'We walked into the well of the House because we had no choice.' 'They were not listening to us. They were throttling democracy.'
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar sought views of leaders of various political parties on ways to curb disruptions in the House at a meeting held on Sunday on the eve of the start of the second phase of the Budget session.
The lunch was hosted by agriculture minister Narendra Tomar to mark Millet Year 2023.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are also likely to play out during the start of the session.
"The two former defence ministers had some clarifications and doubts on the situation which were clarified by the CDS and the Army chief," sources said.
The Congress on Thursday raised the issue of Enforcement Directorate action and police gherao of its party office and the residences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, with Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge saying in the Rajya Sabha that he has been summoned by the ED at a time when Parliament is in session.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
As soon as Lok Sabha assembled, opposition members stormed into the well holding placards and shouting slogans. They demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the alleged stock manipulation by the Adani Group.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday advised all the MPs to wear masks and follow the Covid protocol completely, in view of the increasing cases of COVID-19 in many countries across the world.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
The first two days of the session will be devoted to swearing-in of the newly elected MPs while the Lok Sabha speaker will be elected on June 19.
With the all-party meetings called by Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla producing no breakthrough to end the deadlock in Parliament, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi accused opposition parties of repeatedly 'insulting' Dhankhar.
Opposition members led by Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge asked the government to clear its stand over the nationality of the minister. Without naming the minister, Sekhar said: "The prime minister has been allowed to lay a list of the ministers after the reshuffle. Go through Wikipedia, then you will find that the name of the gentleman... a minister of state for home affairs is a reportedly a Bangladeshi." Sekhar was also supported by Kharge and other opposition members.
There was buzz of Piyush Goyal being elevated to Cabinet rank but only Prakash Javadekar made the cut.
'They are fighting it out, but they have deeply traumatised; they are alive and they are carrying on in life.'
During his recent appearance on the show, Ranveer Allahbadia asked a contestant whether they would rather watch their parents have sex for the rest of their life or join them once and put a stop to it.
Differences of opinion are a part of democracy and there are ways to find solutions to that, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday in Rajya Sabha on whether there exists differences between the judiciary and the executive on the issue of appointment of judges.
The government on Monday said that matters regarding Chinese intrusion can't be discussed in Parliament as it concerns the security of the country.
Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, has called a meeting of its MLAs in Mumbai on June 7.
Most of the members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were seen wearing face masks. However, members had crowded the Lok Sabha chamber, while hardly a handful of others, including union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal, were seen seated in the Rajya Sabha chamber.
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.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the leaders of various parties at an all-party meeting to ensure smooth and effective functioning of the House during the Budget Session.
The top court said the exclusion of a member of the Opposition from the House just because of a perspective which may not be consistent with the viewpoint of the government is a serious issue.
The constituency of Mumbai South, home to industrialists as well as high-ranking government officials, fared the worst with 47.7 percent voting.
Singh noted that opposition members tore rule book, threw papers at the desk of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was in the Chair, and climbed the officials' table -- something, he added, he had never witnessed before.
Former Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday, weeks after he announced quitting his Rajya Sabha membership on the floor of the House deploring 'violence' in poll-bound West Bengal.
'The sixth seat was a risk for the MVA, but Uddhav Thackeray took the risk,' Pawar said. 'In politics, one has to take risks.'
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Shrirang Barne, an MP of Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, on Monday expressed disappointment over the party not getting a cabinet berth in the newly-formed Narendra Modi-led government and alleged partiality.
As many as 14 opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the winter session for disrupting proceedings, as the Lok Sabha security breach incident snowballed into a major row on Thursday with the government asking the opposition not to "politicise" the "grave national issue" and the Congress, Trinamool Congress and others demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the deputy leader.
The political discourse hit a new low on Monday with Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri making disparaging remarks targeting Rahul Gandhi and the Congress paying him back in the same coin.
At the meeting attended by 33 parties, the prime minister said suggestions from public representatives, especially from the Opposition, are valuable as they make the discussion rich.
Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel on Monday posted on social media platform X that the Union Cabinet has approved the women's reservation bill, but deleted the post within an hour.
Both the BJP and the Congress have banked on new and young faces, some of whom have been nominated by the parties for the first time.
Gandhi had recently alleged in London that the structures of Indian democracy are under "brutal attack" and there is a full-scale assault on the institutions of the country.
"The conduct of opposition leaders in the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday was shameful, irresponsible and utter disrespect to parliamentary rules and dignity," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
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