Jaswant Singh could stick out like a sore thumb for BJP even in the Lok Sabha after its attempt to remove him from the Chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee has been virtually rejected by Speaker Meira Kumar.
The demand was made by the Nationalist Congress Party, the Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The only other legislative action was the approval of the Supplementary Demands for Grants.
Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar passed away in New Delhi on Wednesday. He was 92.
Trouble began in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha right from the word go as a determined Opposition demanded suspension of Question Hour and taking up of discussion on the issue.
The BJP on Thursday announced a seat-sharing arrangement with the Asom Gana Parishad, saying that it will contest eight of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam while the regional party will field candidates in rest of the six constituencies.
"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.
BJP leader L K Advani described this year's Lok Sabha polls as the "most remarkable election ever held in the history of India" but parried queries on the prospects of Narendra Modi becoming the prime minister.
He the government of India should also raise the compensation for the train blast victims in Mumbai to Rs 10 lakh each just as it is doing in the case of victims of the Samjhauta Express.
The BJP stalwart's body was later brought to his residence at Kailash Colony.
A growing dominance of Narendra Modi within the Bharatiya Janata Party and his popularity outside the party have forced the BJP's new-generation leadership to rally behind the Gujarat chief minister. In fact, the top brass is mulling over the possibility of giving him the charge of the 'campaign and selection committee' for next year's Lok Sabha election.
The Opposition's stand on the Ayodhya consecration is puzzling. Their only objection seems to be that the BJP has hijacked a religious event for political benefit. In saying this, the Opposition is either being naive or hypocritical, argues Jyoti Punwani.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj has said that the situation in her party is 'volcanic' following its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
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.
The Lok Sabha had a total of 21 sittings, spread over 113 hours.
Days after Lal Kishenchand Advani was declared the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for prime ministership for the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held in February 2009 unless Parliament is dissolved earlier, massive defeats in two bypolls in Khargone for Lok Sabha and the Sanver MLA seat sent the party top brass in a tizzy.
"Leaders like Vajpayee, Advani treated me with respect," the JD-U leader said.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
The prime minister was often seen vigorously thumping the desk, prompting his Cabinet colleagues and NDA MPs to follow suit.
Behind its high-decibel campaign, powered by well-organised party machinery, the BJP also appears to have made a slight departure from its 'next generation' approach to stay ahead of an aggressive Congress and enhance its prospects of securing a majority of seats.
The third phase of Lok Sabha elections scheduled for Tuesday will see the maximum number of seats going to the polls in a single phase -- 117 across 15 states and Union Territories. It will also be a test for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which will aim to defend the maximum number of seats at 62. This time the BJP will be tested in its bastion Gujarat -- where polling will be held for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state -- apart from Karanataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where the party had done well in 2014. Here are some of the big political leaders' who await their fate on Tuesday.
The National Democratic Alliance, led by strong man Narendra Modi secured a whopping 352 of 542 seats, making it evident that his message of muscular nationalism, security and Hindu pride had worked wonders.
The National Democratic Alliance on Tuesday evening agreed to end the boycott of parliamentary committees.
The less charitable in the party say he owes his appointment Sonia Gandhi -- the family wanted someone who wouldn't talk back and would not exert himself too much, notes Aditi Phadnis.
He underlined the need for patience in political life and said those seeking a change of guard should go back to the people to achieve it.
Here's a list of the full first-time ministers in the second term of the Narendra Modi government.
Demanding immediate recall of Gujarat governor on Lokayukta appointment issue, a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament led by senior leader L K Advani on Friday met President Pratibha Patil who informed them that the matter is sub-judice.
On the first day of winter session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the Opposition.
From the voter-level, traditionally anti-BJP, anti-Hindutva minorities and other secular voters would have an option, especially in the face of the mounting anti-incumbency against the ruling party -- as it happened in the 2001 assembly polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday formally declared Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate after hectic parleys by senior leaders to convince L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi to give up their opposition to him.
A 7-hr debate was held over the contentious bill. Oppn amendments rejected.
The seat-share progression should worry the BJP. From the previous assembly polls of 2017, through the assembly segments in its favour in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and now in 2022, the BJP's seat-share has come down from a high 312 to 275 to 255. N Sathiya Moorthy reads the political tea leaves after the UP and Punjab election verdicts.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said her party would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on its own.
As the nation marks the 14th anniversary of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other prominent leaders paid their tribute to the martyrs.
Acting on Speaker Manohar Joshi's directive, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said she had spoken to Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and he had sought a day's time to collect relevant information from the state government.
Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Lal Krishna Advani on Friday said the only way to end the present situation of uncertainty in the country and tackle the economic crisis effectively is to hold Lok Sabha elections in 2013.
His margin was just a shade lower than the 6.96 lakh record set by Pritam Munde in October 2014 when she won the by-election to Beed seat in Maharashtra after the untimely death of her father and former Union minister Gopinath Munde.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
