The Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs, including his daughter Misa Bharti and Manoj Jha, also staged a protest at Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the Parliament complex and contended that despite being the chief opposition party in Bihar and the single largest party in the Assembly, it was not invited.
Former Union minister and Telugu Desam Party founder N T Rama Rao's daughter D Purandeswari on Friday joined BJP after quitting the Congress over the Telangana issue.
Biju Janata Dal supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was the first to advocate an alternative government minus Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre, on Tuesday said it was still too early for such a move.
Bharatiya Janata Party Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been summoned as an accused by a Delhi court in a defamation complaint filed against him by former JD-U leader Sabir Ali for allegedly linking him with arrested Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal.
As the Centre pushes reforms in the power sector, especially for the beleaguered electricity distribution segment, several states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties, are clamouring against it. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerela have voiced their reservations against the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003. The irony is the states opposing the amendments on the ground of threat of privatisation already have private partnerships in power supply. The proposed Bill was slated to be placed on the floor of Parliament in the Monsoon session. But it still awaits Cabinet approval amid several states complaining that they have been not consulted on the issue.
A parliamentary panel has pitched for 100 percent hike in salary and daily allowances of MPs and 75 percent raise in pension of ex-MPs apart from facilities for their "companions" in place of "spouses".
The law minister said 20 Muslim countries in the world, including Pakistan and Malaysia, have banned the triple talaq. "Why can't a secular India do it?" he asked.
With jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad disqualified as Lok Sabha member, ally Lok Janshakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan met Rabri Devi in Patna on Tuesday and mooted an alliance of secular parties, including Congress.
NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja said his party has decided to support BJP candidate.
Pushed to the backfoot by the controversial remarks of its MP Shatrughan Sinha, Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday compared him with Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh saying it is best to ignore such leaders.
'The sapling that I planted has turned into a fully grown tree and is now giving flowers and fruits for us.'
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was made to wait a good 30 minutes on Tuesday outside the gate of the Mahabodhi temple, the site of serial blasts on Sunday, due to the visit by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
Winning an election may be a breeze for the BJP but the aftermath of victory isn't always painless.
BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday said that fire-crackers will burst in Pakistan if the NDA did not form the next government in Bihar.
Although it saw a veritable who's who of the Oppostion leadership, the Samajwadi Party stayed away from the Iftar dinner hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
Some Bharatiya Janata Party MPs also raised the issue in Parliament, accusing Madhya Pradesh's new chief minister of inciting hatred against people of other states.
Hinting at the possibility of joining hands with former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi in Bihar polls, BJP prez Amit Shah on Tuesday said his party's doors are open for new allies.
While all political parties have been talking about following in the footsteps of the debutant Aam Admi Party by fielding fresh faces in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar has set the ball rolling by deciding not to renominate his party's three sitting MPs in the coming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha scheduled for February 7. Anita Katyal reports.
The name of the next vice president of India will be known on Saturday evening after members of Parliament cast their ballot during the day in Parliament House.
'We can't underestimate future threats.'
Rumblings of discontent in the Bharatiya Janata Party followed the party's disastrous performance in Bihar assembly elections on Sunday.
Left behind after elections will be the Biharis with their stagnant conditions of poor education, poor health infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, division of society and the aftermath of coronavirus. What will remain is the Bihari tenacity, observes Asmita Bihari.
'Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.' 'He just cannot think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
PM Modi's statement on Wednesday led ally Shiv Sena to rake up his past when he was chief minister during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The European Union on Friday reached out to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is considered one of the important leaders from non-Bharatiya Janata Party opposition, ahead of next Lok Sabha polls.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
The government is mulling moving the Supreme Court for cancellation of his bail even as opposition National Democratic Alliance on Wednesday demanded his arrest in the journalist Rajdeo Ranjan murder case.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
Nitish Kumar had a week's time to prove his majority, but Laloo Yadav made full use of Siwan don Mohammad Shahabuddin. A revealing excerpt from Rajesh Singh's Baahubalis Of Indian Politics: From Bullet To Ballot.
Anwar's move came a day after media reports quoted Pawar having told a Marathi news channel that he did not think people had doubts over the prime minister's intentions in the Rafale fighter plane deal.
Kumar, a Dalit, as its candidate for president against NDA's nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
With Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results for 51 assembly and two Lok Sabha bypolls spread across 18 states were declared on Thursday. Here are state-wise results of the bypolls.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal on Thursday alleged a political conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-United behind the sentencing of Lalu Prasad but ruled out the possibility of a change in party leadership, saying its chief will be out on bail soon.
'Nitish's claims of development are false. He has only helped corrupt officials.' 'I want to remind Lalu that this is not the 1990s. This is 2015.' 'I am a bahubali for those looting society.'
Opposition parties now recognise that the king on one side of the chessboard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is ensconced, and unlikely to be shaken, although on his side there are no identifiable kings, queens, rooks, bishops or knights.
Citing certain examples, Naik said the defence minister 'falsely claims that India never conducted surgical strikes in the past'.
Medhavi Kirti, the granddaughter of late veteran Congress leader Babu Jagjiwan Ram, has been campaigning against her aunt Meira Kumar, Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress candidate from Sasaram Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.
Shatrughan Sinha won't attend, citing 'important personal engagements.' Will L K Advani be present? M I Khan reports on a swearing-in ceremony the likes of which Patna may not have seen before.
The Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by Congress veteran Karan Singh on Monday took cognizance of the issue of Vijay Mallya, who has allegedly defaulted on over Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) bank loans.
