Top leaders of the Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) held talks in an informal setting in Mumbai on Thursday evening to chart out a concrete roadmap and evolve a structure for cooperation among the alliance partners to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Zoramthanga said people fleeing from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur feel safe in Mizoram which is ruled by his party.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Lone member of the Rajya Sabha from Mizoram Lalhming Liana on Friday said he would not support the United Progressive Alliance government when voting takes place in the upper house on Foreign Direct Investment in retail.
Opposition National Democratic Alliance and estranged United Progressive Alliance ally Trinamool Congress on Friday criticised the decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail, saying government has surrendered to crony capitalism and feared that the policy will spell doom for farmers and small traders.
Kushwaha was absent at a get-together of the NDA in Patna on Thursday night and his party demanded that the next Lok Sabha and assembly polls be fought under his leadership.
"We have enough human resource and a diplomat told me that 21st century's Saudia Arabia, with its rich human resource, is India," the Nerhu-Gandhi scion said in his eight-minute speech.
...the DMK chief minister's campaign -- which includes criticism of the BJP's 'pro-Hindutva, anti-Tamil, anti-federal' policies and building on his own government's social welfare programmes targeting especially women and youth -- appeals to Tamil Nadu's voters in next year's assembly election, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
If it was Andhra Pradesh last Budget, it's poll-bound Bihar that has now turned to Centre with a list of demands. How the NDA government is delivering on promises.
The 17th Lok Sabha, which was dissolved on June 5, did not have a deputy speaker for its full term, and it was the second consecutive term of the lower house without an LoP.
Women leaders banged steel plates with spoons as men rang hand-bells during their symbolic demonstration at Vijay Chowk leading to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In a embarrassment to the government, Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha on Thursday forced deferment of a bill that aimed at allowing Border Security Force to operate at places other than border areas.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was an experienced leader and it would be great if a proposal came to make him the convenor of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), his deputy Tejashwi Yadav said on Wednesday.
National Democratic Alliance constitutent Janata Dal (United) on Friday advocated a cautious approach for the Opposition alliance on Presidential election downplaying former President APJ Abdul Kalam's visit to Patna, saying no politics should be read into it.
According to the sources, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CPI national secretary D Raja, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader and grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, Prakash, and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are some of the probable contenders whose names the Opposition parties are considering.
Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor has begun a fast unto death in Patna, demanding the cancellation of a recent examination held by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). Kishor's hunger strike comes after he gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the Nitish Kumar government to act on the demand, raised by aggrieved candidates who allege the exam was rigged. The administration has declared the hunger strike illegal as it is not the designated site for protests.
The RJD will give one seat to the CPI-ML from its quota and former JD-U president Sharad Yadav will contest on RJD symbol.
Govt ready to discuss issues of public importance: Azad
The alliance will resume its boycott of Parliament indefinitely from Tuesday protesting against the United Progressive Alliance government's 'hostile and vindictive' attitude.
Flanked by the Trinamool Congress chief, Naidu attacked the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre alleging that institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department, Reserve Bank of India and Comptroller Auditor General are under "severe pressure".
P A Sangma, the Opposition candidate for the Presidential poll, on Thursday filed his nomination papers in the presence of leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party, some National Democratic Alliance allies, Biju Janata Dal, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, northeast states and tribal legislators in New Delhi.
Sources close to Reddy confirmed that his visit to the hill shrine has been cancelled, but did not immediately divulge the reason behind the decision that came just a couple of hours before he was supposed to depart to the temple town.
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 work we have done in the south and the northeast over the last 10 years under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, we have started getting results of the same, he said.
Most exit polls on Sunday forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance will get more than 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.
The road for the Opposition is full of 'ifs' and 'buts', reports Sunil Gatade.
Lawyers have pointed out that the new laws increase police powers by extending the maximum limit of police custody from 15 days to 60 days or 90 days.
Reconciling with division within the National Democratic Alliance over Presidential poll, Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced its support to P A Sangma to pit him against United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
The Janata Dal-United on Friday virtually put its foot down on the issue of the National Democratic Alliance taking any stand on Abdul Kalam, projected as Presidential candidate by the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress, following which the opposition alliance deferred its decision.
'The assailants knocked at the gates of Yadav's house around 5.30 am and opened fire as soon as he opened the gates,' the Bihar Police tweeted.
Ruptures in the opposition unity emerged barely a week after 17 parties joined hands to put up a joint candidate against the ruling National Democratic Alliance nominee for the July 17 presidential election.
Congress leader K C Venugopal and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's T R Baalu walked out of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's office, refusing to endorse NDA candidate Birla without being offered the Deputy Speaker's position.
"There are double standards with which the House is being run. There is a disregard of the Opposition," Malhotra said.
The assembly secretariat released the business agenda of the House for Monday, when the budget session will commence, with a customary address by the Governor to members of the bicameral legislature.
Unsure about having the numbers in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and other parties have decided they will create awareness about the "divisive" nature of the proposed legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
"The Opposition should introspect before resorting to such political opportunism. They raised prices of petrol 21 times, that of diesel 24 times and that of liquefied petroleum gas five times when the National Democratic Alliance was in power," party spokesman Manish Tewari said.
According to sources, all the three Shiv Sena MPs in the Rajya Sabha have been allocated seats on the opposition side, while in the Lok Sabha it is yet to be done.
The National Democratic Alliance could not have got a candidate for vice-presidential poll with more gravitas than Jaswant Singh, a former army officer who has headed finance, defence and external affairs ministries, authored books and even served as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The government on Tuesday conceded the opposition demand for having 30 members in the Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum issue, giving up its earlier plan for a 21-member panel to accommodate smaller parties like All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, sources said.
The Indian National Lok Dal on Sunday rejoined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and announced that it will contest the coming Lok Sabha elections in Haryana in alliance with the BJP.
