Pressure mounted for the removal of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Thursday as more instances of impropriety tumbled out amidst talk of a reshuffle of the Union cabinet in which beleagured Law Minister Ashwani Kumar may be shifted to a different portfolio.
Believe it or not, Prime minister Manmohan Singh's Cabinet is unable to arrive at consensus on the exact identity of AADHAAR -- Unique Identification Number (UID).
A draft legislation is ready for setting up a permanent water disputes tribunal to resolve the water related disputes among the states in an expeditious manner, new Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat disclosed on Tuesday after assuming the charge.
Union Minister Harish Rawat, who was sulking after having been denied chief ministership of Uttarakhand, on Sunday had all smiles as celebrations broke out at his residence in New Delhi over his elevation to the Cabinet rank.
The new Lokpal Bill was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal in Lok Sabha on Thursday after an hour-long acrimonious debate among members of various political parties.
The highlight of the five-hour meeting, which ended with a plan to hold a 'chintan shivir' at the earliest opportunity to chalk the Congress' future strategy, was a demand by Sonia Gandhi's loyalists that Rahul Gandhi should assume the party leadership again.
Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Monday ordered a high-level inquiry into the stampede at the Allahabad Junction which claimed 36 lives, announced compensation for the victims and blamed the tragedy on tardy crowd management by the local administration.
Unhappy with the ultimatum set by Anna Hazare on the Jan Lokpal issue, a senior minister on Wednesday said the government is committed to bring a "strong and effective" Lokpal bill to deal with corruption but made it clear that this cannot be done by "putting a pistol on someone's neck".
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will lead a 36-member all-party parliamentary delegation on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir beginning next Monday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal will also be assisting the home minister. He will be alternate leader of the delegation.
When Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal presents his maiden Budget, he might not have to deal with growth worries alone.
Faced with a dilemma over handing tickets to leaders facing allegations of corruption, Congress on Wednesday gave indications that while former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal could be re-nominated from Chandigarh, Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi may not be fielded in the upcoming polls.
The decision to cut development expenditure does not bode well for safety and amenities.
A day after he was forced to step down, former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Saturday night maintained that he had nothing to do with the bribery allegation for which his nephew was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A meeting of the Congress top brass is scheduled for Saturday evening amid talk that a decision on the removal of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and shifting of beleaguered Law Minister Ashwani Kumar is on the cards.
Intensifying attack on Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal over bribery charge against his nephew, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday demanded that the Congress leader be quizzed by the Central Bureau of Investigation to "unravel the conspiracy" in the case and a probe launched into alleged investments by him and his family.
The government had a close shave on the penultimate day of the budget session of the Parliament when the Left demanded a division at the time of introduction of the Pension Regulatory Authority Bill.
As many as 81 legislations have been lined up by the United Progressive Alliance government for the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on Thursday. However, with only 23 working days till the Lok Sabha winds up on December 21, the fate of several such legislations remains doubtful.The government will also push for the passage of six of the ten Bills pending in the Lok Sabha and 13 of the 36 Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha.
Bulk goods should be transported through rail instead of roadways as it would be cost effective and environment friendly, said Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Preliminary investigations into the probe of the railway bribery scandal are leading to the office of the railway minister, but the probe agency would wait till it gets concrete evidence in this regard, the Central Bureau of Investigation sources said on Wednesday.
Hitting out at the government for the alleged involvement of the railway minister's nephew in a bribery case, opposition parties on Saturdat demanded that Pawan Kumar Bansal step down on moral grounds. The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the government of shamelessly using constitutional bodies to hide their corruption.
The government on Friday said that the country has the potential to maintain a high growth rate in the long run as the saving and investment rates are robust.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday resumed its raids at the office of Young Indian (YI), the holding company of Congress owned newspaper National Herald, after senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge presented himself before agency officials at the Herald House building in New Delhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party youth activists, including women, and police clashed outside Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's residence in New Delhi on Monday during a protest demanding his resignation following the arrest of his nephew on the charge of accepting bribe to fix plum position in the railway board.
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
Amid speculation about the agreement to be the chief minister of the state just for two-and-a-half years, Baghel said, "The high command instructed me to take the oath (as chief minister), so I took the oath. When they will say someone else will be the chief minister, then it will be so. Such agreements happen in a coalition government."
Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is likely to be quizzed soon by the CBI in connection with the alleged Rs 10 crore bribery scandal involving his nephew V Singla and Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar, both of whom reportedly met at his residence.
Sidhu backed his wife saying 'she would never lie', while the CM said she refused to contest from Amritsar.
In a stunning revelation, an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged that his superior officer, a deputy inspector general, had tried tipping off former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla about raids being launched against him and others in connection with a jobs and transfer scam in the railway ministry.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Saturday said the resignations of Union ministers Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal would not pose any danger to the United Progressive Alliance government.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to depose before it on July 21 for questioning in the National Herald newspaper-linked money-laundering case, officials said on Monday.
Mumbai-Ahmedabad route selected for pilot project.
The 75-year-old Congress president, who was supposed to depose before the agency on Thursday, wrote a letter seeking more time on the grounds that the doctors had 'strictly advised her to rest at home following her hospitalisation on account of Covid and lung infection'.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday temporarily sealed the premises of Young Indian (YI) in the Congress-owned National Herald office in Delhi as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation, official sources said.
During the hearing, CBI told the court that they need to arrest Samir Singhani and one Rahul to unearth the entire conspiracy and for that custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary.
Setting a tough condition before the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it will not allow the passage of any bill in Parliament till Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar resign or are sacked. The opposition party also made it clear that it will not allow the passage of either the National Food Security Bill or the Land Acquisition Bill.
The Congress is gearing up to demonstrate a political show of strength on Monday when the party leader Rahul Gandhi will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection in connection with a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
Maintaining that he was innocent, beleaguered former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was forced to resign in the wake of arrest of his nephew on bribery charge, today said "nothing will come out from this case".
The Delhi high court has ordered removal of social media posts by Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Ragini Nayak alleging that veteran journalist Rajat Sharma used 'abusive language' during his show on the Lok Sabha election result day.
The case was registered recently to probe alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper.
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