The contentious bill will be tables in RS on Wednesday. The BJP hopes to get up to 130 votes in a 240-member upper house.
The FIR lodged at Chandpa police station in Hathras district against 'unknown persons' mentioned alleged attempts to foment cast conflict, promoting enmity between groups and tarnish the image of the government and invoked section 124A of the Indian Penal Code -- the serious charge of sedition.
On December 4, the Union Cabinet cleared the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there. The government intends to introduce bill in Parliament's Winter Session next week. What is this legislation and why is it contentious?
Defying Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee's warning of expulsion, two party members of legislative assembly, who decided to contest the assembly election as Independents after being denied tickets, on Monday said under no circumstances they would withdraw from the fray.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's seat offer is unacceptable to the Congress. With Banerjee playing hard to get, the Congress may consider going alone in West Bengal. Renu Mittal reports.
In a statement issued on Monday, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom said that it was deeply troubled over the passage of the bill in Lok Sabha.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Manipur assembly election results and merged it with the 2014 Lok sabha election result to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
Kicking off a virtual campaign for the assembly polls due in three months, Bhattacharjee alleged that 'foreign forces' along with the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Maoists had ganged up against his government.
The meetings with the chief ministers will be held on Saturday, an official said.
A day before Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit for poll campaigning, senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday snubbed party rebels contesting as Independents saying dissenters would not matter in the assembly elections.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday stressed for a change of regime in West Bengal, saying that the Left Front Government had failed to utilise Central funds given to the state for its development.
The Congress and other opposition parties have accused the police of bias and inaction in the Delhi violence.
'Mamata needs the Congress more than the Congress needs the alliance,' says a Congress leader. 'If the Trinamool and Congress fight the election together, a party survey claims the Trinamool will get around 165 out of 294 seats, but without us, the Trinamool could get somewhere around 130. It will be a few seats less than a majority.'
Reflecting new strains in the Congress-Trinamool tie up, Union minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday asked his party to counter Mamata Banerjee's charge that Congress was responsible for the break up of the alliance for the upcoming civic polls.
Launching a frontal attack on the ruling Left Front government, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the law and order situation in West Bengal was a matter of "grave concern" and called for a change to give a fresh lease of life to the state.
Rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra caught up with Abhijit Mukherjee, son of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his campaign trail.
The Left Front in West Bengal is "under siege" senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury has said, claiming that a situation similar to the "anti-fascist terror" between 1972 and 1977 is emerging in the state.
'The Maoists will not lose ground because of the State. The way they are responding to people's problems is why they will lose ground' feels CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya.
'Thakur will not attend meetings of BJP parliamentary party during the session'
Reading out a reply to the government's talks offer during a press conference, farmers leaders said that they are ready for dialogue with an open mind if they get a concrete proposal, but made it clear they will not accept anything less than a complete repeal of the three agriculture laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP).
Shah accused the Congress and other opposition parties of running a misinformation campaign.
In a resolution passed at its national assembly in Haridwar, the SJM said the Modi government's proposed strategic divestment of PSEs was an "imprudent business decision" and "against national interest".
Its passage in the Lok Sabha is all but certain due to the massive majority the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies have, and the Union government is confident of its passage in the Rajya Sabha as well with the support of several non-aligned regional parties which have often joined the treasury benches in the past.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the government has taken care of the interests of everyone and 'the interest of India'.
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Uproar was witnessed on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha as several parties got together to demand a resolution to condemn Israeli raids in Gaza Strip but the government did not oblige.
The government on Tuesday faced embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when the opposition scuttled its move to withdraw three bills, including one on raising the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49 per cent, which are expected to be introduced in Lok Sabha for replacement of Ordinances.
It will be presented in the Lok Sabha next week in its original form.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi has written to Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha who is likely to consult the parliamentary affairs ministry before framing his response on the government's plans to advance the budget presentation to February 1, sources said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting searches at the home of Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising -- who served as additional solicitor general during UPA 2 -- and the offices of Lawyers Collective, an NGO run by her husband lawyer Anand Grover, officials said.
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party is not overly worried about getting the amended land acquisition bill through in the Upper House, it has nevertheless decided to have a three-day gap between the dates of the sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for the Budget session.
Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed another low with a member tearing a newspaper and throwing its pieces in the House, drawing strong condemnation from the Chair.
The opposition stalled proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over a repeated demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be called to the Upper House to make a statement on the conversion row that has hogged national headlines for the past few days.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the Karnataka issue and accused the ruling party of 'poaching' its MLAs in the state.
The Minister assured the House that security requirement of the Election Commission will be met for free and fair assembly election in the state.
Modi said Vajpayee would remain an inspiration and said the outpouring of emotions following his death despite his being away from public life for over a decade due to illness, shows his greatness.
Gadkari said the bill's early passage in Lok Sabha was necessary so that it could be moved to the Rajya Sabha for passage during the ongoing session, which ends on Friday.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu announced in the House that the election will be held at 11 am on August 9.
Sitharaman criticised the news report for raising issues 'selectively' and ignoring the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar's reply.
