India's Parliament is set to begin its Budget session on Friday, with opposition parties poised to demand a discussion on the alleged mismanagement of the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, where 30 pilgrims died in a stampede. The opposition also accused the government of politicising parliamentary committees and pushing its agenda through its majority. The session will start with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both houses of Parliament. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Saturday for the eighth consecutive time.
Indicted in the draft JPC report, former Telecom Minister A Raja on Monday hit back maintaining that "every major decision", including entry fee and non auction of spectrum, was taken after consulting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was passed in the Lok Sabha early Thursday, with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.
'They want to snatch the land and give it to their friends'
Coca-Cola India has written a letter to the joint parliamentary committee, probing allegations of pesticides in beverages, seeking permission to depose before it.
"The decision of whether or not to grant you permission to depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee will be taken on the basis of the members' opinion."
Amid demands for calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram as witnesses before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G, Bharatiya Janata Party members in the panel on Thursday once again abstained from its proceedings. During the last meeting of the JPC on October 11, the BJP members had stayed away after accusing JPC Chairman P Chacko of failing to finalise the list of witnesses and include the prime minister and Chidambaram in it.
Leaders of various INDIA bloc parties have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him to allow leaders of the opposition in both Houses of Parliament to speak during the Constitution Day function to be held on Tuesday. The function will be addressed by President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The letter, signed by leaders of various opposition parties, states that they believe in the best traditions and interests of Parliamentary democracy, the Leaders of Opposition (LoPs) in both Houses should also be given an opportunity to speak on this historic occasion. Parliamenary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be addressing the event and accused "some of the Opposition parties " of giving reactions without knowing the actual arrangement. He added that sitting arrangements have been made for the Leaders of Opposition of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the dais.
Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India on Monday came together to take on the government over JPC report on 2G scam, alleging that the "fraud" and "fabricated" document was tabled in Lok Sabha in violation of rules which has set a "bad precedent".
There is still no clarity from the government side on the number of members of the JPC as to whether there will be 21 or 31. If it is 21, the Lok Sabha will have 14 members and the Rajya Sabha 7. If it is 31, the Lok Sabha will get 21 berths, including that of chairman, and the Rajya Sabha will get 10.
The Supreme Court's verdict on the Rafale deal spurred a war of words between the BJP and the Congress.
Congress support to Janata Dal-United in Bihar Assembly on Wednesday lends a new dimension to the much-delayed meeting of the JPC on 2G scam to be held next week to discuss adoption of the controversial draft report that gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
Notwithstanding strong demand by Bharatiya Janata Party members for calling Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining 2G spectrum allocation scam is unlikely to call him or any other minister as witnesses.
Hitting out at JPC Chairman P C Chacko for not inviting former Telecom Minister A Raja to depose before it, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha alleged that the panel could be used to "conceal the truth" in the 2G scam rather than expose it.
Former Union Telecom Minister A Raja has rejected Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko's offer giving him a chance to respond on the 2G spectrum allocation issue in written submissions, saying he wants to personally depose before the panel to tender evidence on the matter.
DMK leader T R Baalu said he had given a notice of breach of parliamentary privilege against Chacko over the leakage of the JPC draft report.
A meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committee examining 2G scam on Tuesday saw heated exchanges as Bharatiya Janata Party members demanded summoning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and top PMO officials which was countered by Congress members with their own list of witnesses that included all National Democratic Alliance telecom ministers.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam is set to get a fresh extension beyond September 6 with the Lok Sabha on Wednesday unanimously adopting a resolution to this effect.
Amid opposition plans to corner the JPC Chairman over clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the much-talked about meeting of the panel to adopt the draft report on the 2G scam was on Thursday postponed following death of a Lok Sabha member.
Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam P C Chacko on Wednesday ruled out summoning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to depose before the panel, saying there was no such precedent.
An "exhaustive" list of witnesses, which includes former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, was on Tuesday placed before the JPC probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam, but a decision whether to call them was deferred.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee report on 2G spectrum scam, which was to have been tabled in Lok Sabha on September 30 is further delayed until the Winter Session of Parliament.
In a strongly-worded letter to Joint Parliamentary Committee chief P C Chacko, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader T R Baalu has said the committee's report on the 2G scam and the Congress leader's attempts to rush for the passage of it did not exactly inspire confidence.
The Unite dProgressive Alliance government and the Opposition will debate in Parliament on Thursday the terms of reference of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G spectrum scam and pass a resolution.
Miffed at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that Parliament should not pre-judge the 2G issue, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Tuesday said the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the matter should be wound up.
A former chairman of TRAI on Friday told the JPC probing the 2G spectrum scam that the then NDA government did not seek the opinion of the telecom regulator on the issue of allocating "excess spectrum" to some private companies in 2002.
Ahead of the budget session, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed readiness to explore "all possible approaches" to end the deadlock in Parliament on the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into 2G spectrum scam.
Describing the functioning of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G as "scandalous", Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram appear before it for the truth to come out.
The development comes a day after a government resolution (GR) was issued, in which the state administration ordered disbursal of Rs 10 crore funds for strengthening the state Waqf Board.
The Congress also alleged that Facebook was acting as an ally of the ruling BJP and pushing its agenda.
On August 22 also, BJP members had walked out of the JPC meeting alleging that Congress members had used foul language when they sought inclusion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the finalised list of witnesses to be called before the JPC.
Government on Friday did not rule out setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe into the Indian Premier League controversy with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying a decision would be taken after 'due diligence.'
Yashwant Sinha, Bharatiya Janata Party's member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum scam, on Saturday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar requesting her to reject the panel's report.
Nothing could trivialise the sanctity of Parliament than a JPC on the IPL. We need a JPC to cover the tax havens and its impact on the Indian economy, says M R Venkatesh.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G spectrum allocation has concluded that Attorney General G E Vahanvati was aware of the procedure approved by the Department of Telecommunication on first-come-first served criteria in file notings.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha's demand that he depose before the Joint Parliamentary Committee in the 2G spectrum scam.
Sticking to its demand that A Raja be allowed to depose before the JPC on 2G, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday said the panel's report will be a "waste" if he does not get an opportunity to give an explanation on the allegations.
