Anna Hazare and his team may not have managed to see introduction of their version of Lokpal Bill in Parliament, but an Independent MP on Monday submitted in Rajya Sabha a Private Member's Jan Lokpal Bill aimed at checking corruption.
The joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill met in New Delhi on Tuesday for the last time amid "fresh and serious" differences between the government and Anna Hazare team.
Differing with Anna Hazare on the amended Lokpal Bill approved by the Union Cabinet, his team member and former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on Friday backed the legislation saying it addresses most of their concerns.
"It is the job of Parliament to legislate. We (government) had several rounds of discussion with him (Anna Hazare) and his team. We know their viewpoints. About nine rounds of meetings have already been held with them. Thereafter also, through interlocutors some discussions also took place with them," Mukherjee told media persons at his south Kolkata residence.
Tax returns of 100,000 entities under scanner, as preparation for DTC, say officials.
Anna Hazare's team on Saturday rejected as 'unacceptable' and 'unconstitutional' Delhi Police's restrictions on the fast to be undertaken by the social activist.
The much-awaited and debated Lokpal Bill was finally introduced in the Parliament on Thursday. While Anna Hazare and team burnt copies of the bill calling it 'anti-poor', 'anti-Dalit', the Bharatiya Janata Party raised several objections to the proposed bill, mainly objecting to exclusion of prime minister from the purview of the proposed legislation.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday questioned the Centre's decision of sending two drafts of Lokpal Bill for consideration and demanded that the government be clear before seeking states' views on the proposed legislation.
Contrary to Anna Hazare team's description of government's Lokpal Bill draft as a "very big hoax", Swami Agnivesh, an associate of the Gandhian's anti-graft campaign, on Friday termed the latest draft as an "improvement" of its 2010 draft.
Probably for the first time in the history of independent India, a struggle has been given respect due to a peaceful protest by the people, says Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey
Taking exception to the government's 'comparative' analysis of the two drafts of the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare team on Monday asked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to treat both its versions as the joint drafting committee's outcome enjoying 'equal weightage'.
After a not so pleasant experience of engaging with Anna Hazare's team in drafting of the Lokpal Bill, the government says that there will be no such experiment in the future.
After Anna Hazare and his team, it is now the turn of yoga guru Ramdev to kick up a controversy by attacking MPs calling them "dacoits and murderers".
Noted social worker Swami Agnivesh differed with Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejiriwal -- members of the civil society on the Lokpal Bill drafting panel -- that the talks with the government failed to yield substantial results.
The post of Prime Minister may be brought under the purview of Lokpal with certain riders like holding the enquiry only after the person demits office, notwithstanding the intense face-off between the government and Anna Hazare team.
Can the proposed 11-member Lokpal contest elections after demitting office? This ticklish issue came up at the sixth meeting of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill on June 15, which the Anna Hazare team boycotted.
Replying to a a questionnaire consisting of 20 questions on key issues on Lokpal Bill sent to him by the NGO India Against Corruption, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has given his thumbs up for the draft version put forward by Anna Hazare and his team.
A rare Bharatiya Janata Party leader with no Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh link, Kiran Bedi, the party's chief ministerial nominee for Delhi, described the Sangh as "very nationalistic" that has kept India united.
Team Anna met the members of the Standing Committee of Parliament headed by Abhishek Singvi on Friday to discuss the Jan Lokpal Bill and pressed for as many as 34 fresh additions to the proposed Lokpal Bill that have already been incorporated in the Uttarakhand Lokayukata Bill. They renewed their demand that constitutional amendments bringing violation of citizens' charter and conduct of legislators in Parliament within the purview of the Lokpal also be introduced.
The indefinite fast by Team Anna against the United Progressive Alliance government on corruption issue entered the second day on Thursday with a thin attendance at the venue.
'The BJP was supporting him from behind in order to bring down the Congress government.'
"Feel nostalgic when I see this picture. We had burnt government's 'jokepal' at that time," Kejriwal tweeted, attaching a picture of him holding a burning copy of the draft Lokpal back in 2011.
Asked why Congress had not reacted to Ramdev's call on black money, Congress media department chief Janardhan Dwivedi said, "It is true that we did not say anything as we cannot speak their language or behave like them. And now it is out in the open how politics is being done in a different guise."
Former Supreme Court judge P B Sawant died due to cardiac arrest at his residence in Pune in Maharashtra on Monday morning, family sources said. He was 90.
Prakash Jha delivers a potion that is but a terrible hodgepodge of his earlier films.
Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi's seventh chief minister on Saturday at historic Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, capping his party's stunning electoral debut in the December 4 assembly polls. The date for the swearing-in ceremony was finalised at a meeting Kejriwal held with Chief Secretary D M Spolia.
'I am sick of hearing the prime minister parrot the 'compulsions of coalition government' line, says Vipin Vijayan. 'I for once hope he says, "This is what I will do. You have a problem, go hang!"'
Amid the standoff with Team Anna over the Lokpal Bill, the government has convened an all-party meeting tomorrow to find a way to solve the issue. Leaders of all political parties have been invited to attend the meet scheduled for 3.30 pm on Wednesday.
'The main ploy of the BJP's pre-poll proclamations on corruption was so cacophonous and resounding that it unexpectedly worked out to its greatest advantage. But there seems to be a lull after the sound and fury over corruption,' says Ram Ugrah.
Asserting that there was no comparison between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, the Congress on Sunday said while the Gandhi scion was an undisputed leader, the Gujarat Chief Minister was a "leader of all disputes".
Allies, Opposition increase volume of criticism; hope in Kashmir, Assam
A day after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, Kiran Bedi on Friday said she was ready to contest against Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party chief and her former Team Anna colleague, in the Delhi assembly polls, if her party wants.
Arrogance can never be strength. It is a mask for lack of confidence. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's press conference on December 14 only reaffirms this. Hope the Aam Aadmi Party learns this lesson as well, says Arun Jaitley
A day after dropping hints of joining politics, former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on Wednesday said she was ready to become the Bharatiya Janata Party's chief Ministerial nominee in Delhi if such an offer was made to her.
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.
Addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters, senior party leader Manish Sisodia, who was the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, said the cabinet ministers will also take oath along with Kejriwal.
A relatively quiet foray by actor Vijay into politics through the TN rural local body elections last month has captured the attention of many, reports Shine Jacob.
'I did not come here to contest elections and so I am not going to quit if I lose, television anchor and AAP member Ashutosh tells Rediff.com's Athimuthu Ganesh Nadar.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
From journalism to anti-graft activism to the number two position in the Delhi government, Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia has come a long way to emerge as a prominent figure in Delhi's political scene.
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