CP!-M general secretary Prakash Karat has written to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, government's key interlocutor with the allies on the deal, asking for immediate convening of a meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal by mid-March.
"All international treaties on major issues should be ratified in Parliament," the CPI(M) said.
While Modi has spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor (270 days versus Dr Singh's 306), he has travelled more extensively and actively than any other Indian PM.
The four-day meeting of RSS 'prant pracharaks' (state organisers) is also expected to discuss the government's move to 'de-toxify' National Council of Educational Research and Training textbooks and sacking of governors linked to the RSS
The Left has already made it clear that its top leaders Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, A B Bardhan, D Raja, Abani Roy and Debabrata Biswas will be their nominees in the committee, which is expected to be a political one.
The Left parties, which hold the key to United Progressive Alliance's success in the Presidential election, appeared to be pushing for their own candidate for the polls.
"The government seems to have lost its will to carry out the CMP and more and more it is functioning only to benefit a section of our people," Bardhan lamented.
G K Pillai, who heads the government's SEZ panel, demystifies SEZs and the controversy surrounding them.
Asked whether his party would support any decision taken by the Congress, Karunanidhi said: "Oh yes."
The Bharatiya Janata Party said it is pro-economic reform but wants the government to stoop before it can conquer on securing its support for key legislative changes, chiefly in banking, insurance and pensions, which form part of the reform agenda.
'We have the majority. We will survive even when we go ahead with the deal,' Praful Patel told rediff.com 'We have 234 (Lok Sabha) MPs in the UPA, add 39 members of the Samajwadi Party and the Independents who have declared support to us,' a Congress leader added. 'We believe it touches the mark of 272.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party is set to take up the issues like clemency to the mastermind of the attack on the Parliament, Mohammed Afzal Guru.
"Congress is the biggest party in the UPA. There is no question of NCP, Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam or Rashtriya Janata Dal or any other party coming close to their numbers and if tomorrow Congress decides to nominate Mrs Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi, it's not a question for NCP to decide," NCP General Secretary Praful Patel said.
The CPI-M said that it would pull down the government if it 'falters' on foreign policy and 'succumbs' to US pressure. "If it falters, we will pull down the government. We cannot afford to be drawn into the strategic tie-ups. We will not permit the government to succumb to the US pressure," party leader Sitaram Yechury said.
'Never in the history of any government, the first 100 days have been characterised by the daily turmoil that we witness in Parliament,' according to the PM.
Unfazed by the recent controversies, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi described the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre as the "real merchant of death".
The BJP has identified about 40 issues and decided to reserve certain days to raise major issues.
Bardhan has said they must remember that they do not have a majority and cannot do without Left support.
The government came in for a scathing attack in the Lok Sabha on Monday from friends and foes alike over handling of the economy.
The Samajwadi Party on Saturday refused an offer by the United Progressive Alliance to join the Cabinet, saying its first priority was to prepare for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The offer was made to the SP in the first meeting of the coordination committee it had formed with the UPA in the wake of the Manmohan Singh government winning the July 22 trust vote its the support.
Unlike 2004 when Sonia Gandhi took things into her hands and hit the road and stitched up alliances, there is a lack of grip this time, as if things are on auto pilot. Cabinet meetings get over in minutes. People are glibly talking of a third front government in 2009 supported by the Congress.
'We trust Congress President Sonia Gandhi's assurance that her party will not give up the coalition dharma,' the DMK said.
The decision was taken to keep the BJP out of power.
The work on seat sharing with other allies will begin from Thursday, he told reporters.
The demand comes in the backdrop of the UPA government granting a special Rs 3,225 crore package to Bihar, ruled by key UPA constituent Rashtriya Janata Dal, in the Union Budget 2004-05 ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
The appointment of Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next army chief will not be affected by the change of government, said new Defence Minister Arun Jaitley whose party BJP had strongly opposed the United Progressive Alliance government for elevating him to the top post.
The key architect of the Land Acquisition Act has made notes on his opposition to the amendments suggested by the government
More than a year after playing a key role in installation of a Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia was rewarded with a berth in the Union Cabinet, a familiar terrain for the Rajya Sabha member who had served as a junior minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
Sibal, a prominent Opposition voice and a former Congress leader, also said that instead of a common minimum programme, the Opposition parties should talk about a 'new vision for India'.
The key UNPA meet has decided to consult experts on the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal.
Sources within the INDIA bloc said appointing Nitish Kumar as convenor would lend credibility to the INDIA bloc's demand for conducting a nationwide caste census.
Ruptures in the opposition unity emerged barely a week after 17 parties joined hands to put up a joint candidate against the ruling National Democratic Alliance nominee for the July 17 presidential election.
Condolences have poured in from across the globe, including from the United States, Canada and Sri Lanka following the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
He served as an effective link between the party and government during the two terms of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between 2004 and 2014. As political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he had access to leadership that no other leader in the party had and worked the channels to work out various issues.
Gandhi also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over unemployment, farmers distress and alleged corruption in the Rafale deal with France.
Creating a positive reform that does away with an official who constitutes a flawed aspect of Indian democracy will allow the BJP to rightfully claim this as one of its positive legacies, suggests Karan P Shah.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances