Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, saying the ruling party's 'washing machine' has resumed its operation to clean tainted leaders and it was an 'ED-facilitated power grab'.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
Apart from the two major parties (Cong: 98; BJP: 67) the Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in four seats, while the Janata Dal-United and the Communist Party of India-Marxist are ahead in one each.
Members from the Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal too were part of the group, their participation seen as another indication that the party is all set to switch sides from the SP to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Farmers from various parts of the country are protesting at Delhi borders against the three farm laws brought by the Centre, alleging that the legislations will hamper farming.
Janata Dal - United national president and National Democratic Alliance convener Sharad Yadav on Saturday said he was of the opinion that there were no possibilities of mid-term Lok Sabha polls in the immediate future. "It is not right for me to comment on whatever he (Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav) has said, that only he can tell in detail...but according to my point of view, mid-term elections are nowhere visible as of now," Yadav said.
Against the backdrop of sharp political divide, government on Monday said it will bring a 'fresh bill' to amend a law governing properties left behind by those who went to Pakistan during partition, in effect withdrawing the draft legislation introduced in the Lok Sabha.
'By making Rachel Rajeshwari, Tejashwi has done an exemplary thing.'
With Bihar and West Bengal assembly elections in sight, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress on Saturday demanded implementation of a 17-year-old Supreme Court order to provide salaries to Imams (clerics) of government-aided mosques.
With their high-decibel campaigns so far, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party may appear to be locked in a direct fight in Uttar Pradesh.
The National Democratic Alliance, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal joined hands on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha to attack the government over Pakistan's dilly dallying tactics on prosecution of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, saying his release has rendered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurances meaningless.
Differences among National Democratic Alliance partners on India's stand vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear programme came to the fore with Janata Dal (United) declaring that it would "definitely support" the no confidence motion
Not all Opposition parties on board, say they are once bitten, twice shy.
The bypolls were conducted for two Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Meghalaya and Odisha and the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab.
Top leaders of Opposition parties will brainstorm at a meeting in Patna on Friday to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with sources saying that they would look to avoid the prickly leadership question and emphasise on common ground.
This after most of the Opposition including the Congress, Left parties, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party decided to boycott House proceedings in protest against the suspension of eight MPs for the remainder of the session for unruly behaviour.
As soon as the Question Hour began, the issue was raised by Ramgopal Yadav (SP) and supported by RJD members. Even CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury favoured the revocation of the suspension. Members from the treasury benches, however, insisted that the suspended members should tender apology.
PM to meet SP, RJD and JD(U) as Congress managers fear for passage of Finance Bill.
With Uttar Pradesh elections round the corner, the mood of the House was clearly reflected as members came prepared for the battle ahead. Shiv Sena members wore saffron scrafs in support of the Ayodhya cause.
Opposition leaders on Saturday lauded the Congress for its victory in Karnataka and thanked the people of the state, saying that this win has showed that 'Modi is not invincible'.
Senior JD-U leader Nitish Kumar extended best wishes to Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal for the Delhi elections.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
rivals Congress, JMM and TMC and Samajwadi Party.
BJP's loss of power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattigarh means that it will have to face a resurgent Congress in the three states where it had emerged victorious in 62 of 65 Lok Sabha seats.
In an apparent reference to the Congress with which it failed to strike an understanding for the upcoming assembly polls in Jharkhand, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad has said national parties are out to 'crush' smaller and regional outfits.
Bowing to demands by several political parties, government on Tuesday said it has decided to include caste in census and the formality of endorsing it is expected at the next Cabinet meeting.
"NCP president Sharad Pawar, Loktantrik Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav, DMK chief MK Stalin, Bihar's former deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal among other opposition leaders will attend the oath-taking ceremony in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on December 17," said well-placed sources.
Grand alliance leaders accuse their rivals of having engineered electoral tactics to confuse its voters.
In the 243-member Rajya Sabha, Congress and its allies do not not have a majority with its number placed at 92 and needs the support of the MPs of these parties supporting the government from outside.
The government on Wednesday night exuded confidence to get the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, despite not having a clear majority.
Subhash Yadav and Sadhu Yadav, who were powerful faces during the 15-year Lalu-Rabri rule, are now working towards ensuring that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his sons face defeat in the forthcoming Bihar elections.
The action group will be known as Parliamentarians with Innovators for India (PIIndia.org), which aims to spur innovators to solve challenges in areas such as public health, economy, and livelihood. While the 14 parliamentarians come from different states and across party lines, the group has organisations like Population Foundation of India, Centre for Policy Research, Omnicuris, apart from top experts in public health and policy.
The Congress said on Wednesday that Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad did not give any dissent note to the Women's Reservation Bill despite being a member of the Parliamentary Committee concerned, which went into the measure.
No signs of tension reflected on the faces of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The trio in fact stayed back in Lok Sabha even after the House was adjourned for an hour.
A day after being marshaled out from the Rajya Sabha, two of the suspended members said there was no question of tendering an apology over their behaviour on the Women's Reservation Bill, as they had raised the cause of women from the Other Backward Classes, Dalit and minority groups, in the House."Even if our membership goes, we will not apologise," Kamal Akhtar of the SP said. 7 members were suspended for their unruly behaviour in the House over the Women's Reservation Bill
The Congress on Tuesday backed the suspension of seven members from the Rajya Sabha for their unruly behaviour over the women's bill, for the remaining part of the session, saying the provocation was 'rarest of the rare'."The decision of the Chair was certainly rarest of the rare but the provocation too was rarest of the rare," Abhishek Singhvi said. "A small minority cannot take the country to ransom," the spokesman said.
After seven MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for their unruly behaviour over women's bill, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat said on Tuesday that the government's stand on the issue was not clear.
Seven members of the Rajya Sabha belonging to the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Lok Janshakti Party and an independent Member of Parliament were suspended on Tuesday for the remaining part of the budget session for their unruly behaviour in the House on Monday over the Women's Reservation Bill.The suspended members are Subhash Yadav (RJD), Sabir Ali (LJP), Veerpal Singh Yadav, Nand Kishore Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Kamal Akhtar (SP) and Ejaz Ali.
After his threat of withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance government, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Monday met President Pratibha Patil and apprised her of his party's stand on the issue of the Women's Reservation Bill. Yadav, whose party, along with the Samajwadi Party, are strongly opposing the bill in its present form, told Patil that his party is not against the reservation for women.
Faced with strident opposition from the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal over the Women's Reservation Bill, the government on Monday said it does not want to 'bulldoze' the Constitutional amendment and would favour a 'healthy debate' before going ahead with it. After a day of high drama in the Rajya Sabha, where the bill was moved for consideration, Law Minister Veerappa Moily slammed the Opposition parties for the way they protested against it.
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