The Minister assured the House that security requirement of the Election Commission will be met for free and fair assembly election in the state.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his first public meeting in Jammu after quitting Congress, announced to launch his own political outfit that will focus on the restoration of full statehood.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
At the meeting, many parties urged the Congress to publicly denounce the ordinance but the Congress refused to do so, claimed AAP, adding that the grand old party's "silence raises suspicions about its real intentions".
The ruling alliance also has some smaller parties like Republican Party of India-Athawale, Asom Gana Parishad, Mizo National Front, National People's Party, Naga People's Front, Pattali Makkal Katchi and Bodoland People's Front, which have one seat each, totalling seven seats.
The trouble started when the SP member wanted to make a point on an ongoing heated discussion between Opposition parties and the Chairman in the Rajya Sabha over certain remarks made by BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari on Kharge a few days ago.
The tumultuous Winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday a day before schedule with proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha marred by repeated disruptions by the opposition over which the government and the Congress traded charges and the presiding officers expressed their anguish at the conduct of some MPs.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
Raut told reporters in Mumbai that the BJP 'insulted' people's mandate by not abiding to the '50:50' formula which, he claimed, was decided before the Lok Sabha polls.
Twenty suspended Rajya Sabha members on Wednesday started a 50-hour relay protest inside the Parliament complex, with sources saying the Opposition declined the chairman's offer that they express regret over their members' behaviour in the House to get the suspension revoked.
He indicated his conviction will remain firm even if that "uprising" ultimately puts the party he faithfully served for 13 years in the dock.
Sitharaman, who became the first full-time woman defence minister in the first tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government -- will also head the Corporate Affairs ministry in the new cabinet.
'The time has come for all those believe in a democratic India to stand up and be counted and to make a choice.'
'The government or the ruling party has indicated indirectly that you are not supposed to publish anything critical of the government or the senior functionaries of the government.'
Pawar will not restrict himself to the Rashtrapati Bhavan," the minister from the NCP said.
The party's national executive meeting chaired by its president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged price rise and unemployment as "burning issues"
Sitaram Yechury strived to have the country's Left movement shed its doctrinaire approach to India's socio-cultural complexities and stitch electoral and social alliances to fight the Sangh Parivar.
The opposition bloc also got support from Telanagana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS, which saw the bill as a move to usurp powers of an elected government in Delhi, and asked the House to vote against it.
Its current majority of 22,078 votes for the purpose of the presidential elections is considered thin, particularly when BJP might not be able to predict voting behaviour of its allies like Shiv Sena.
The MNF is deeply hurt over the condition of the Zo ethnic people in strife-torn Manipur, the MNF MP said.
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 prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
Justice Krishna S Dixit, presiding over a single judge bench, issued notice to the parties concerned and paused the ongoing investigation.
"It is shameful that Rahul Gandhi, instead of coming to Parliament and apologising for his undemocratic rant against India, today seeks to be absent from Parliament," she asserted.
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
APCC president Ripun Bora said following discussions with various parties, it has been decided that the Congress will join hands with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist and the Anchalik Gana Morcha.
The win in UP is especially significant because UP assembly members carry the maximum value of votes in a Presidential election, given the fact that the state is India's most populous.
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
'I have faced 18 hours of darkness daily all my life.'
He said that such a campaign will hurt the interests of the country.
BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena confronted a senior party leader in front of Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat when his supporters were denied entry to the venue where NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu met party legislators.
'To lead the Congress party, you need experience.' 'You should have held some positions which give you the experience of running the party at any level.' 'Tharoor doesn't have any such experience.'
'Today, we being the majority pass a law and if the Opposition parties do not like it, they throw files at the Chair, and beat up women marshals.'
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'Can you believe Ashok Chavan was with me in the senior leaders' meeting one day, and next day morning, he switched sides!'
'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
Apart from the 18 members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including the Bharatiya Janata Party, seven non-National Democratic Alliance parties will attend the ceremony, going by their stated position on the issue which has snowballed into another political flashpoint between the ruling and opposition camps.
'Just because the NDA has a majority and the BJP is the single largest party does not mean that this Modi government enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha.' 'It is always possible that some members (of the NDA and even the BJP) may defect, some members may not want him to be the prime minister and they might vote differently (against Modi) in the confidence vote.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances