After being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1999, Najma Heptulla rang up the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to convey the news but had to hold the phone line for an hour as a staff told her that 'madam is busy'.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar's decision to allow Singh to speak on the Bharat Ratna honour to Charan Singh drew sharp protest from the Congress, leading to a heated exchange of words between the opposition and the treasury benches.
Six of the seven Bills listed on the agenda of the Rajya Sabha have already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and his party colleague Ram Gopal Yadav along with eight other new members of Parliament were administered oath by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Wednesday.
Their lists show that a significant number of contenders are closely related to the current ministers, legislators or MPs, including their sons or daughters, wives and brothers or sisters.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the opposition on Monday to allow a debate on the Manipur issue to begin in Parliament but the deadlock persisted in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as both sides refused to budge from their stand, with Congress and its allies insisting on a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi first.
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.
Modi said he believed that a big section of the country's democracy-loving people will appreciate the conduct of those MPs who used their wisdom and talent and showed their concerns for the masses, even though they might have been critical in their views.
As the adjournment of Parliament for an indefinite period with the Rajya Sabha also adjourning sine die kickstarts the final countdown for the general elections, Modi said the last five years were a period of "reform, perform and transform" with the country moving towards "big changes" at a fast pace.
Questions are being raised on the future of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as differences among its constituents come to the fore and several parties call for serious introspection by the Congress after a string of debilitating electoral losses.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned till noon within minutes of their assembling as the opposition National Democratic Alliance and the Third Front vociferously raised the issue.
Parliament remained paralysed for the sixth day in a row on Monday due to protests from rival sides.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
The Congress on Thursday objected to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar deleting some portions of Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's speech from official records, saying he used no unparliamentary words and some of the expressions he employed were earlier used even by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Amid the controversy over the 'Pegasus Project' media report, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is expected to give a statement.
Quality of food served in Parliament canteen on Wednesday came under attack in Rajya Sabha as a member drew attention of the government towards MPs falling sick after consuming it.
Tabled by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, the legislation will reverse the effect of the Supreme Court verdict in May that gave the Delhi government power over administrative services.
While Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar repeatedly appealed to the protesting members to take their seats, the unrelenting MPs continued to raise slogans.
The government on Saturday assured agitating MPs that their concerns on salary hike would be addressed, National Democratic Alliance convenor Sharad Yadav said in the Lok Sabha, a day after several opposition parties conducted a 'mock' Parliament.
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, in the eye of a storm over his mimicry of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on the premises of the Parliament complex, attacked him again claiming that mimicry is a form of expression and a fundamental right.
United Progressive Alliance nominee Hamid Ansari appears set to get a second term as Vice President by emerging a clear winner against National Democratic Alliance's Jaswant Singh in a direct contest for the post on Tuesday.
The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a direction to the Lok Sabha Speaker and Chairman of Rajya Sabha to disqualify 11 Shiv Sena MPs for allegedly force-feeding a fasting Muslim employee at the new Maharashtra Sadan.
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 mark a significant step towards empowering Indian citizens and aim to create a more accessible, supportive and efficient justice system for everyone, official sources said.
Members in both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday demanded stringent action against Delhi Police and CRPF personnel for assaulting and detaining two Left MPs and several students protesting growing attacks on Northeastern people in Delhi last week.
The hotly debated 1998 JMM bribery case judgment, which protected former Union minister Shibu Soren from prosecution, was overturned by a seven-judge bench on Monday, ironically following a petition by his MLA daughter-in-law Sita Soren.
Several leaders of the TMC slammed the rural development minister for his comments on the chief minister attending the Kolkata International Film Festival.
Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed he was 'insulted' as his mic was turned off while he was speaking in the House the previous day.
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.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
A combative Sonia Gandhi on Thursday asked Congress MPs not to be defensive on the CAG report on coal blocks allocation and to aggressively counter the offensive launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party which is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
The Congress on Monday described as a "blot on democracy" the suspension of its four MPs for the rest of the monsoon session for disrupting proceedings in the Lok Sabha, alleging the government was trying to "intimidate" the party but it would not be cowed down.
on Thursday adjourned sine die, ending the four-week-long second leg of the Budget session, during which treasury and opposition members locked horns over Rahul Gandhi's 'democracy' remark and the Adani issue.
He announced his 24-hour fast in a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, speaking at length about his anguish over the ruckus in the House during the passage of two farm bills on Sunday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked its MPs to be present all day long in both Houses of Parliament for passage of crucial bills including the land bill coming up in Lok Sabha and the coal and mines bills in Rajya Sabha.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of 24 candidates for Lok Sabha from Madhya Pradesh featured former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur was replaced by another candidate.
'We urge you to take remedial measures to address this blatant injustice pending withdrawal of the case against them,' the MPs write.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has alleged that the BJP was conspiring to poach the MLAs in order to destabilise his government, a charge denied by the saffron party.
The Congress said the PM has neither found the time nor even had the inclination to visit the state for even a few hours.
Opposition parties are likely to continue their disruptions over the Pegasus snooping and farmers' protest issues.
The Trinamool Congress on Thursday dismissed that it has reached an understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha where the National Democratic Alliance does not have a majority.
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