Former Congress leader Jagdambika Pal on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party along with stand-up comedian Raju Srivastava.
Chowdhury, a self-confessed dog lover, has a few pets at home. Sources close to the MP said her driver was supposed to take the canine to a veterinarian after dropping her off at Parliament.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday lashed out at TMC MP Saugata Roy for objecting to her speaking in Hindi on a bill, pointing out that the translation technology allows members to listen to speeches in any language.
Rahul Gandhi said that had an INDIA Bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the US, it would have told US President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal.
Mohammed Azharuddin backs BCCI; BJP and Congress clash over Mustafizur Rahman issue
Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury's response to reports of a privilege motion against her for bringing a dog to Parliament has gone viral, sparking social media memes and political reactions.
The joint committee of Parliament examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill submitted its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday. The panel adopted the report by a majority vote, with changes suggested by members of the ruling BJP. Opposition members, who submitted dissent notes, called the exercise an attempt to destroy Waqf boards and termed the bill an attack on the constitutional rights of the Muslim community.
The parliamentary panel's meetings have become a virtual battleground between the opposition and the ruling party members, who have been vociferously debating the changes to the Waqf Bill proposed by the government.
The Pal-led committee is currently on a tour of five states to speak to various stakeholders though opposition members have boycotted it.
Opposition MPs, some of whom have given their dissent, slammed the exercise as undemocratic, claiming that they were given little time to study the final report and frame their dissent notes.
A big question mark is on whether Shashi Tharoor, who had led the delegation to the US among other countries, will be picked as speaker by the Congress, as the seasoned Lok Sabha member's enthusiastic endorsement of the government's action following the terror attack has soured his ties with his party.
Opposition parties have agreed to the agenda of taking up a special discussion on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor on Monday in Lok Sabha and the next day in Rajya Sabha, brightening up the prospect of normalcy returning to Parliament after the virtual washout of first-week proceedings.
The Archaeological Survey of India informed the JPC that 280 protected monuments have been listed as Waqf properties.
'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.'
A Raja said panel's chairman Jagdambika Pal has been conducting the panel's meetings in haste, raising doubts that it will not be able to serve justice.
They stated that when a soldier fights for the nation, he does so not as a Hindu, Muslim, or any other religion, but as a patriot.
Opposition MPs in the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill are scheduled to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday to protest its chairperson Jagdambika Pal's alleged 'unilateral' decisions and attempts to 'bulldoze' proceedings, indicating that they may disassociate themselves from the panel.
As Parliament gears up for a stormy start next week over the Adani issue, the government has listed 16 bills, including one to amend the waqf law and five new ones, for the winter session.
The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.
All opposition members of the parliamentary panel on the Waqf Amendment Bill were suspended for a day on Friday amid continuous protests and accusations against Chairman Jagdambika Pal of steam-rolling through the proceedings.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to name the committee's chairperson soon.
Seeking to allay fears that existing Waqf properties will be subject to scrutiny after the amended Waqf law comes into force, a parliamentary panel on Tuesday recommended that no cases will be reopened against such properties on a retrospective basis, provided the asset is not in dispute or belongs to the government.
The meeting of the Joint Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill took an ugly turn as the Trinamool Congress MP smashed a glass water bottle and threw it towards panel chairman Jagdambika Pal of the Bharatiya Janata Party during a heated exchange of words with BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a former Calcutta high court judge.
The parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf bill is set to propose that existing 'Waqf by user' properties will remain so if not in dispute or are government facilities but they must be registered before the new law takes effect, providing little relief to Waqf bodies in their unverified title claims.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tejasvi Surya and editors of some Kannada news portals have been booked for allegedly spreading fake news linking a farmer's suicide to land disputes with Waqf Board, police said on Friday.
'They want to snatch the land and give it to their friends'
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 deportation of Indians from the United States, deaths in the Maha Kumbh stampede and the joint Parliamentary committee report on the Waqf bill were among the issues that led to heated exchanges and some disruptions in an otherwise smooth first part of the Budget session that ended on Thursday.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
Singh targeted the Congress using a 'snakes and ladders' analogy, saying the party will fall to zero from 99 after being bitten by a snake -- referring to the grand old party winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
A group of people in Siddharthanagar allegedly rubbed chilli in two boys' anus, gave them petrol injections, and forced them to drink urine, over suspicion of stealing Rs 2,000, police said on Sunday.
Congress Member of Parliament Jagdambika Pal, who served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for three days in 1998, had to face an awkward moment on Monday during the debate on the Liberhan Commission's report in the House, when the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party pointed out that the report listed him as a karsevak.Pal was the first Congress leader to speak during the Lok Sabha debate on the report, which indicts top BJP leaders L K Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Questioning the Congress's stand on caste census, the BJP leader made certain remarks on Gandhi's caste that triggered the uproar and had Congress members trooping into the well of the Lok Sabha. "Anurag Thakur insulted me and I don't want any apology from him. Abuse or insult me as hard as you can but don't forget we will pass the caste census in this Parliament for sure," the Leader of the Opposition said.
The Congress on Monday took potshots at West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee over her move to stage a demonstration at the Jantar Mantar in new Delhi against the Centre's new reforms, saying that the United Progressive Alliance government is determined and has made a commitment to push economic reforms for the betterment of the country.
The opposition on Sunday asked the Centre to allow discussions in the Parliament on the United States prosecutors' bribery charges against the Adani Group even as Union minister Kiren Rijiju made it clear that the matters to be taken up in the two Houses will be decided by their authorised committees with the consent of the respective Chair.
Centre is planning for a major reshuffle of state governors and possibilities of inducting new faces have not been ruled out, say sources in the prime minister's office and the Congress headquarters.
In fresh confrontation with Team Anna, Union Minister Virbhadra Singh on Sunday said he intends to file a criminal defamation suit against Arvind Kejriwal while Congress MP Jagdambika Pal has slapped a privilege notice against the activist for allegedly insulting Parliament.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress member Jagdambika Pal said the move had led to a flourishing black market and made a strong demand for raising the cap of LPG cylinders from six to at least 12.
Salman Khurshid is a known detractor of Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
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