The Congress seems to have decisively shut its doors for Amar Singh, who was expelled by the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday along with Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Jaya Prada."The Congress is not a dustbin," shot back All India Congress Committee functionary Satyavrat Chaturvedi, when queried about the possibility of Singh joining Congress.Chaturvedi's hard-hitting comment isn't his first against Singh.
In an exclusive interview with rediff.com's Onkar Singh on Wednesday, Chaturvedi spoke at length about the allegations. Excerpts:
AICC functionary Satyavrat Chaturvedi attacks UPA ally NCP and holds Sharad Pawar responsible for the current problems facing the country.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday sought to downplay the abuses hurled against him by Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi, saying he treated the matter as a closed chapter. "There is no need to speak anything more on this matter. I think there is no need to give much importance to the matter. The Congress party has taken a decision on this as the remarks were not in good taste. For me the chapter is closed," said the agriculture minister.
The manufacturing sector contributes about 14-16 per cent in the country's GDP and due to global and domestic factors, industrial activities have slowed down this fiscal, he said, adding that a "minimal focus" was given on the sector.
The Lokpal Bill is likely to be introduced in Rajya Sabha on November 29, according to a highly-placed source. The Congress Party's confident manner towards the approaching winter session indicates the party's decision to use the bill as a political weapon to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party refrains from disrupting Parliament sessions.
The Congress Working Committee meeting witnessed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar being targetted by senior Congress leaders on the issue of spiraling price rise. The three leaders who attacked Sharad Pawar but did not name him were former maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, All India Congress Committee general secretaries R K Dhawan and Satyavrat Chaturvedi.
Satyavrat Chaturvedi, chairman of the select committee on Lokpal, did not inform many of the Opposition parties about the meeting to be held on Monday
Former party General Secretary Satyavrat Chaturvedi has been given nomination from Uttaranchal.
The Rajya Sabha Select Committee, chaired by Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi, will have its first meeting in New Delhi on Monday to narrow down differences among political parties on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill.
Rahul Gandhi's name does not figure for any organisational post.
A senior Congressman from Uttar Pradesh explained that there was a clear attempt by the BJP to underplay the Hindutva sentiment so that they could appeal to the Indian youth, who doesn't want riots and seek to move on.
Senior Congress leader and spokesperson Satyavrat Chaturvedi has denied that he has been removed from his post or asked not to hold media briefings.
'The party has been advocating reservation to all socially and educationally backwards irrespective of any religion," party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi told reporters at the AICC briefing.
former union minister Renuka Chowdhury said the mandate was given to the party and it was natural for its MLAs to feel bitter about not being able to form the government.
Keeping in view the approaching Lok Sabha elections, the All Indian Congress Committee has appointed a battery of high-profile spokesmen for the Congress to showcase the achievements of the last 10 years of United Progressive Alliance government and publicise the various sectors where the UPA has performed. Renu Mittal reports
Raising the issue when the House met for the day, Derek O'Brien (TMC) said rule 255 was invoked by the Chairman Hamid Ansari on Monday, which his colleague Roy complied with.
In a veiled attack on 'Team Rahul' over Congress' poll debacle, a section of party leaders on Thursday said only those having experience of field work should be given "leadership posts" and wanted a "ruthless introspection" to help it bounce back.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who is not contesting Lok Sabha polls as he is ailing, has been made acting in-charge of the AICC Communication department along with party spokesman Randeep Surjewala.
The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.
The opposition on Friday created ruckus in Parliament over the issue of regional language aspirants having disadvantage in Civil Services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.
Citing certain examples, Naik said the defence minister 'falsely claims that India never conducted surgical strikes in the past'.
The government on Thursday said it will respond on the issue of Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a fasting Muslim after ascertaining full facts by Friday.
Sachin Tendulkar was again under attack in Rajya Sabha on Monday for his prolonged absence even as the cricket icon sought to control damage by applying for leave for the entire Budget session, which was granted amid strong opposition from members.
Tiwari said on Amarinder's remark that when the latter was PCC president, he had himself demonstrated as to how the EVMs can be gerrymandered.
Congress leaders feel party President Sonia Gandhi is withdrawing from centre-stage, but without her son filling that void, it could be continued chaos for her party.
The Union Public Service Commission exam row generated heat in both Houses of Parliament with a member tearing a paper and throwing it towards the Speaker in Lok Sabha and almost the entire opposition staging a walkout in the Upper House as the government refused to set a timeline for resolving the issue.
The government on Wednesday declined to give a timeframe in Rajya Sabha for resolving the row over UPSC examination pattern but promised to solve it soon even as the Opposition targeted BJP ministers for coming out with different statements on the issue.
In an unusual episode, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman P J Kurien sparred in the Rajya Sabha over procedures, triggering commotion, which led to stalling of the House for nearly an hour.
'The CBI and its independence was discussed in great detail. We invited and sought the views of the CBI director as well as several government officials. But the ingenious solution to the problem came from within the committee. The effort was to somehow find a solution. It would not have been possible to draft this Bill if members had not been liberal in their views and if they had not been prepared to rid themselves of their political bias.' Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who headed the Parliamentary committee which proposed the recommendations for the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Anita Katyal in an exclusive interview.
Opposition parties think they have until New Year's Eve to build nationwide narrative against demonetisation.
'All the hoardings showed only Rahulji. No pictures of Indiraji and Rajivji. What is the Congress's worth without its history? It is unthinkable that none of our hoardings shows Indira and Rajiv. It was a total fiasco to see that many advertisements were in black and white. In such competitive politics, how can you experiment?' fumes a Congress leader.
According to party insiders, the revamp will be aimed at serving the dual purposes of fixing accountability for the loss and bringing in a new leadership in the run-up to 2014 polls. The demoralised Congress unit desperately needs a new lease of life, if it has to give any competition to the reenergised Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi.
Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar also said that an alliance similar to the one stitched up in Bihar is needed at the national level for the next Lok Sabha elections.
Seeking truce with agitating Opposition members over controversial remarks made by Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the matter should be put to rest after her apology, but it failed to satisfy them.
Admitting its defeat, the Congress on Friday said it was "very disappointed" with the poll outcome but hit out at Narendra Modi for pursuing "politics of polarisation".
Opposition parties in Parliament on Monday vociferously protested the "snooping" on Rahul Gandhi, with the government dismissing their contention saying they were making a "mountain out of what is not even a molehill", leading the Congress to walk out of Rajya Sabha.
On Friday, he clarified that he was referring to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh where no such incident had taken place. "We do not justify anarchy and hooliganism," he said, adding that the incident in Alwar did take place and an FIR has been registered against six persons.
K N Balagopal (Communist Party of India -Marxist) said the Congress and the BJP were acting as A-Team and B-Team and not allowing the House to discuss the bills.
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