Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended the swearing in ceremony, while former AICC President Sonia Gandhi was absent. Chief Ministers of Congress ruled states Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh) and several top party leaders were also in attendance.
To a question about stability of the government, he said, "Our agenda is the nuclear deal and the implications of the Hyde act on national sovereignty and interest."
CPM general-secretary Prakash Karat had said that the government would have to face serious consequences if it went ahead with the nuclear deal.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
The Committee has asked the UPA government to stop arms supply to Nepal and not do anything to legitimise the king's "authoritarianism".
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and Politburo members Sitaram Yechury, S Ramachandran Pillai and R Umanath are expected to attend the meeting on Saturday.
Congress sources said the party will first discuss its choice of the Presidential nominee within the UPA and then consult the Left parties.
The committee, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury, recommended that caution should be taken to retain the original glory of the Taj which is turning yellow day by day.
Contending that the Left has the right to express its views, he said, "I am hopeful the deal will come through and if not, it will be unfortunate for the country." To a question, he also said, "Anyway, we all are preparing for elections."
Ahead of the meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on nuclear issues on Tuesday, the CPM on Monday made it clear that it would not allow the government to proceed on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
"The WPI is not a true reflection of the burden put on the people through the rise in prices of essential commodities. It is a misnomer to use it as an index for measuring inflation," party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters. Quoting the oft-repeated phrase 'statistics, more statistics and damned lies', he said the weightage of the basket of food items to calculate the WPI was 22 per cent as against that of steel products which was 25 per cent.
The country's premier B-school is all set to help MPs in effectively spend their grants so that maximum number of people can reap benefits. A group of students of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has taken up a project to study the spendings and suggest changes for the Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) grant given each year to parliamentarians under the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.
BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman V K Malhotra expressed dissatisfaction with the prime minister's statement saying he should have instead allowed a 'sense of House' resolution on the pact.
The CPI-M said that it would pull down the government if it 'falters' on foreign policy and 'succumbs' to US pressure. "If it falters, we will pull down the government. We cannot afford to be drawn into the strategic tie-ups. We will not permit the government to succumb to the US pressure," party leader Sitaram Yechury said.
Opposition leaders asked all secular forces to field a joint candidate for presidential elections and have common minimum programme to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party, reports Archis Mohan.
'The BJP's economic policy narrowed the employment potential. Go to any urban area, you will see closed \n\nfactories. The small sector belongs to the middle class, and their future is ruined,' says CPI-M leader Prakash \n\nKarat.
Left parties on Tuesday asked the government to correct the "negative" aspects of its economic policy and prioritise the implementation of those aspects of the Common Minimum Programme
Sitaram Yechury said he believed there existed the need to set up a 'third alternative' to the Congress and the BJP.
Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist denied that the West Bengal government had anything to do with controversial Bangladeshi writer Talima Nasreen moving from her temporary residence in Kolkata to Jaipur.
Doctors said his condition was "critical but stable."
Pakistan represents 'strategic depth' in Mullah Omar's war with the US, then a staging camp for the conquest of India.
The Left parties have given notices of breach of privilege against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in both Houses of Parliament on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal.
The upcoming Opposition meet in Patna scheduled for next week will not discuss a possible prime ministerial candidate and will focus on deciding the common agenda for the parties to work on in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
Amid reports that government is determined to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPI(M) on Thursday warned that the Left parties would review their support to it in such an eventuality. "They have time till June 25 (the next meeting of the UPA-Left Committee) and they have to make up their mind by then. If they go ahead, we will have to reconsider our support," CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.
Manmohan Singh and almost all his Cabinet colleagues were among those who drove to her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi to wish her.
Abhay Chautala said that Banerjee has told him that she had some preoccupation on that day and she will depute a senior leader of her party for the event while Thackeray told him that if he is unable to attend due to some reasons he will send a senior leader for the event.
The Left parties on Wednesday asked the government to reduce prices of LPG and diesel and restore 9.5 per cent interest rate on Employees Provident Fund.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings, including with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.
The CPI-M on Tuesday warned the UPA government at the Centre would "face the consequences" if it went ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal. CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechuri said the outcome of the discussion between India and IAEA regarding the nuclear deal would be conveyed to Left parties by the government on March 17 at the Left-UPA Coordination Committee meeting.
"Our agenda is the nuclear deal and not the stability of the government or an early or late election. We are opposed to the deal because we think it is not in the interest of the country," CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury told media persons in New Delhi. Whether government will go in for early elections is for them to decide, he said in reply to a question on the sidelines of the party Central Committee meeting in New Delhi.
But the party said it could do little about it as per the existing laws.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), on Thursday, warned the government against any breach of the Common Minimum Programme and indicated that it would not hesitate to withdraw support if the CMP was not implemented sincerely.
The BJP-led NDA is attacking ministers facing criminal cases in the UPA government.
The CPI(M) leader said when the Nepali people overcome these obstacles, they shall create history by transforming this Himalayan Hindu kingdom into a modern democratic nation state based on democracy.
Apparently not giving up hopes on persuading the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said at the India-Brazil-South Africa summit on October 17 that the process of evolving a 'meaningful consensus is still on.'
According to the sources, the meeting will be held at 10 am on Thursday in the chamber of Rajya Sabha LoP.
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