Key United Progressive Alliance ally Mamata Banerjee, who kept up the suspense till the last moment before backing Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential elections, on Wednesday attended Mukherjee's oath taking ceremony while no Chief Minister from Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states were present.
Hazarika and Deshmukh were given the Bharat Ratna posthumously.
The government has exempt salaried people earning up to Rs 500,000 annually from filing income tax returns.
There is a serious move afoot to reschedule the second half of the budget session of the Parliament with sources disclosing that leader of the Lok Sabha and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee would discuss the rescheduling of dates in the meeting of floor leaders of political parties which he has called on April 5.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's bonanza to Members of Parliament of increasing their Local Area Development funds from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore has come as a shot in the arm for members of the Parliament cutting across party lines. All are happy except one leader, the chairman of the Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari.
Shinde said speaking on RSS platform is very important.
"Pranab Mukherjee met me this morning and said the government was in no position to accept a JPC probe," Advani said at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday.
The nation on Saturday remembered former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 31st death anniversary with President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and other leaders paying tributes at her memorial in New Delhi.
President Pranab Mukherjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday jointly inaugurated the locomotives and wagons supplied under a $800 million line of credit extended by India, reflecting growing bilateral ties in infrastructure sector.
Mukherjee presented the Union Budget in the Parliament on Friday.
With these three recipients, 48 eminent people have been conferred the award so far.
However, in reality, Mukherjee neither wore a cap nor did he give any salute.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary and Member of Legislative Assembly Subal Bhowmick on Monday alleged that a group of Congress activists had assaulted Abhijit Mukherjee, a Congress MLA from West Bengal and son of President Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday at Bamutia, nearly 35 km from Agartala.
Singh made these comments at the launch of Mukherjee's book -- The coalition years.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met senior Congress colleagues, including Pranab Mukherjee, to discuss the Presidential poll issue ahead of the United Progressive Alliance meeting.
Veteran Congressman Pranab Mukherjee on Monday took over as the Finance Minister and held meetings with top ministry officials to deliberate on various issues faced by the slackening economy as well as the forthcoming Budget.
A Trinamool Congress leader on Sunday said UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee had all along been a "close friend" of the Marxists from the beginning of his political career to its end.
The sister of Sarabjit Singh, the death row prisoner languishing in a Pakistani jail, on Friday met President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking his intervention for his release and demanded that the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad visit him in the prison to check on his health.
'The Presidential Years' would be the fourth to be authored by Mukherjee, who passed away on Monday at the R&R hospital at the age of 84.
Mukherjee has been entrusted with the task of handling the stand off between the two stalwarts before it gets out of hand, according sources close to external affairs minister.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut said he will meet Mukherjee next week, insisting he has proved to be "best President" and that nobody can doubt his capabilities.
Didi drags Rashtrapati into electoral battle.
External Affairs Minister and leader of House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee called up Leader of the Opposition L K Advani expressing willingness to re-schedule the session as suggested by the latter at an all-party meeting on Friday on account of festivals, including Diwali, and the assembly elections.
The President has begun studying Constitutional and Presidential precedents in anticipation of a fractured mandate in next year's general election, reveals R Prema.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a rare show of camaraderie between Leader of Opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani and Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday when the former lauded the union minister for his role as the principal trouble-shooter of the government.Mukherjee blushingly smiled and welcomed the statement with folded hands even as the House applauded with thumping of desks.
United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee is expected to file four sets of nomination papers signed by top UPA leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
Even as the Congress Working Committee met on Monday morning to salute its seniormost member Pranab Mukherjee (who became a CWC member in 1978) and put on record its appreciation of his services both in the party and the government, the union finance minister spent his day tying up loose ends and saying his goodbyes.
"Take something more, no harm," this was the remark by President Pranab Mukherjee to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the customary tea party at the Rashtrapati Bhavan after the civil investiture ceremony on Wednesday where 50 eminent persons were conferred Padma awards.
Before leaving to tender his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mukherjee said, " I stand ready to embark on a new journey".
But the veteran Congress leader offered all support to the prime minister-designate
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday wrapped up his three-day maiden overseas tour of Bangladesh after visiting the ancestral home of his in-laws.
United Progressive Alliance presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday called up dissident Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman who later said that he endorsed his candidature for the top post.
There was considerable disquiet in the Congress after Mukherjee accepted the invitation of the RSS to address its workers at its headquarters in Nagpur.
Tight security cover has been thrown around the capital for Mukherjee's visit, the first to Jammu and Kashmir after he took over as President on July 25 this year.
Mukherjee has always been obliging to mediapersons waiting for comments outside his North Block office on various issues plaguing the economy and sometimes on politics.
As Pranab Mukherjee steps down as President, we remember the man, the politician, the Rashtrapati.
Eminent lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Jethmalani on Saturday launched himself in the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
President Pranab Mukherji 'Indra Dhanush' floated a music extravaganza outfit at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan and held its first World Flute Festival to commemorate Krishna Jayanti on Sunday.
