The issue of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not being a directly elected member of Parliament came to the fore again today when Leader of theOpposition L K Advani said that in a democracy the head of government should be from the Lok Sabha.
Leader of the Opposition L K Advani today demanded that the Constitution be amended to make it mandatory for the Prime Minister to be a member of the Lok Sabha.
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When Advani shook hands, the prime minister did not come out his seat. While Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav hugged Advani for a second, Lalu Prasad too came out of his seat to greet Advani, but did not hug him.
"Left Front's opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal and Tamil Nadu's ruling party's attempt to destroy Ram Sethu would bring a radical change in Indian politics," he said.
The RSS, which has been building pressure on BJP to end its internal bickerings and is favouring younger leadership, feels it was a blunder to project Advani as BJP's prime ministerial candidate and making the party's poll campaign Advani-centric.
The Congress party has accused the BJP government of disrespecting opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge by seating them in the third row during the Republic Day parade. BJP leaders have responded by questioning Rahul Gandhi's attendance at other important events.
The deputy prime minister said National Democratic Front convener George Fernandes is consulting partners on the issue.
BJP leader says there can be no government at the Centre without the BJP or the Congress backing
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed an interesting passage of arms when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened repeatedly and rejected senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's charge that United States' pressure was behind India's decision to talk to Pakistan.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
A new book reveals that Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejected an offer to become President of India, a move that would have made Lal Krishna Advani Prime Minister. Vajpayee believed that a sitting PM becoming President would set a bad precedent for Indian democracy.
Nitin Nabin, a five-time Bihar MLA, has been elected unopposed as the BJP national president, becoming the youngest person to hold the position. His appointment signals a generational shift in the party's leadership as it prepares for key state elections.
Sunny Deol. Akshaye Khanna. Anil Kapoor. Madhuri Dixit. Saif Ali Khan. Manoj Bajaypee. Netflix's 2026 slate packs a starry punch.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sumitra Mahajan will be the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha with senior leaders from all parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, moving motions on Thursday proposing her name for the high office.
Addressing media persons at a press conference, Swaraj said: "We have elected him for a full term. We did not elect him Leader of Opposition with a deadline."
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed an uproar over violence in Agra and the incident in Bhagalpur in Bihar where a thief was beaten up by a mob, tied to a motorcycle and dragged.
'The move to appoint a person with a profile, markedly lower than the leader Nitin Nabin will replace, has the potential to put the brakes on the careers of several others in the party and government in the positions they currently hold,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Lok Sabha witnessed unruly scenes during Question Hour today as Congress and Telugu Desam Party members raised the Telangana issue and DMK members of Parliament protested holding of Commonwealth Summit in Sri Lanka.
A bill proposing compulsory voting was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday by a Congress member, a suggestion recently made by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani.
Advani said he had spoken to Chief Minister Mayawati and she had written a letter to him explaining her stand.
She won't contest next Lok Sabha poll due to health reasons.
Eight-term member Sumitra Mahajan was on Friday unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha, becoming the second woman presiding officer of the Lower House after her predecessor Meira Kumar.
Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday formally took over as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, occupying the seat hitherto held by senior BJP leader L K Advani.
Senior party leader and prime ministerial candidate L K Advani will contest from Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat. Other prominent names announced in the first list include Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar), Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur), Shripad Y Naik (Panaji), Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur) and T P S Rawat (Pauri).
A new Lokpal Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and the existing one withdrawn.
"I was responding to election results when a newsman asked me about the Quattrocchi issue. All I said was that CBI will be given full freedom in the case, and it was not my intention to hurt anybody," Dr Singh said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday blamed the Congress for the "disgraceful" pepper spraying incident in Lok Sabha, saying it was a "drama" enacted by the ruling party and vowed not to engage with the government on any issue again.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several of his Cabinet colleagues and Congress President Sonia Gandhi were prominent among those who took oath as members of the 16th Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The modalities for seat-sharing would be worked out later after AGP had talks on a similar arrangement with other opposition parties, he said. Stating that various problems of the state were discussed at the meeting, Patowary said, opposition leader Advani was urged to raise in Parliament the issues concerning the people here to pressurise the centre for solving them.
In seniority in the BJP leadership team, V K Malhotra, who passed into the ages this week, was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, notes Sudhir Bisht.
Lal Kishenchand Advani, who revived the Bharatiya Janata Party after its 1984 drubbing (when it won only 2 Lok Sabha seats), received a renewed BJP membership certificate from BJP national President J P Nadda during the party's membership drive in New Delhi on Thursday, September 5, 2024.
The Deepa Thoon controversy, if not allowed to die a natural death, could take the election focus away from the anti-incumbency impacting the DMK and into the secular space. Stalin would love to have it that way, all over again, after the three past elections, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Can a corrupt revenue system be trusted to keep confidences when oodles of money are involved, asks Mahesh Vijapurkar
Simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can help reduce difficulties in terms of expenditure and management, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday and asked the Election Commission to take the initiative in bringing political parties on one platform to discuss the issue.
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Unabated uproar by Congress members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday invited the wrath of Speaker Sumitra Mahajan who called their protests "murder of democracy" and "hijacking" the rights of 440 members by 40-50 others in the Opposition.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced bills in Lok Sabha addressing the removal of arrested PMs, CMs, and ministers, sparking opposition protests. Shah emphasized the need for public decision on whether leaders should govern from jail, criticizing the Congress party's stance on the matter.
Parliament on Wednesday passed the crucial Lokpal Bill with the Lok Sabha adopting the measure as amended by the Rajya Sabha after a short discussion, amid the din created by pro- and anti-Telangana members.
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