Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla was on Wednesday made Governor of Manipur while ex-Rajya Sabha MP V P Singh Badnore goes to Punjab in new gubernatorial appointments announced for four states with all of them being associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
It is now almost certain that Najma Heptulla, lately from the Congress and now member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (Rajasthan) from the Bharatiya Janata Party, is not going to be elected vice-president.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla has stoked a controversy by reportedly calling all Indians "Hindus". However, she sought to clarify her comments on Friday, saying she had called all Indians Hindi, the Arabic term for people living in India and what she said was "not in relation to the religion but in relation to identity as nationality". She did not call them Hindus, she said.
Slamming the Maharashtra government's move to announce five per cent reservation for Muslims in education and jobs, Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla has said the decision reflects all that has been wrong with the Congress's approach towards minorities through the years.
President Pratibha Patil expressed her condolences on the sudden demise of Akbarali A Heptulla, husband of Najma Heptulla, former deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha.
Heptulla, who had four terms -- 24 years -- in the Upper House as a representative of the Congress, resigned from the party shortly after the Rajya Sabha adjourned on Thursday.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla, who had crossed 75 years, resigned on Tuesday from the Union Cabinet along with Minister of State for Heavy Industries G M Siddeshwara.
The Rajya Sabha today bid a touching farewell to its members who were retiring after serving their six-year term, including Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla and Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh
'My one recommendation would be to first quell the violence and then encourage dialogue and build the trust among the different communities.' 'This is not easy but necessary, for violence cannot be the way forward.'
Rajya Sabha Secretary General Yogendra Narain is the returning officer for the vice presidential election.
After being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1999, Najma Heptulla rang up the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to convey the news but had to hold the phone line for an hour as a staff told her that 'madam is busy'.
Former deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptulla would contest from Rajasthan.
The sources said Thackeray also had talks with former prime minister and NDA chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee a couple of days back.
Stating that providing reservation was no solution to development concerns of Muslims, Najma Heptulla, who took charge as Minister for Minority Affairs, said the new government will ensure progress of all communities, with special stress on education facilities for minorities.
'I hope we can move towards peace, stability, and national unity.' 'I believe most Kashmiris want that too.'
'Mr Modi has the power and pre-eminence in the BJP-RSS to choose how long he wants to serve, and he is definitely going to want to contest in 2029.' 'He will only be 79, as old as Donald Trump now, and fitter,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The BJP has vehemently criticized the Karnataka government's decision to provide four per cent reservation for Muslims in government contracts, labeling it an "unconstitutional misadventure." The party has pledged to challenge the move in court and has vowed to oppose it at all levels. Meanwhile, the ruling Congress party has defended the reservation, arguing that it aligns with constitutional provisions. The issue has led to heated exchanges in the Karnataka Assembly, with both parties accusing each other of engaging in appeasement politics.
An overview of the past vice presidential elections in India, highlighting uncontested wins, multi-cornered fights, and notable candidates.
Condemning atrocities on minorities in Pakistan, a Bharatiya Janata Party member demanded in the Rajya Sabha that India raise the issue at international level as it was violation of human rights.
Three MPs, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, came on wheelchairs.
The National Commission for Women said on Wednesday that the law to protect women from domestic violence needs to be given more teeth at the level of implementation and people working on it should ensure that its provisions are not watered down in revision.
Karat will be the third woman member after Najma Heptulla (Bharatiya Janata Party) and Prabha Thakur (Congress) were inducted into the body, which earlier comprised only men
Hamid Ansari of United Progressive Alliance-Left, Najma Heptulla of National Democratic Alliance and Rasheed Masood of the Third Front are in the race for the second highest office.
Controversial disinvestment of Mumbai's Centaur hotel rocked Rajya Sabha Tuesday as Shiv Sena member Sanjay Nirupam alleged harassment of its employees leading to heart attacks and strokes to five of them.
Following the engine snag, the two BJP leaders shelved their plans to travel to Imphal for the swearing-in ceremony of N Biren Singh as Manipur chief minister, sources said.
The party will meet Governor Najma Heptullah soon to stake claim for forming government.
Eight other ministers from the BJP and its alliance partners also took oath along with the chief minister.
With the Rajya Sabha term of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ending, the BJP will have no Muslim MP among its 395 members of Parliament.
Her successor in the HRD Ministry Prakash Javadekar elevated as a member of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
Narendra Modi is expected to have a 45-member council of ministers who will take oath along with him on Monday evening. The council of ministers is expected to have 23 Cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and 11 ministers of state, according to sources.
Trinamool Congress's Lok Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi would get the award for 2016 and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad would get it for 2015, the Lok Sabha secretariat said in a statement.
Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla has rejected the contention that Muslims are feeling insecure under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led regime and said the community has felt alienated since Independence because of the policies of successive Congress governments.
The 39-year-old Imphal-based journalist was detained under the NSA on November 26 for allegedly uploading videos criticising the BJP-led governments in Manipur and at the Centre for observing Rani Jhansi's birth anniversary.
Hitting out at Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for demanding revocation of voting rights of Muslims, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi said the Bharatiya Janata Party cannot dissociate itself from his statement and asked it to take action against him.
The governor justified her decision to invite the BJP, saying the party has requisite numbers.
The victory was marked with the support of 32 of the total 60 MLAs in the assembly.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan for an hour today in yet another attempt to bring about a thaw between the two warring states of Andhra and Telangana. Sources told Rediff.com that Rajnath Singh told the Narasimhan to explain Section 8 in the AP Bifurcation Act to both chief ministers.
BJP gives only 7 per cent instead of promised 33 per cent representation to women in its national executive
The blockade was imposed by the United Naga Council on November 1 to protest against the creation of seven new districts.
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