Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath was on Wednesday sworn-in as the Protem Speaker of the newly constituted Lok Sabha by President Pranab Mukherjee.
A senior BJP leader has dismissed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's court appearance as a political gimmick, accusing her of seeking public attention after her party's electoral defeat. Banerjee appeared in court regarding alleged post-poll violence.
Lobbying has intensified among NDA partners in Bihar for the post of Speaker in the assembly, with BJP MLA Prem Kumar considered a frontrunner. A special assembly session will be convened soon to elect the Speaker.
The Congress accused the BJP-led government of "destroying parliamentary norms" by ignoring the claim of Suresh, a eight-term Lok Sabha member, to the post of the pro-tem Speaker.
Chaudhary is the first Dalit leader to occupy the august office.
Eight-term member Sumitra Mahajan was on Friday unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha, becoming the second woman presiding officer of the Lower House after her predecessor Meira Kumar.
Amid intense discussions among Mahayuti allies over the distribution of portfolios and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's insistence on the home ministry, the clarity on the composition of the council of ministers is expected by Sunday, sources said.
The Congress government in Uttarakhand on Monday cleared a major hurdle with the election of its candidate Govind Songh Kunjwal as the Speaker of the Assembly by a good margin of eight votes over Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Harbans Kapoor ahead of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna's trust vote.
The remaining 10 will be administered the oath on Wednesday
The crisis in the ruling Uttarakhand Congress persisted as 17 of the 32 party members of Legislative Assembly supporting Union Minister Harish Rawat, abstained from taking oath in Uttarakhand assembly on Thursday.
Conrad Sangma will take the oath of office as the chief minister of Meghalaya for a consecutive second term on March 7.
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress leaders and former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj and former speakers Dilip Walse Patil (NCP) and Haribhau Bagade of the Bharatiya Janata Party were among the members to take oath early.
Sources said the Cabinet at its meeting on Thursday is expected to finalise the schedule for the session, the first after the Narendra Modi government has taken over.
The first sitting of the 16th Lok Sabha on Wednesday will be adjourned for the day after paying tributes to Union minister Gopinath Munde who died in a road mishap on Tuesday.
'The cast and crew of Tandav unconditionally apologise if it has unintentionally hurt anybody's sentiments.'
Raina triggered a controversy when he took the name of Mata Vaishno Devi while taking oath
The swearing in of the new members will begin on Thursday and continue on Friday, when the Lok Sabha speaker will be elected. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 10 ministers at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the decks for oath taking of Manohar Parrikar as the chief minister of Goa by refusing the plea of Congress to stay the ceremony, saying the BJP has shown the support of 21 out of the 40 newly elected MLAs.
'Despite the BJP's successes at the state-level, replicating their 282-seat majority in 2019 is going to be an uphill climb.'