A down-to-the-wire contest is likely in some of the seats in the high-stakes Rajya Sabha elections in seven states, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Haryana, where the fate of candidates including senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal and senior lawyer R K Anand is being decided on Saturday.
The Chair expunged Swamy's reference to the Constitution of another country that triggered vociferous protests from Congress members.
Although UPA government has somehow managed to scuttle Opposition's stiff antagonism to FDI in multi-brand retail in both the Houses of the Parliament, it has certainly opened itself to the charge of being a minority government, analyses Renu Mittal.
"This is a tribute to our daughter," said Nirbhaya's father, who was present in the RS to watch the proceedings.
'The central learning of the day was that if the BJP leadership can cajole, coax and convince regional parties to vote for bills, it would not be a stretch to see the same votes cast in favour of the land bill,' a senior Congress leader from a northern state told Rediff.com
Faced with the prospect of yet another embarrassment in Rajya Sabha, Government on Tuesday night bowed to the opposition demand for sending the Mines and Minerals bill to a Select Committee after hours of battle of wits between rival sides.
The 77-year-old former Congress president is set to enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan.
Noted lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ram Jethmalani and Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma were on Thursday elected in the Rajya Sabha polls in Rajasthan, while a Congress-supported Independent candidate was defeated.
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Opposition parties on Wednesday alleged that selective leak of information on demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee notes to 'friends of BJP' and demanded making public the names of those who had bought gold and foreign exchange of over Rs 1 crore since April.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the President should inaugurate the new Parliament building and not the prime minister.
Kumar leaves in the midst of assembly polls in five states and ahead of the February 20 election in Punjab.
Opposition parties on Monday staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha after their demand for a resolution on Gaza was not accepted.
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Newly-appointed Leader of House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal met senior Opposition leaders including former prime minister and Congress veteran Manmohan Singh, his party colleague Anand Sharma and Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning Monday.
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In the face of stiff opposition in Parliament to foreign direct investment in retail, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Monday sought to reach out to MPs and state chief ministers and appealed to them to rise above 'petty' partisanship on the issue.
The downward slide in Indian exports following recession in major markets of the United States and Europe, has been arrested, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
It was after a gap of two decades that saw such an occasion where MPs of the upper house enthralled their fellow colleagues at a dinner hosted by Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for 72 retiring members.
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While members from Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland and Tripura are retiring on April 2, five members from Punjab are retiring on April 9.
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.
The vice president met Leader of the party in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram and Deputy Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, among others and discussed various points regarding the key tax reform legislation.
Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma succeed in convincing Rahul Gandhi of zero returns in blocking Parliament.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has resigned as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, sources said on Saturday, a day after he filed his nomination papers for the All India Congress Committee president's election.
The Opposition hit out at the government over the absence of Rajya Sabha Chairman, Lok Sabha Speaker and ministers from the traditional event marking the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn Parliament's Central Hall.
Opposition charged the government with making Parliamentary Standing Committees irrelevant.
During the debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Bharatiya Janata Party MP JP Nadda said that the leader of Congress in the house, Anand Sharma, was attempting to digress from the main topic.
The opposition party's attack came after Shashi Tharoor, not part of the four leaders nominated by the Congress, was named as the head of a delegation to key partner countries to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following Operation Sindoor.
Senior leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh are learnt to be the front-runners to take on the mantle of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
Sources said they will discuss the party's poor performance at the hustings and will evolve their future strategy.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said legislators across the country should be driven by passion, performance and procedural integrity, and desist from disrupting law-making bodies.
Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will head all the three committees.
Jha will contest against National democratic Alliance's nominee Harivansh of the Janata Dal-United.
Opposition parties on Tuesday asked the government to call an all-party meeting to resolve the current impasse in Parliament, while sticking to their demands for a discussion on Pegasus snooping issue and a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the matter.
Sources said the Congress may consider opposing the bill when it is introduced in Parliament. The Aam Aadmi Party, which is in power in Delhi, has been seeking the support of various political parties on the matter.
A number of Congress leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma have tested positive for COVID-9.
The meeting of the Congress Parliamentary strategy group was held at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi.
Shashi Tharoor has also been retained as the chairman of the panel on Information Technology.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad made this assertion outside Parliament while speaking to reporters and said the revocation of suspension of the Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs was not a demand, but a 'request'.
Sources said the issues to be raised during the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 19 were discussed at a meeting of the Congress parliamentary strategy group on Wednesday, which was chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi and attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
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