Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajparty Party, which support the United Progressive Alliance from outside, on Wednesday created repeated obstructions in Rajya Sabha, prompting an angry Bharatiya Janata Party to allege that the government has decided not to run the House because of its 'number game'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the government of giving 'limited denials' on the telephone tapping allegations and warned that allowing lobbyists to influence policies like telecom spectrum would be 'hugely frightening' for Parliamentary democracy. In a blistering attack on the government, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley asked whether 'public emergency' or 'public safety' was under threat to bug the telephones of four senior political leaders.
Opposition parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and Left parties came together in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday to demand revocation of suspension of seven members, but the ruling Congress said those showing disrespect to Chair should express regret before such a move is initiated.
In a show of solidarity, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Monday met jailed Rajathan MLA Rajendra Rathore, an accused in Dara Singh fake encounter killing case, and said the party would help him fight his legal battle, while accusing Congress of using the Central Bureau of Investigation to serve its political agenda.
The government objected to the demand throwing the Lok Sabha into turmoil, while the Rajya Sabha witnessed ruling party members opposing permission by the Chair to Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley to raise the matter.
The government on Wednesday said it wants to bring the bill to set up anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal, in Rajya Sabha during the first part of the current Budget session of Parliament.
With falling rupee and rising oil prices casting a shadow over Indian economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the country is faced with a difficult economic situation for which some domestic factors too were responsible.
In a rude shock to top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharati, the party leadership chose not to include their names in the list of leaders to address protest rallies.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday slammed Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for accusing it and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of running terror training camps and said he should either prove it or apologise.
Procedural wrangles over voting for taking up a discussion on the alleged interference of the government in preparing Central Bureau of Investigation report on the coalgate scam led to a brief adjournment in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lashed out at the Central Bureau of Investigation for procrastinating the filing of the chargesheet in the 2G spectrum scam. Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior leader Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley alleged that the chargesheet in the 2G spectrum case had left out "core issues" without significantly dealing with loss to the exchequer and alleged that the timetable of investigation was influenced by the TN polls.
"The Parliament session has a very heavy legislative agenda. We are reaching out to the various political parties to carry through these agenda in the four weeks that we have for the session," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today at a press conference in New Delhi.
The war of words between Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Arun Jaitley, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, refuses to die.
The National Democratic Alliance government made all efforts to bring the alleged Bofors scam guilty to the book, but the successive Congress-led governments tried to "kill" the case, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley tells Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate show.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday asked Congress to clarify whether it paid Rs 90 crore to Associated Journals, which ran the now-defunct National Herald daily, saying if it was true it was violation of tax and electoral laws.
Debate and accountability must co-exist, says leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley
Claiming that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi are not on the same page, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said government has to be large-hearted and not act as "big brother" for creating a political consensus, which is key to economic reforms.
A day after her criticism of Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday changed tune to say that she had 'respect' and 'full faith' in the chair and expressed hope that he will find ways for passage of the bill for quota in promotion.
In an apparent show of unanimity, the report of the Select Committee on Lokpal Bill, which has recommended delinking creation of Lokayuktas in states from the central bill, is scheduled to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Friday by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Keeping the United Progressive Alliance government in the line of fire on Indo-Pak Sharm-el Sheikh joint statement, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's praise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee cannot shield him from his 'monumental lapse' in reversing India's consistent stand on Pakistan.
Unruly scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday after the opposition members raised the issue of alleged phone tapping of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley, leading to a brief adjournment of the House.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, parliamentary party chief L K Advani and Leader of Opposition of both Houses of Parliament will finalise the strategy for Presidential and Vice Presidential elections and discuss the issue with the National Democratic Alliance partners.
Expressing disappointment with the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party's decision to abstain from voting on the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail in the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, on Thursday said that the Congress-led UPA is a lame-duck government dependent on costly support.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley tries to tear apart the 'mischievous' allegations over the 2002 Gujarat riots against Gujarat chief minister, and now BJP's PM candidate, Narendra Modi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said the general budget 2010-11 would fuel inflation in food articles, health, education and housing making the life of common man more difficult.
All are welcome to campaign for the BJP candidate in Amritsar, except one.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Arun Jaitley on Wednesday visited Tihar jail to meet Sudheendra Kulkarni and former party members of Parliament lodged at the jail in connection with the cash-for-vote scam.
Jaitley remained steadfast in not caving in to sustained Opposition pressure.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday night named 12 candidates, including cash-for-vote scam accused Faggan Singh Kulaste and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley for election to the upper house of Parliament.
In a further escalation of the confrontation between the Congress and the government, the opposition party claimed that a committee constituted by the Delhi government has found 'gross financial irregularities' in the DDCA during that period.
Arun Jaitley, the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart, in an interview with Business Standard pokes holes in the Budget 2011 and says that the current government is the most corrupt ever . . .
It is a measure of the overwhelming presence of the leadership of the original duo, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, in the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party that the party has had some difficulty in making the transition from the Vajpayee-Advani era. But in choosing Sushma Swaraj for the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has put its best foot forward.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday took its grievances against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to President Pranab Mukherjee, demanding his intervention on the coal allocation issue and attacks on a constitutional institution like the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The finance minister said while the 10 years of the United Progressive Alliance government were characterised by "policy paralysis", the Modi dispensation introduced structural reforms to make India a developed nation and give it a cleaner economy.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has invited senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Adavani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to discuss United Progressive Alliance government's political initiative in Kashmir.
The finance minister said the economy had been slowing.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dinner on Thursday for the Bharatiya Janata Party top brass failed to break the impasse over the Foreign Direct Investment in retail issue with the opposition party insisting on a discussion in Parliament on it under provisions which entail voting.
He also took potshots at opposition parties' decision to observing November 8 as a 'Black Day', saying the move displays their faith in cash economy.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow to personally invite the Congress vice-president to his daughter Sonali's wedding.
He said there was a tradition in the country to speak in one voice on issues such as external affairs and national security but there has been a departure from it in the last few years.
