Ratcheting up pressure on farmers' issues, Rahul Gandhi's next stop will be Vidarbha in Maharashtra where he will hold a 15-km 'kisan padyatra' (footmarch) on Thursday as he criss-crosses the country to reach out to the farmers in distress in various states.
In a move which could once again put the Congress in the firing line and give them a great deal of negative publicity, the party's core group in its meeting held on Friday evening has given the green signal to bring a fresh bill in the monsoon session of Parliament to keep political parties out of the ambit of the Right to Information Act.
'When Hindus converted through inducements there was no hue and cry, but when reconversions took place, everyone cried foul. If re-conversions are bad, so are conversions.' 'Our government is not getting involved either in conversions or re-conversions. The BJP has nothing to do with it.' Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu in a candid interview.
The only other legislative action was the approval of the Supplementary Demands for Grants.
Popular Telugu film star Pavan Kalyan launched his Jana Sena party with a 'call to the nation' to 'wipe out' the Congress party on Friday.
The issued rocked both houses of Parliament with the Opposition demanding Modi's statement on Trump's controversial remarks, holding that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and no third party can intervene.
Govt is keen to push reforms in the insurance sector.
Putting behind the acrimony witnessed during the session, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj on Friday praised Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders for their conduct in the Lok Sabha.
In a television interview, Union minister Jairam Ramesh claimed that a state of UP's size was ungovernable
Party sources in the party said the Padyatra could begin either from Vidarbha in Maharasthra or some district including Medak from Telangana -- the two regions which have been in the news for farmer suicides.
The programme backs the repeal of POTA and reservations for women
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday expressed anguish over the gruesome gangrape of a 23-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai.
High drama was witnessed in Lok Sabha on Thursday as an exasperated government brought a motion to suspend 11 members from Andhra Pradesh, including seven from Congress, for protesting over Telangana issue, but an aggressive opposition scuttled the move.
Taking his fight against division of Andhra Pradesh to the national capital, YSR Congress Party chief Jaganmohan Reddy on Monday staged a protest and courted arrest, while accusing the Congress of engineering the pepper spray episode in Parliament.
Govt decides to impose central rule in Andhra Pradesh New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) Govt to impose President's rule in Andhra Pradesh The government on Friday decided to impose President's rule in Andhra Pradesh and keep the assembly in suspended animation. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union cabinet while taking up an agenda item "political situation in Andhra Pradesh" and "proclamation under Article 356 (1)", sources said. The move comes in the wake of the resignation of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy following the government's decision to bifurcate the state. Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan will hold the charge during the period of President's rule. The term of the 294-member current Andhra Pradesh assembly expires on June 2, 2014 before which elections are to be held. The Election Commission is set to declare assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in the next few days. The ruling Congress in the state did not propose another candidate to succeed Reddy, who quit as a member of Legislative Assembly as well as from the party protesting against the decision to create Telangana. The bill to create the country's 29th state, by splitting Andhra Pradesh, was passed by Parliament in the just-concluded winter session.
Cracking the whip, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday suspended for at least five sittings 12 members from Andhra Pradesh who have been agitating against decision to form Telangana and paralysing the House since the current session began on August 5.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 assembly constituencies were held on October 30, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
Just as the superstars of Indian cricket only play IPL and international fixtures and ignore the Ranji and Mushtaq Ali trophies in domestic cricket, Narendra Modi should play a very limited role in state assembly elections, argues Sudhir Bisht.
The government will give a final shape to its proposed flagship scheme on developing '100 smart cities' next month.
Parliament proceedings were washed out for the fifth straight day, as members from parties including the Telugu Desam Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, continued their protests on various issues.
Though the people of Andhra Pradesh seem to have more or less reconciled to the fact that bifurcation of the state is inevitable, political parties in Seemandhra are leaving no stone unturned to stall the proposed division process, at least till the 2014 elections.
As the House took up the debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address, the Bharatiya Janata Party launched a frontal attack on opposition parties specially the Congress for their stance against the CAA, saying they were trying to divide the nation.
Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is coordinating the meeting. He has invited the leaders of all the non-BJP parties.
The Congress vice-president's office and staff have been revamped after the party's electoral defeat in 2014
The Indore-3 legislator and son of senior party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya was recently jailed for thrashing the municipal officer, on an anti-encroachment drive, following a heated argument.
'Modi's idea of India is to make it less liberal, less tolerant and a less accommodative of diversity.' 'We are headed, if Modi continues, to become an ill liberal democracy.' 'Modi is not Vajpayee. Vajpayee was fundamentally decent, tolerant and fair. He played by the rules of the game. Modi is a different story.'
Disappointed and angry Congress members are likely to train their guns on Rahul Gandhi's team of advisors for inept handling of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign, says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal
Narendra Modi government is working for 'making India' whereas the Congress is working for 'breaking India'.
Kavitha Kuruganti has been fighting for decades to ensure farmers are respected and get their due from the Indian nation. In order to ensure they don't struggle for a living, she works to ensure sustainable farm livelihoods and farmers' rights.
Creation of a Telangana state will not only encourage demand for new states but also new districts and this will only weaken the country, social activist and anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare said in Azamgarh on Thursday.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday slammed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao for dubbing as "fascist" the Centre's directives on special powers related to law and order in Hyderabad vested in Governor, and demanded immediate withdrawal of his comments.
Criticising various provisions in the proposed GST regime, Moily said it will be a "technological nightmare" and the anti-profiteering provisions in it are "far too draconian."
Parliament proceedings were washed out for the fourth consecutive day on Friday as the Opposition remained unrelenting on its demand for the resignation of Union Minister Sushma Swaraj and chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
In a frontal attack on BJP, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi alleged that the saffron party, which is leading the NDA, is trying to make "Hindus fight against Muslims" and also seeking to create two Indias with one for chosen business class and another for the poor.
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
Currently the currency in stock is about Rs 2 lakh crore and the reserves are adequate to meet any unusual spurt in demand
This is the first time that no-confidence motion notices have been moved against the Modi government in 4 years.
'Not unlike politicians who gravitate towards whoever is in power, mafia dons too have a great survival streak, switching loyalty to the party in power,' observes Virendra Kapoor a week after gangster Vikas Dubey was slain in an alleged encounter.
Dismissing any threat in wake of plans by some anti-Telangana Lok Sabha MPs, including those from Congress, to bring a no-confidence motion, Union Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday said the government has the numbers and the general elections will be held in May as per schedule.
