In a letter the Central Bureau of Investigation dated April 6, West Bengal's chit fund scam accused and Saradha Group promoter Sudipta Sen has accused Trinamool Congress Members of Parliament Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose of blackmailing him for huge sums of money.
Notwithstanding the ruling Congress remaining undecided on who should be its presidential candidate, Congress members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly have come out in open demanding the post for Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
It said the Congress will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings.
Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for "unethical conduct", has been renominated by her party from West Bengal's Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar is meeting later on Thursday to adopt its draft report in what is likely to be hotly contested by opposition members of the panel.
The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP.
Participating in a debate on the bill in Lok Sabha, Moitra said women's reservation is dependent on two totally "indeterminate dates" and asked, "can there be a greater jumla".
It referred to Article 105 of the Constitution which deals with powers, privileges etc, of the Houses of Parliament and of the members and committees thereof.
The proceedings of the House were almost washed out as it could not take up any legislative business.
The deadlock in Parliament over Foreign Direct Investment in retail and several other issues continued for the ninth day on Friday with the opposition and some members of United Progressive Alliance partner Trinamool Congress creating uproar in both Houses to press for their demands. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned minutes after they met for the day.
In the all-party meeting on Tuesday, Opposition parties demanded discussions on price rise, unemployment and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota among other issues, sources said.
CBI sources said Bose was interrogated for more than three hours.
RS member Derek O'Brien said due to the polls, MPs of his party would not be able to attend the Parliament session.
INDIA bloc leaders will protest at Jantar Mantar Friday against suspension of MPs and nationwide protests will also be held in all district headquarters against the government's "immoral and illegal" behaviour of this government, the Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha said.
The Lok Sabha MP from Maldaha Dakshin said Congress' alliance partner Communist Party of India-Marxist forged a tie-up with Indian Secular Front of Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui as it feared it will not be able to win a single seat.
Reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent comment -- that he was not ruling out a future alliance with former partner Trinamool Congress -- party Member of Parliament Derek O'Brien on Sunday said they would prefer to go it alone in the next Lok Sabha polls as the people of the state were firmly behind them.
"I am not allowed to speak in the Rajya Sabha often. Should I say it is because I am a Dalit?" he asked.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident of two persons jumping into the house chamber from the public gallery with smoke canisters.
Birla did not name Moitra and urged members not to cast aspersions on the chair as it amounted to disrespect of the House.
"A person cannot be punished twice for the same offence," a committee member said, adding that even BJP members took a "soft view" of the issue and were in favour of revocation of Chowdhury's suspension.
Sources stated that the move comes even as Trinamool Congress has attempted to stir a controversy over Dasgupta's candidature. BJP has fielded Swapan Dasgupta from Tarakeswar Assembly constituency in Hoogly district.
Although there has been no official communication by the party leadership in this regard, the sources said MPs over 65 years of age have been advised not to attend the session.
The Lokpal directive came while deciding a complaint by BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey alleging that Moitra had asked questions in the Lower House of Parliament in exchange for cash and gifts from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
Earlier, the party's members of Parliament had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for removing Mehta over his reported meeting with West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari.
The Supreme Court has sought details from the Allahabad High Court regarding controversial statements made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav at a VHP function. The development comes amid calls for action against the judge for his remarks, which have been labeled as hate speech by some. The judge's statements were made at a VHP function on December 8, where he spoke about the Uniform Civil Code and the law working according to the majority. Several individuals and organizations, including lawyer Prashant Bhushan and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, have called for an inquiry into the judge's conduct and for his removal from judicial duties.
Soon after the suspension of 33 opposition Lok Sabha MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all democratic norms have been thrown into the dustbin by this "autocratic" government and it has shown zero accountability towards Parliament.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday alleged that Dinesh Trivedi, who resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Friday, took the 'House for a ride' and was 'allowed' to use the floor of the House for his 'devious political ends'.
Both Houses of Parliament witnessed multiple adjournments on Monday as opposition MPs continued their protest over the Pegasus snooping row and other matters. Amid ruckus by the Opposition, the Rajya Sabha passed the Inland Vessels Bill-2021 while the Lok Sabha passed the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill with voice-vote.
The session, which was earlier scheduled to conclude on April 3, is now likely to be adjourned sine die on March 23, sources said.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday said she will appear before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on November 2 in the cash-for-query case, but asserted that she should be allowed to cross-examine businessman Darshan Hiranandani, from whom she is accused of taking bribes to ask questions in Parliament.
A girl was killed after being allegedly raped in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, after which a mob blocked road traffic and damaged the car of a ruling Trinamool Congress member of Parliament in protest against police's alleged inaction to save the victim.
Prasun Banerjee and Jawhar Sircar represented TMC in the meeting, which discussed the Opposition strategy on Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Parliament.
Several parties had requested that the session, which was originally scheduled to continue till April 8, be curtailed due to the five assembly elections being held in eight phases till April 29.
Opposition leaders have slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party over its Lok Sabha member Ramesh Bidhuri, who is in the eye of a storm for his derogatory comments against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali, being given poll responsibility by the party in Rajasthan's Tonk district.
The 14-year political journey of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra has encountered both upheaval and elevation, as her expulsion from Parliament in a cash-for-query case marked the culmination of her tumultuous parliamentary term.
In separate letters to the speaker, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Supriya Sule of the NCP, DMK leader Kanimozhi and TMC's Aparupa Poddar said what had happened with Ali is unfortunate and that action should be taken against Bidhuri.
Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday suspended Congress member of Parliament Rajani Ashokrao Patil for the remainder of the current Budget Session for filming House proceedings.
party chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandhopadhay told PTI in Kolkata, "We took a decision that our MPs will abstain from Parliament.We want to send a message to the central government that it should act on state-sponsored terrorism in West Bengal. The Left Front government does not have the moral right to continue."
He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to the commercialisation of education.
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