The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal demanded Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's resignation over the horrific triple train crash in neighbouring Odisha.
In a memorandum submitted to the EC, the INDIA party leaders submitted a list of recent instances of central agencies targeting Opposition parties and alleged an absence of a level playing field for the opposition.
Although it saw a veritable who's who of the Oppostion leadership, the Samajwadi Party stayed away from the Iftar dinner hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
The move is being seen as an attempt to forge opposition unity to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, various states have announced partial or complete lockdown and also there is increased focus on social distancing to curb the spread of the deadly virus which has infected over 400 people in the country.
The contentious bill will be tables in RS on Wednesday. The BJP hopes to get up to 130 votes in a 240-member upper house.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
The conference was seen by many as a show of strength by the Opposition with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav joining in to raise their voice against oppression of backward classes.
Taking a dig at a section of Bangladeshi politicians, who said the country has legitimate claims over Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wondered whether Indians 'would have lollipop' when external forces would try to occupy Indian lands.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech on Wednesday was marked by the usual thumping of benches by the ruling alliance members, but the loudest cheer was reserved for her announcement of income tax relief, which was welcomed by 'Modi, Modi' chants in Lok Sabha that also witnessed a few instances of protest by the Opposition.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirodi Lal Meena moved for leave to introduce the bill to provide for the constitution of the national inspection and investigation committee for preparation of a Uniform Civil Code and its implementation throughout India and for matters connected therewith during the private member's business.
An all-party meeting on Monday failed to hammer out a consensus over the controversial Insurance Bill, which was scheduled to be taken up in Rajya Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi stressed the importance of an electoral understanding in UP if the BJP is to be defeated in the Lok Sabha polls.
There was considerable disquiet in the Congress after Mukherjee accepted the invitation of the RSS to address its workers at its headquarters in Nagpur.
With crucial assembly elections round the corner in four states, Congress leaders are currently debating whether to project chief ministerial candidates in the poll-bound states.
Over 400 incumbent Lok Sabha members including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh have not yet declared their assets and liability details, according to an RTI reply.
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
Several prominent opposition leaders including Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah will share the dais at a rally being organised by Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana's Fatehabad on Sunday.
Pawar, who had surprised the BJP by forging an unlikely alliance of Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP to form government in Maharashtra after the 2019 assembly elections, has already appealed to opposition parties to keep aside differences and join hands to challenge the Modi juggernaut.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice while the opposition parties staged a walkout in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, voicing their protest against the increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG.
The parties that have submitted the notice include the Congress, All India Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, National Conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Aam Aadmi Party.
Leaders of several Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties met on Saturday to take stock of the opposition's preparations leading up to the June 4 counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections, and claimed they will get more than 295 seats, enough for them to form the next government.
'Minus Modi, the BJP will get only 50 seats.' 'He is planning 25 big meetings in Gujarat and that will make a difference.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Should the anti-defection law in India exist only to prevent democratically elected governments from being toppled?
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she had suggested to the Congress that an advisory council comprising prominent personalities from civil society be set up to give a direction to the opposition, but rued that the plan did not materialise.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Top leaders of Opposition parties will brainstorm at a meeting in Patna on Friday to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with sources saying that they would look to avoid the prickly leadership question and emphasise on common ground.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Goa minister and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Michael Lobo on Monday resigned from the Pramod Sawant-led ministry and also as member of the legislative assembly, ahead of the state polls scheduled next month.
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday, December 12.
Concerned over large gatherings during campaigning for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections and bypolls in several states amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Election Commission on Wednesday reduced the maximum number of 'star campaigners' for recognised national and state parties from 40 to 30.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
From Indian poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar to English great William Shakespeare, Lok Sabha members quoted extensively from literature to put across their arguments as they raised the Manipur issue during a debate on the no-confidence motion over the past two days.
The NCP skipped the meeting to express its displeasure over allegations by some Congress leaders that its two MLAs did not vote for Ahmed Patel in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections.
Gandhi met Pawar within hours of the BJP's defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
'It's dull because this time the election is spread over such a long period.'
The bill bars commercial surrogacy and allows the process only by close relatives for "altruistic" reasons.
According to sources, among some of the parties that will be part of the opposition all-party delegation are Congress, CPI-M, CPI, RJD, NCP, TMC and DMK and Rahul Gandhi is likely to accompany them.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm after opposition members held protest in Parliament seeking a discussion on the issue.
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