The Congress is planning to call a meeting of Opposition parties in May. It is possible to keep all possibilities open in case Karnataka yields a hung House, leading to a recalibrated Opposition.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday discussed the strategy to be adopted in the monsoon session of the Parliament on issues such as Telangana and proposed amendments in the Right to Information Act.
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
Farooq Abdullah requested the PM to consider the proposal, supported by opposition parties, reports Archis Mohan.
All the three leaders expressed their best wishes to her, sources said.
Kumar was speaking to media persons at Patna airport on his arrival from New Delhi.
Other members of the group are former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist chief Sitaram Yechury.
The five-member panel will recommend measures to ensure safety of students and will probe lapses in security, if any. The students and civil society members, meanwhile, took out a protest march demanding resignation of the V-C.
Janata Dal-United on Friday suspended Islampur MLA Rajiv Ranjan from the party for six years accusing him of "anti-party activities", days after he attacked his party's government in Bihar over "unabated corruption" after having earlier opposed a tie-up with Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
The Opposition on Monday stepped up attack on the government over the UPSC exam row, serving a privilege notice in the Rajya Sabha and forcing adjournment of the House demanding a definite time-frame to resolve the issue.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who was speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode on Friday, said while he concedes the BJP's dominance, it is also a fact that they have lost many states and them losing the central government is not impossible.
A B Bardhan, who steered the CPI during the turbulent period of coalition politics in the 1990s, died in New Delhi on Saturday night.
After the first meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi and attended by 17 parties, the leaders said that it has been decided that a common candidate who will 'uphold the democratic ethos of the country' will be chosen as the opposition nominee.
BJD MP Baijayant Jay Panda has written that 'reforms must reduce the Rajya Sabha's power to block the popular mandate'
'It is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab'
In a bid to embarrass Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, Nitish Kumar has invited 'bujurg' Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani to attend his oath-taking ceremony.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, was conspicuous by her absence at the event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people as the Congress sought to promote opposition unity.
The government on Wednesday reached out to opposition Janata Dal-United as continued disruptions in Parliament blocked passage of the United Progressive Alliance's 'game changer' Food Security Bill that aims to provide foodgrains at cheap rates to 67 per cent of the population.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vijay Goel on Thursday likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mahatma Gandhi, a day ahead of the latter's birth anniversary, terming both as "saints of Sabarmati".
On a day when Trinamool Congress and Telugu Desam Party members fought over a room in Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday made an emotional appeal to members of Parliament to maintain its dignity, honour and prestige.
Kejriwal said that the ordinance must be defeated collectively in Parliament where it is likely to come up for voting as a law in the forthcoming session.
Gyaneshwari Yadav clinched the silver medal and compatriot V Rithika finished third to give India a double podium finish in the women's 49kg category at the IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships in Heraklion, Greece, on Monday night.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday formally broached the idea of a grand alliance including former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in poll-bound Bihar, a move that may rock attempts at a merger between 'Janata Parivar' parties.
As the Opposition on Wednesday held its first meeting on the presidential election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice for the top constitutional post with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Naveen Patnaik, sources said.
Over 100 Opposition members of Parliament led by Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday marched from Parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhawan
Joined by leaders from all major parties, Modi paid tributes to the Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart, who died last week, at a condolence meeting.
A former protege of the JD-U de facto leader, Kushwaha, had revolted against Kumar in 2013, giving up his Rajya Sabha berth and floated his own outfit.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
The intensity of fire and explosions at central ammunition depot at Pulgaon in Wardha district was such that seven of the victims were blown to pieces, a top police official said.
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.
'To summarise, PM Modi's failures in the last nine years can be categorised under 'durniti' (bad policies), 'anyay' (injustice) and - perhaps most importantly - 'badniyat' (ill intention)'
In a major setback for former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court on Wednesday termed his re-election as JD-U legislative party leader unconstitutional.
The recent Supreme Court judgment on reservation on Mondau came in for criticism in the Lok Sabha, with members claiming that it would hit80 per cent population of the country comprising Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Backward Classes.
A photograph of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat sitting with Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has set tongues wagging in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, with the Congress taunting that the S in SP means the Sangh.
Pawar, who had surprised the BJP by forging an unlikely alliance of Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP to form government in Maharashtra after the 2019 assembly elections, has already appealed to opposition parties to keep aside differences and join hands to challenge the Modi juggernaut.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday confirmed that Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar would be the Janata Parivar's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.
Union ministers Prakash Javedkar and Nirmla Sitharaman and senior Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav and Nationalist Congress Party's Praful Patel on Monday took oath as members of Rajya Sabha.
JD-U president said earlier the saffron party was acting from behind the curtain but now the curtain has been lifted.
Mayank Agarwal played a captain's knock of 109, as his side took a 64-run lead on Day 2
