Several MPs came to the Upper House wearing masks and demanded curtailment of the ongoing Budget session, which is due to end on April 3, in view of the novel coronavirus scare, but the government seemed unwilling.
The session will commence with the maiden address of President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The address essentially highlights the government's achievements and policy priorities.
SBI was the top Sensex gainer, up nearly 2%.
The leaders neither spoke from the podium of the Kisan Sansad (farmers' parliament) nor were they seated on the dais.
Slogans of 'Unnao ki beti ko insaaf do, beti bachao' were chanted by MPs in the well of the House.
Ruling out resignation of Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti for her controversial remarks, the government on Wednesday came down heavily on opposition for disrupting Parliament accusing it of 'authoritarianism'.
During the day-long debate, the lines between science and religion often got blurred with many invoking religious texts and the contribution of 'rishi munis' to highlight India's tryst with the extra-terrestrial world.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured her counterpart from Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, that her party would support him in his fight against the central ordinance to control appointments and transfer of bureaucrats.
The issue of black money created uproar in Lok Sabha on the first working day of Winter session with Opposition asking the government to fulfil its promise of bringing it back from abroad.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asserted that Trinamool Congress' 34-seat tally in the state was a massive triumph and said her party would play a big role in the 16th Lok Sabha in the interest of the people.
Ugly scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday as opposition MPs climbed on the officials' table, waved black cloth and threw files when the House began a discussion on farmers' protest against new reform laws.
There was no let up in Opposition's protest over the demonetisation issue in the second week of the winter session of Parliament as parties insisted that no discussion on demonetisation would take place till the House mourns the nearly 70 deaths caused by hardships due to the withdrawal of higher denomination currency notes.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed three bills to replace the colonial-era criminal laws by voice vote.
Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee attributed her party's abstention from voting on the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha to a "communication gap" and said she was committed to the Constitutional amendment.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
He said that the government was willing to listen to the complaints and suggestions different parties have over the execution of the demonetisation move.
Apart from Chamkaur Sahib assembly seat which comes in Maajha region of Punjab, Congress is all set to field CM Channi from Adampur assembly constituency which falls in the Doaba Region.
Lalitgate is so much like the Bofors arms scandal that eventually brought down the Rajiv Gandhi government despite his humongous parliamentary majority, Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Saturday announced as the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance's vice presidential candidate.
She called on all "progressive forces" to join hands to fight the "oppressive BJP regime".
Members from parties like the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties and the Rashtriya Janata Dal created uproar in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha as soon as the Houses met for the day.
Twenty suspended Rajya Sabha members on Wednesday started a 50-hour relay protest inside the Parliament complex, with sources saying the Opposition declined the chairman's offer that they express regret over their members' behaviour in the House to get the suspension revoked.
Kejriwal said the eight MPs were fighting for the rights of farmers without worrying about heat, mosquitoes or other inconveniences and have spent the night protesting in the Parliament complex.
The Opposition alleged that without any provocation from the Opposition, "outsiders who were not part of Parliament security were brought in to manhandle the Opposition leaders and members, including women Parliamentarians who were only protesting against the Government's conduct, highhandedness and muzzling of the voice".
Currently, the select committee is considering the Bill.
The Trinamool Congress condemned a Central Bureau of Investigation search at the party's Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Debabrata Bandopadhyay's residence in Delhi today saying that the central agency was being used by the Bharatiya Janata Party government with a motive of political vendetta against the main opposition parties.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge cited national crime data to take on the government, saying every 80 minutes a crime against Dalit was taking place, three Dalits raped and two murdered every day.
In more problems for the Congress on the Telangana issue, a Congress and a Telugu Desam Party member on Thursday gave notices for a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government over its plan to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
If you thought that India's neta's couldn't get any worse, think again!
'The consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has demoralised them.' 'And, now it is reflecting in their individual reactions as they are losing hope to take on the BJP in 2024.'
Amid a massive ruckus after the suspension order, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned.
'If the Congress is to challenge the NDA government, Rahul Gandhi will have to shed his indifference to Parliament, become more visible and vocal and, essentially, lead from the front,' says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
Only vegetarian dishes were served at the official dinner held at a state-run five-star hotel.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin in Chennai on Wednesday and the two leaders said politics did not come up during their discussion.
Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the national general secretary of the TMC, and his wife Rujira Banerjee have been asked to depose before the investigation officer here next week, they said.
Popular Tollywood heroine and Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Nusrat Jahan on Wednesday claimed her marriage with businessman Nikhil Jain was not a legal one but a live-in relationship as their wedding in Turkey did not have recognition in Indian law.
Facing the threat of censure motion in Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee on Wednesday expressed regrets over his objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over which BJP had strongly protested.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday defended her party's decision to abstain from voting on the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, but said she was in favour of the constitutional amendment.
The event will be significant for the Congress and Trinamool Congress leaderships, cementing the proximity during the winter session of Parliament.
The SIT has been constituted and has been directed to complete the probe within a month, Shah said.
