Maharashtra Chief Minister condemned the actions of Shiv Sena's Rajan Vichare and the party saying that his act had tainted the image of the state. Devidas Deshpande reports.
The Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament, will debate the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday. The bill has been met with strong opposition from several parties who claim it is unconstitutional. The government, however, insists the bill aims to improve the management of Waqf properties in India by bringing transparency and efficiency.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned amid ruckus and sloganeering by the Opposition members over the Adani issue.
Defying predictions of his political eclipse, Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar has not only consolidated his position in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti, but also fortified his place in Maharashtra politics by becoming deputy chief minister for the sixth time.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the BJP of a "conspiracy to save Home Minister Amit Shah's skin" following a clash in Parliament over allegations of disrespect towards B.R. Ambedkar. She alleged that BJP MPs instigated the violence and pushed opposition members, including Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, to prevent them from entering Parliament. Gandhi also challenged BJP MPs to say "Jai Bhim" and accused them of having "violent intentions" and insulting the legacy of Ambedkar.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday said it does not pay heed to remarks made by political leaders and others against the judiciary and remarked that the shoulders of the court are broad enough and as long as the court's conscience is clean, people can say whatever they want to.
Raut said industrialists should be supported, but not corruption.
Malik said Congress leaders requested that the meeting be postponed to Wednesday.
Five Shiv Sena workers, including brother of Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut, were arrested on Monday in connection with a case of theft and house breaking after the Bombay high court rapped the police for not initiating any action in pursuance to the matter.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MP on Wednesday dubbed the opposition members protesting in Rajya Sabha as 'Omicrons,' alleging they were a threat to democracy, and asked them to get the 'Modi vaccine' for protection against the new coronavirus variant.
After having retained the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance has now set its eyes on other municipal bodies in the state, especially Pune, Nashik, Thane and Ulhasnagar.
'When the BJP came into existence no party used to support it. When NDA was formed many leaders who are now holding posts in the present government were not holding any posts then and some of them were not even born,' the editorial said.
"If we had the numbers, we wouldn't have waited for anyone. The Congress and the NCP didn't cross the 100 mark...we will work as a responsible opposition," Pawar said.
He did a volte-face on his stand against the Muslim community and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
National Democratic Alliance nominee Om Birla was elected as Lok Sabha speaker on Wednesday after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted through voice vote, capping intense debate on the issue with the opposition in a rare move proposing its own candidate.
There are states that could swing either way and change the results of the 2024 general election.
By ending the Shiv Sena's political untouchability, the Congress is creating a level playing ground for itself in the political battle of Hindu identity, explains Sheela Bhatt.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday asserted that West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee should be allowed to lead the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
The TDP and the LJP also supported the Bill being sent to a parliamentary committee for further examination.
After Modi is elected the leader of NDA MPs, senior members of the alliance like Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu, Janata Dal-United's Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will join the prime minister for a meeting with President Droupadi Murmu to present her the list of parliamentarians supporting him, some alliance members said.
"Unless he tenders an unconditional apology to AI employees, and undertakes in writing to abide by the Chicago and Tokyo Conventions & Rules of the Air and follow all cabin safety and public behaviour norms, we must not let him on board," says the letter.
The sports minister, who had defeated Nirupam in last year's Lok Sabha poll, which he had contested as a Shiv Sena candidate, said Sonia had not been told that Nirupam had called thespian Dilip Kumar a "traitor."
The Election Commission on Wednesday expressed "strong displeasure" over Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut's remarks that Muslims should be stripped of voting rights and advised him to be more circumspect in future in his public utterance.
'Hindutva doesn't teach you to stab someone in the back.'
The None of the Above (NOTA) option once again found few takers, with 0.75 per cent of the electorate pressing the button in Maharashtra and 1.32 per cent in Jharkhand. Votes for the assembly elections in these two states were counted on Saturday.
The joint Opposition including the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool Congress, the Left, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Aam Aadmi Party did not join the Question Hour of the session when the House reassembled after its first adjournment till noon.
Parties are currently trading charges over issues of corruption.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
Shiv Sena member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party was using central agencies to topple the Maharashtra government by targeting the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders and their family members.
A meeting of the joint committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Friday witnessed fireworks with members vociferously opposing certain provisions of the draft legislation, leading to a brief walkout by opposition members.
There were some tense moments as BJP members, carrying placards, marched towards the opposition members near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises to condemn their 'undemocratic actions' inside the House.
The BJP, however, retorted saying the Sena should stop interfering in its internal affairs and that the party leadership was capable of taking a call on the issue.
"Gandhi's disqualification is illegal and the case is also bogus. I am sure that a higher court in Gujarat will do justice to Gandhi," said Raut, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.
An united opposition on Thursday forced the adjourned of Parliament, as the opposition raised slogans for a joint parliamentary committee probe in the controversial allocation of 2G spectrum. As soon as the Lok Sabha assembled, opposition members from Bharatiya Janata Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiv Sena and Samajwadi Party trooped into the well, waving photocopies of newspaper reports on alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum Congress mem
The catering supervisor of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited-managed canteen at New Maharashtra Sadan, who was force-fed by a Shiv Sena member of Parliament in a fit of rage, has claimed chapatis were forced into his mouth even though they knew his name and his religious sentiments were hurt.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar were expelled from Congress. The same year, Pawar founded the NCP.
Speaking two days after his release on bail in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, he also said a joint parliamentary committee should look into all such cases.
He sought to nix speculation that the Congress and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were working on a 'Plan B' to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls without his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy also said he went to the Rajya Sabha daily and it was not his fault if the the House did not run.