was given Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development Department, and Parliamentary Affairs departments. JMM's Deepak Biruwa was allotted the departments of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms (non-registration), and Transport. Chamra Linda, another JMM leader, was allotted the departments of Schedule Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (except Minority Welfare). RJD's Sanjay Prasad Yadav was given the departments of Industries, and Labour, Planning, Training and Skill Development. The Congress' Irfan Ansari got Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, besides Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management departments. The chief minister also kept to himself the departments of Cabinet Secretariat, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language, Road Construction, Building Construction, and those departments yet to be distributed to anyone. Among the other ministers, JMM's Ramdas Soren was given the School Education and Literacy, and Registration departments. Party colleague Hafizul Hasan was allotted the departments of Water Resources, and Minority Welfare Department. Panchayati Raj, Rural Works, and Rural Development departments were given to Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh. The CM gave Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Excise and Prohibition departments to JMM's Yogendra Prasad. JMM legislator Sudhivya Kumar became the minister for Urban Development and Housing, Higher and Technical Education, and Tourism, Art Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs departments. Shilpi Neha Tirkey of the Congress was allotted Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department. A total of 11 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand on Thursday.
The Janata Dal-Secular demanded that the Congress government should sack Khan from the Cabinet for his racist slur.
There are concerns within the Congress with respect to the articulation of the party's demand for the caste census, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently accusing the grand old party of attempting to divide Hindus through its push for the Other Backward Classes.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
Kora said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who ensured that proper respect was accorded to tribals, and also took a stand for women over various issues.
'The opposition wants the country to run on the basis of Shariat but this cannot happen'
Besides the not-so-hidden unease between Modi and Adityanath, Modi chose to address the Lok Sabha to ensure that he could personally claim all the kudos, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
In the chair was Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader of the old school with friends across parties unlike the duo who currently run the BJP.
The Election Commission on Wednesday slapped show-cause notices on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for their offensive remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kangana Ranaut respectively.
The KPCC made this decision simultaneously as Sarin announced a press conference in Palakkad, declaring his intention to work with the Left Democratic Front moving forward.
The Congress steering committee on Friday approved several amendments to the party constitution, one of which is to give permanent membership to former prime ministers and former party presidents in the all-powerful working committee.
State BJP minister Chandrakant Patil last week said Harshvardhan Patil will regret his decision to join the Pawar-led party.
Ruling NDA and opposition INDIA bloc MPs clashed in Parliament on Thursday over Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on B.R. Ambedkar, leading to jostling and an injury to BJP MP Pratap Sarangi. The opposition demanded Shah's resignation, while the BJP defended him.
In a relief for the Congress, the Income Tax department on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will not take any coercive action against the opposition party for tax demand notices of Rs 3,500 crore approximately in view of Lok Sabha elections.
Political pundits unanimously suggest that the state is not experiencing a discernible Gandhi wave this time around.
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away on Thursday night at the age of 92. He was brought to the emergency department of AIIMS Delhi in critical condition after "sudden loss of consciousness."
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
With billionaire Gautam Adani charged in the United States with alleged bribery and fraud, the Congress on Thursday said it 'vindicates' its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various 'scams' involving his conglomerate.
The former Congress president was asked to vacate the premises by April 22 following his disqualification after the conviction and two-year sentence by a Surat court for his 'Modi surname' remark.
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