Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Thursday hit back at Nitin Gadkari for his derogatory remarks against him and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party president has gone 'mentally bankrupt'. "We will first try to give Gadkari tablets to cure his mental bankruptcy, then put him on capsules and if the tablets and capsules fail, we will put him on injection," Prasad told a press conference in Patna.
A united opposition stalled proceedings in the Rajya Sabha pressing the government to come clear on the name of a union minister alleged to have links with a Bangladeshi arms dealer.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have got a tough fight in Varanasi had Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contested against him as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) candidate, feel party workers from the temple town.
The BJP is far more prepared than the Congress as their pool of prospective candidates is much bigger, reports Prakash Bhandari.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has questioned the granting of hefty funds to certain states by Pranab Mukherjee, the United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate, and sought to know if this was meant to influence the ruling parties including Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal - United and the Trinamool Congress.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned amid ruckus and sloganeering by the Opposition members over the Adani issue.
The demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into disclosures by retail giant Walmart on lobbying in India was made by several members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Apprehending that the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party would bail out the United Progressive Alliance on Foreign Direct Investment in retail, Opposition in Lok Sabha on Wednesday warned these parties as also Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam that history will not pardon them if they sided with the government on the issue despite opposing it during the nationwide protest.
Alva, 80, would file her nomination papers on Tuesday, July 19 which is the last date for filing nominations for the August 6 election.
"I am ready to drink all types of poison," he said.
Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is coordinating the meeting. He has invited the leaders of all the non-BJP parties.
The Congress on Friday welcomed the statements of opposition leaders condemning Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha and said it was now time for the party to take on the job of building the opposition unity in a "systematic way".
In a joint letter to the prime minister, the opposition leaders, including some chief ministers, have also demanded providing foodgrains to the needy, and giving Rs 6,000 per month to the unemployed.
Foot-in-the-mouth seems to be a common syndrome afflicting many politicians who find it too tough to be politically correct all the time.
The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi was one of courtesy
A video had surfaced on social media which purportedly showed SP leader Mukesh Siddharth making the controversial statement.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned briefly during Question Hour on Friday after uproar over "neglect" of Hindi and other regional languages in the Union Public Service Commission examinations, with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal members trooping into the Well to register their protest.
Amid the raging feud in Samajwadi Party, its senior leader Shivpal Yadav reached Delhi on Wednesday evening to invite 'like-minded' socialists for the party's 25th anniversary celebrations on November 5, a move seen as an attempt to stitch an alliance for the state assembly polls.
Election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms also reported that Janata Dal-United's Mahendra Prasad was the richest with assets worth Rs 4,078 crore.
Ruptures in the opposition unity emerged barely a week after 17 parties joined hands to put up a joint candidate against the ruling National Democratic Alliance nominee for the July 17 presidential election.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Loss of power in Bihar has upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's calculations for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but a section of its leaders also see a chance for the party to break the dominance of regional parties in the state, like it has in Uttar Pradesh.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will have the final say on the selection of the next President of the country and the Rashtriya Janata Dal will go along with her choice for the top post, its chief Lalu Prasad said.
Naidu met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and discussed with him the possibilities of all opposition parties uniting and forging a joint opposition alliance.
However, speculation remained rife that the meeting was part of Banerjee's plan to form an opposition front with regional players minus the Congress.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani was not amused with some of the party MPs joining RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and SP chief Mulayam Singh to hold a mock Parliament session and reprimanded his colleague Gopinath Munde for participating in it.
Apprehending that the Samajwadi Party and the BGahujan Samaj Party would bail out the United Progressive Alliane on FDI in retail, the opposition in Lok Sabha on Wednesday warned these parties as also Dravida Munetra Kazhagam that history will not pardon them if they sided with the government on the issue despite opposing it during the nationwide protest.
The original suggestion was to call it 'Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance', but the word 'democratic' was replaced with 'developmental' after Kumar and Yechury raised some objections saying it sounded too similar to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), sources said.
The leaders of Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party along with their supporters held a rally on Mahatma Gandhi Road before marching towards the state Secretariat.
Eminent lawyer and Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Ram Jethmalani on Sunday said he felt "guilty" and "cheated" for helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi who failed to deliver on his promise of bringing back blackmoney stashed abroad.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday called for a "main front" of all non-BJP parties to take on the ruling alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and asserted that the decision on its leadership can be taken later.
Another CD on the cash-for-votes episode surfaced on Monday with three United Progressive Alliance parties claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party had stage managed the entire show for political gains.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu refuted the charge of playing water politics, saying a steam-cleaned, 10-wagon train was on way to fill water at Jhansi before going to the drought-hit areas.
After a meeting in the Parliament Library, the leaders of these parties issued a joint statement, expressing concern over the prevailing security situation in the country.
The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a determined Opposition, helped by the absence of parties supporting the government from outside like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal
Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The new Lokpal Bill was on Thursday at the centre of a fresh controversy before its introduction in the Lok Sabha, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen members protesting exclusion of minorities from the anti-graft bench of the proposed ombudsman.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday left for Delhi to placate Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party stormed out of the nascent anti-Bharatiya Janata Party grand alliance for Bihar assembly elections on Thursday.
Armed with the Wikileaks expose about 2008 trust vote, the Opposition ON Thursday closed ranks in demanding the immediate resignation of the government, contending that it has lost moral right to continue as the country's democracy has been "maligned".
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu announced in the House that the election will be held at 11 am on August 9.
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