A combative External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said she was ready for a debate in Parliament over Congress allegations about her links with controversial former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi.
Political tributes poured in after the former external affairs minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj passed away into the ages on Tuesday night.
Condolences continued to pour in from world dignitaries for former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj who breathed her last due to cardiac arrest on Tuesday night.
She had struck a chord with Bollywood personalities, and they took to social media to pay their last respects.
'So complete is Modi's takeover of the foreign ministry, that Swaraj today is less important than a minister of state for secularism in Modi's government!'
The Bhartiya Janata Party is missing its most vocal face, Sushma Swaraj, during the current session of Parliament as she is down with infection since the past three weeks and has been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.
AIIMS doctors said the BJP stalwart and former external affairs minister died of a cardiac arrest.
The powerful orator leaves behind the legacy of an easily-accessible leader who played a key role in BJP's emergence in the late 1990s.
She had many firsts to her credit such as being the youngest cabinet minister in the Haryana government, first woman chief minister of Delhi and the first woman spokesperson for a national political party in the country.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday came under fire from the opposition and ally Paattali Makkal Katchi for her push to declare Bhagwad Gita as a national scripture with their leaders saying it was inappropriate and that all religions should be treated equally by the government.
Sushma Swaraj arrived in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Wednesday night on her first official visit abroad after becoming External Affairs Minister during which she will hold talks with the top leadership on key bilateral issues including land boundary agreement, proposed Teesta river pact and illegal immigration.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Monday demanded that the United Progressive Alliance government convene an all-party meeting over the issue of Foreign Direct Investment in retail before making any statement on it in the Parliament.
PIX: Ahana Deol's wedding reception in New Delhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to field Sushma Swaraj from Bhopal in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections not gone down well with party workers and leaders in Madhya Pradesh.
Journalist Anita Saluja was one of the last persons to meet Sushma Swaraj on August 6. She spent nearly an hour chatting with the late leader, which is why her sudden death later in the evening came as an unexpected shock for her. She talks to Savera R Someshwar/Rediff.com about her association with Sushma Swaraj over the last few decades.
BJP sources said their party has consistently maintained that while it is committed to the formation of a separate state of Telangana, it also wanted the concerns of the Seema-Andhra region to be adequately addressed. Oddly enough, Sushma Swaraj did not press this issue in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Anita Katyal reports.
India has been eyeing deeper energy ties with Iran and has already lined up $20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as in petrochemical and fertiliser sectors there.
After public opposition by senior leader Sushma Swaraj, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday decided against merging the BSR Congress with it but approved the nomination of party leader B Sreeramalu for the Bellary Lok Sabha seat.
The external affairs minister said that the dreaded terror outfit Islamic State had killed all the Indian nationals.
A leader of reserve and quiet dignity, former prime minister Manmohan Singh had a keen taste for Urdu verses, and his poetic banters with Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha are among the most viewed parliamentary debates on social media.
In remarks which can create controversy, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said a Congress leader had pressed her to give diplomatic passport to coal scam accused Santosh Bagrodia.
Even as her party demands the prime minister's resignation, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj has asked the government to announce cancellation of the controversial coal block allocations and institution of an independent inquiry.
Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the New Delhi seat and incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced the names of five candidates from the national capital, dropping four MPs -- Meenakshi Lekhi, Harsh Vardhan, Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri.
Parliament is set to witness heated debates on a range of issues like the NEET paper leak row, the Agnipath initiative and inflation when both houses reconvene on Monday.
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday voiced its support for Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj as National Democratic Alliance's prime ministerial candidate, a day after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha backed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for it.
'In our many years together as colleagues in the Lok Sabha, we developed a warm personal relationship and I feel her loss greatly,' Gandhi said in her condolence letter to Swaraj's husband Swaraj Kaushal.
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Congress on Wednesday sought to demolish Sushma Swaraj's claim of helping Lalit Modi on humanitarian grounds in Lok Sabha, saying she could have done it under a legal framework and demanded response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Not just the angry families, but also the public will remember Swaraj's foreign ministership for this colossal lapse of judgment,' notes Karan Thapar.
'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.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday said he would like to contest next Lok Sabha election from Vidisha seat in Madhya Pradesh, currently represented by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
Watch all debates LIVE from both the Houses.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday came under opposition attack in Rajya Sabha for demanding that the Bhagwad Gita be declared national scripture, with members saying this was a "sinister" design to alter secular character of the Constitution.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj held a meeting with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday morning to discuss the various aspects of the security threat to BJP Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi.However, Swaraj expressed her dissatisfaction over the outcome of the meeting. "I will not give the details of our conversation but I can tell you that there were differences in the perception of threat to Varun Gandhi," she told a press conference later in the day.
Sitting Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Sushma Swaraj on Friday filed her nomination papers from Vidisha and expressed confidence about increasing her victory margin.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy on Wednesday condemned Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj'' "act" in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, describing it as ''unfortunate'' and ''not expected''.Swaraj had alleged that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had instructed party members of Parliament to interrupt her speech.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said the two-day national executive meet beginning in Mumbai on Thursday will discuss the strategy of the party to prepare itself as a viable alterative in 2014 general elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Saturday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a special session of Parliament for amending the existing law to provide death sentence for heinous crimes against women.
Vadodara Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Balu Shukla has written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar denying the reported news that he was caught spying in the office of his party's senior leader Sushma Swaraj.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has been under attack from the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, on Tuesday reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Parliament and walked with one hand on her shoulder, ostensibly to win support for the passage of crucial Bills.
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