Naturally, the West Bengal chief minister is not leaving anything to chance, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
With the Lok Sabha unanimously making an appeal to Anna Hazare to end his fast, Finance Minister and government interlocutor Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday hoped that the social activist will listen to this message.
Brushing aside speculations of tension with ally Trinamool Congress, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said the two parties would form an alliance to fight the 2011 Assembly election.
With two weeks of the monsoon session having passed without much significant business, Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal on Friday reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party top brass, including L K Advani, to discuss smooth passage of pending bills in the House.
The ordinance on the Food Security Bill is expected to come up for consideration in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, sources said on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday the Intelligence Bureau's 'chewing gum theory' regarding the alleged bugging of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's office as 'big joke'. The party has demanded a thorough probe into the matter.
Mukherjee and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey signed the revised pact in New Delhi on Monday.
In spite of the recent spate of exposes in the media detailing alleged corruption and scams in the preparations for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the Centre has decided to release additional funds for the Games.The Opposition will get yet another chance to attack the government and the Suresh Kalmadi led Commonwealth Games Organising Committee when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presents the supplementary demand for grants in Lok Sabha.
The finance minister attributed the rising prices to demand-supply mismatch, depreciating rupee, global commodity prices and easy monetary policy followed by some countries.
The Individual tax payer exemption limit to be raised to Rs 200,000 from Rs 180,000.
The controversy over allowing FDI in retail rocked Parliament for the third day on Tuesday with a united opposition forcing adjournment of both the Houses till noon. Shortly after the Lok Sabha met for the day, members rushed to the Well, demanding rollback of the decision to allow FDI in the retail sector. Members of Trinamool Congress, a key partner of the United Progressive Alliance, kept shouting 'Cancel FDI in retail'.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday approved the interim general budget which will be presented in the Lok Sabha by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday. Singh went through the interim budget related papers and after formally signing them, forwarded them to President Pratibha Patil, a Prime Minister's Office spokesman said."The Prime Minister also approved the interim budget speech," the spokesman added.
Responding to the price rise debate in Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said that it should be tackled by leaders across all the political parties.
As Anna Hazare's fast entered the 12th day, Pranab Mukherjee said the situation was "moving out of hand" and "a crisis" had been created even as he asked lawmakers to "seize the moment and demonstrate the commitment" in dealing with corruption which is "gnawing at the vitals of our polity".
The ceremony will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The exercise would culminate into the election of a successor to Amit Shah.
In a House of 243, the ruling United Progressive Alliance has the clear support of 101 members and needs at least another 21 members to ensure a simple majority for the bill
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday night decided to recommend re-promulgation of the land acquistion ordinance incorporating nine amendments that were part of the bill that was passed in Lok Sabha earlier this month.
The Budget has increased the allocation for the Commonwealth Games from Rs 3,472 crore (Rs 34.72 billion) from Rs 2,112 crore (Rs 21.12 billion).
The Navy (Amendment) Bill, 1997, which was earlier passed by the Rajya Sabha, was tabled in the Lok Sabha by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and passed by a voice vote after a short discussion.
The Union Budget for 2017 is likely to be presented on February 1. An approval for merging the Railway Budget with the General Budget was accorded by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was re-nominated on Sunday by the Congress from the Jangipur seat in West Bengal for the coming Lok Sabha polls
The Left parties were on Tuesday subjected to ridicule by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who suggested that they were not keeping pace with the "moving" world and contended that the UPA would have met its Waterloo if it had followed economic prescription of erstwhile allies.
The Congress party's chief political troubleshooter, Pranab Mukherjee has been informally appointed the "chairman of the party's group of ministers on alliances" for the coming Lok Sabha elections by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 28.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 28.
Some tax reliefs are proposed to be announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, amid demands from various Opposition parties to review service tax proposal for the housing sector in the budget.
Quoting medieval India's political thinker Kautilya as well as Mahatma Gandhi, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday punctuated his Budget speech with words of wisdom, wit and humour.
In the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 23, 116 seats spread across 13 states and two Union Territories, will go to the polls.
The issue of Pakistan high commissions' involvement in anti-India activities has been taken up with other countries, said Pranab Mukherjee.
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.
"There is a need to sustain foreign trade, revive foreign investments and generate domestic demand in order to maintain our growth rates," said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also holding the finance portfolio. Boosting the economy was also necessary to "uplift multitudes living below the poverty line." Noting that India cannot remain immune to global crisis, he said, "India faces special challenges from the international financial crisis."
Trinamool Congress candidate Prasun Banerjee on Wednesday won the Howrah Lok Sabha seat in a by-election defeating his nearest rival, Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Sridip Bhattacherjee, by over 27,000 votes.
Das had claimed that the alleged electoral manipulation by the BJP also appeared to have taken the form of targeted electoral discrimination against Muslims, "partly facilitated by weak monitoring by election observers."
The essential dispute is over China's refusal to acknowledge the McMohan Line as the border between the two nations, and staking claim to large tracts of land as a contiguous part of Tibet.
A solution is expected on the issue of suspension of seven Rajya Sabha members by Thursday evening.
Modi, who was accompanied by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Manoj Tiwari, said Dikhsit made a noteworthy contribution to the development of the national capital.
Leader of the Lok Sabha and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has invited leaders of all parties for a luncheon meeting to discuss a way out to end the impasse in Parliament as both Houses have not been able to transact any business since the winter session commenced.
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.
President Pranab Mukherjee hosted an iftar reception on Friday evening at Rashtrapati Bhavan which was attended among others by Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
