"While there is a protest against reforms, lakhs of farmers are also gathering to express support for bills. Today, thousands of farmers gathered in Gwalior for it," said Tomar while addressing an ASSOCHAM session via video conferencing on Wednesday.
President Pranab Mukherjee created a flutter in the Congress party by agreeing to meet 40 Congress MLAs from Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief K Chandrasekara Rao is on his way to Delhi, where he will reportedly meet the Congress top brass and urge them to pass a bill approving the creation of Telangana as soon as possible.
K T Rama Rao, son of Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, said late on Wednesday that moving a resolution in Andhra Pradesh assembly for creation of separate Telangana state was not enough and asked the Centre to introduce a bill in Parliament for this.
The Narendra Modi government's 'surprising' move to take the ordinance route on the Polavaram project due to which seven mandals and 270 hamlets of Telangana will be merged into Seemandhra has irked the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which is observing a bandh today in protest. Vicky Nanjappa in an exclusive conversation with TRS leader K T Rama Rao.
The Andhra Pradesh Intelligence Bureau has warned of possible trouble in case the passage of the Bill is delayed on Thursday. The current session of Parliament ends on Friday.
Turmoil over Telangana statehood and a variety of other issues paralysed proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday prompting a comment from the Chair that he was "disturbed" and "disappointed" over lack of consensus to run the House.
The impending expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha, three bills to replace criminal laws and a proposed law for the appointment of election commissioners are issues set to dominate the Winter Session of Parliament, with the government urging the Opposition to ensure a conducive environment for discussions in the House.
The formation of Telangana state appears to be heading towards a reality and the talk is that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has cleared it. Congress sources tell rediff.com that all through the meeting Sonia was inclined towards the formation of Telangana and she had expressed the same.
Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley speaks on the debate on the Andhra Pradesh (Reorganisation) Bill, 2014
'Those who are part of the NDA, like the JDU and LJP in Bihar, should also think. Polls are approaching in Bihar, people will seek answers from them'
Three Members of Parliament were on Thursday rushed to a hospital in Delhi after they complained of choking and burning eyes following a pepper spray attack by a member during introduction of Telangana Bill in Lok Sabha while another MP was admitted for a heart condition after he collapsed during the fracas.
Justice BV Nagarathna said she had to dissent against the demonetisation move by the central government as in 2016, when the decision was announced, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes comprised 86 per cent of the total currency notes in circulation, and 98 per cent of it came back after they were banned.
The Bill was supported by the members across party lines, however, some suggested to add in its purview hospital sanitary staff, ASHA (accredited social health activist) workers and 'Corona warriors' in emergency services such as police and personnel from other departments.
The deteriorating law and order situation in Hyderabad has prompted a worried Union government to consider temporarily bringing the city under its control.
The Telangana political Joint Action Committee on Friday asked people in the region to boycott the Census, refrain from paying taxes and observe a shutdown as part of the non-cooperation agitation from February 17. The JAC has planned the agitation in support of its demand for early introduction of a bill for the formation of separate Telangana. The JAC would announce the details of the non-cooperation agitation in the villages on February 13 and hold rallies on February 14.
Union Minister of State for Steel and Mines A Sai Pratap on Monday said it is not that easy to move a bill for a separate Telangana state in Parliament.
Lateef Mohammed Khan, convenor, Muslim Forum for Telangana, speaks with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa about the mindset of the Muslims in the Telangana region and also explains why the MIM is worried about the formation or a de-merger of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
The Maharashtra legislative assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a bill which makes Marathi a compulsory subject across all schools in the state. The development came on `Marathi Bhasha Din' (Marathi language day) which is celebrated on February 27, the birth anniversary of poet and Jnanpith award winner late V V Shirwadkar. The state legislative council had passed the legislation, titled `Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill, 2020', on Wednesday.
Failure to receive signals from the nine automatic cameras in Lok Sabha resulted in the blackout of Lok Sabha TV during the crucial proceedings for passage of the Telangana bill, a probe has found.
Deputy leader of BJP in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu in the Rajya Sabha raised the issue in Zero Hour saying the government should bring a bill in right earnest.
'We see that a BJP MP abuses a Muslim MP in the Parliament. People are saying that he should not have said all this in the Parliament, they are saying that his tongue was bad. This is the representative of the people for whom you voted'
Normal life remained paralysed for the second consecutive day in the 13 districts of the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of the state following the bandh call by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers and YSR Congress against the tabling of the Telangana bill in Lok Sabha.
Rediff.com rewinds the clock as it struck Noon to unravel how things went awfully wrong in Parliament on Thursday
The Samajwadi Party on Monday said it will support the Food Security Bill in Parliament if the amendments, including giving due price to farmers and changing the definition of those below the poverty line, suggested by it, are accepted.
A large number of students of Osmania University boycotted their post-fraduate semester examinations which began in Hyderabad on Wednesday, demanding that the government should introduce a bill in the Parliament for creation of Telangana state.
Telangana is all set to become India's 29th state after the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday evening amid uproar.
A controversial bill which paves the way for the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh by merging some villages and mandals of Telangana with Seemandhra was approved in the Lok Sabha on Friday, amid stiff opposition from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Biju Janata Dal and some other parties.
In a show of solidarity against the Union government, the opposition forced it's hand in the Rajya Sabha, stopping two important legislations put on the fast mode for passage on the last day of its winter session on Tuesday.
On the proposed Grand Alliance of the Congress and other parties in the state, Shah said the Telugu people had not forgotten how the Congress had treated their leaders like former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh chief minister Anjaiah and former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.
A day after drubbing, the Congress on Monday said it will introspect what happened in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan as it had hoped of winning these states.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad made this assertion outside Parliament while speaking to reporters and said the revocation of suspension of the Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs was not a demand, but a 'request'.
Continuing to mount pressure on the government over the Telangana Bill, pro and anti-statehood Congress leaders are preparing to stage separate sit-ins in New Delhi on Wednesday when the special session of the Parliament starts.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted fresh searches in poll-bound Rajasthan as part of its money laundering investigation into the alleged Jal Jivan Mission scam.
Its passage in the Lok Sabha is all but certain due to the massive majority the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies have, and the Union government is confident of its passage in the Rajya Sabha as well with the support of several non-aligned regional parties which have often joined the treasury benches in the past.
Land-locked Telangana, all set to become the country's 29th state soon, is spread over an area of over 1.14 lakh square kilometres, and boasts of considerable mineral wealth under its soil.
Bharatiya Janata Party member Prakash Javadekar seemed most upset with Friday's Rajya Sabha adjournment as his resolution on creation of a separate Telangana state was on top of the private members' business listed for the afternoon session.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
Gandhi will embark on a 15-kilometre padyatra in Telangana's Adilabad district on Friday, highlighting the issues of farmers.
The bill is unlikely to have a smooth passage in the committee with the Congress party making it clear that "there is no compromise on the land bill."
