Ruling and opposition members in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday sparred over 'foul' remarks made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Rajasthan's Alwar, with treasury bench members seeking an apology from him.
Glimpses of lady MPs as the nation's lady finance minister presents the Budget for the next financial year on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
Alleging that a government working against the citizens is at the helm, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday announced a new platform 'Insaaf' to fight 'injustice' prevailing in the country and called on everyone, including Opposition parties' chief ministers and leaders, to support him in his endeavour.
The Opposition said the judgement will strengthen the hands of a government.
Haryana's Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, who was expelled from all party positions by the Congress after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls in June, is all set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on August 4, sources close to him said.
The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the government over the women's reservation bill, saying the only appropriate description of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done with the matter is "it is a post-dated cheque drawn on a failing bank".
The Congress MPs have given adjournment notices in both houses of Parliament to discuss the border situation with China.
All 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.
Kailash Gahlot, a key minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, has resigned, potentially impacting the party's ambitious plan to roll out a Rs 1000 monthly honorarium scheme for women ahead of the Assembly polls in February. Gahlot, who represented the Jat-dominated Najafgarh constituency in West Delhi, cited several issues, including the "Sheeshmahal" controversy over his former official residence, the Delhi government's tussle with the Centre, and the failure to clean the Yamuna River, in his resignation letter. Delhi BJP leaders welcomed Gahlot's resignation, fueling speculation that he could join the party before the assembly polls. However, AAP leaders claimed Gahlot resigned due to pressure from central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, and that joining the BJP was his last option. Gahlot's resignation has sparked speculation about his future and the impact it will have on the AAP's electoral prospects.
Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
Abrar is the MLA from the Sawai Madhopur seat and the party has declared him its candidate from this seat for the upcoming assembly elections despite protests against him.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
Claiming a heavy transfer of cash to Jaipur, Gehlot said there were reports about the BJP's plan similar to that of Madhya Pradesh and some of the party MLAs were offered Rs 25 crore in cash with Rs 10 crore in advance.
The Congress maintained that the state government had not ordered any such inquiry and it could be an internal matter of the CID. A top CID official has also said that no formal inquiry was ordered into the incident.
The government's move to tweak the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax regime proposed in the Finance Bill 2024 and re-introduce the indexation benefit is likely to boost the investments and spur housing sales in the country, industry executives believe. "By enabling taxpayers to choose the lower tax burden between the new and old schemes, the amendment is poised to drive investment and enhance sales across housing segments," said Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman of the Hiranandani Group. In Budget 2024, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an overhaul in the capital gains tax regime, including lowering the LTCG tax to 12.5 per cent from 20 per cent.
The BJP won both the Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
'The non-biological PM's capacity for malice, mischief, and maligning of history knows no bounds. It was on full display today from the Red Fort'
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including Janata Dal-Secular contestant D Kupendra Reddy.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu read out an obituary reference after which MPs stood as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
If a local court in Mumbai allows former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and minister Nawab Malik to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections, the two leaders will be brought to the Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex in Mumbai, at a specific time to take part in the voting process, an official said on Wednesday.
The 15th Lok Sabha will go down in the history as the most disrupted in Independent India so far including the pepper spray incident which marked a new low in parliamentary conduct.
The Rajya Sabha has already given its nod to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
Congress MPs on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the motion of thanks on President's address, alleging he was only speaking against the Congress party and not on the address.
This is the first reshuffle in the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.
The credibility of the examination system has also come under question, they said.
While the Congress has cited alleged poaching attempt as a reason for keeping their MLAs in the hotel, the BJP said they moved theirs to train them on the Rajya Sabha poll process.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the agenda of the new political outfit would be to struggle for the restoration of J and K's statehood and to fight for the job and land rights of people.
Fearing poaching, the party had shifted its legislators to various resorts in Gujarat in the one last week, dividing them in zone-wise groups. While some MLAs gathered in Rajkot in Saurashtra, few others were in Abu Road in Rajasthan.
Brijesh Merja is the third Congress MLA to have resigned since Wednesday and the eight since March.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Tuesday remarked that once judges demit office whatever they say is just opinion and is not binding, after former CJI Ranjan Gogoi's comments that the basic structure doctrine was debatable was flagged in the Supreme Court.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
The opposition bloc also got support from Telanagana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS, which saw the bill as a move to usurp powers of an elected government in Delhi, and asked the House to vote against it.
The MPs representing various political parties offered heartfelt tributes to the building that has been the epicentre of India's democratic journey.
