With the monsoon session being a washout, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday directed the National Democratic Alliance members of Parliament to fan across the country to "expose" the Congress whose disruption of Parliament he equated with Emergency when the party wanted power to be concentrated in one family.
In a strong show of support for Arun Jaitley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the finance minister will come through "with flying colours" against charges of corruption levelled against him by the opposition in the same way L K Advani did in the Hawala case.
In the third reshuffle since coming to power, Prime Minister Modi raised the strength of his Council of Ministers from 73 to 76.
A day before the start of the Budget session of Parliament, as many as 18 opposition parties, led by the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress, decided on Thursday to boycott the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses in solidarity with the farmers protesting against the new farm laws.
The BJP president said it should not have happened and must not be repeated.
The opposition has decided to continue with their winning streak and further embarrass the government.
Facing opposition tirade over the land bill, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked its MPs to go all-out to counter the "disinformation propaganda" by the Congress party and others on all issues even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh's strong retort on farmers' issue.
Apart from Smriti, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar took over as law and parliamentary affairs ministers respectively.
"Religious festivals seem to have become occasions to intimidate and bully others -- a far cry from when they were occasions for joy and celebration. Instead, there is intimidation and discrimination only on account of their religion, food, caste, gender or language," Gandhi said.
By filing his nomination as Congress president on Friday, Shashi Tharoor has shown he is no 'quockerwodger' -- a word he introduced into our lexicon which means someone acting on the instructions of an influential third party.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided multiple locations in Maharashtra as part of a money laundering probe against state transport minister Anil Parab and others linked to alleged irregularities in a land deal in coastal Dapoli area of Ratnagiri district and other charges, officials said.
BJP members of the panel who were present in the meeting room didn't sign the attendance register in protest leading to a lack of quorum required for holding the meeting.
The monsoon session of Parliament beginning Tuesday is set to be stormy as Congress and several other Opposition parties appeared to be closing ranks to corner the government on a range of issues including Vyapam scam and Lalit Modi controversy.
Government officers who are by now used to take various pledges like Sadbhavna pledge, Anti-terrorism pledge, Swachh Bharat pledge and Ekta pledge, now will be required to do one more on November 26 every year, beginning this month.
She had many firsts to her credit such as being the youngest cabinet minister in the Haryana government, first woman chief minister of Delhi and the first woman spokesperson for a national political party in the country.
When Modi's name was called out by the Secretary General for taking oath, Members from the ruling National Democratic Alliance thumped the desk greeting the Prime Minister with slogans such as 'Modi Modi' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.
The government will provide legal support to the excluded people, said Assam Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.
The Union home ministry is expected to forward the proposal to the Registrar General & Census Commissioner for a detailed examination and suggestions, a ministry official said.
Several members in a parliamentary panel have pitched for quick implementation of the Centre's proposed move to double salary and allowances of MPs and insisted that report of any government-constituted committee on the matter must be channelled through it.
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday for the remaining part of the Winter session after he threw a Rajya Sabha rule book at the Chair.
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti will campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party "as and when required" and there is no question of cancelling her rally, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday, dismissing suggestions that she was being pulled out after her controversial remarks at a public meeting in Delhi.
Facebook and Google officials in New Delhi on Tuesday deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on the issue of misuse of social media platforms.
Narayanasamy had served as the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office in the second United Progressive Alliance government, after being minister of state, Parliamentary Affairs, in the first UPA government.
Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Tuesday after repeated stoppages as opposition members continued to protest demanding the revocation of suspension of 12 members.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday discussed the strategy to be adopted in the monsoon session of the Parliament on issues such as Telangana and proposed amendments in the Right to Information Act.
A bill to modify the list of scheduled castes in Tamil Nadu by grouping of seven castes which presently exist as separate castes, was passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The issue of conversion of some Muslims in Agra rocked the Lok Sabha for the second day on Thursday with opposition members creating uproar and demanding immediate discussion on the matter, which they said could have grave consequences like causing riots.
It said the Congress will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings.
West Bengal, which is governed by the Trinamool Congress, became the second state after Congress-ruled Punjab, where such a resolution has been tabled and passed.
Led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition members in the Lok Sabha demanded sacking of Union minister Ajay Mishra from the government in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
India has called the remarks by foreign leaders and organisations on protests by farmers as "ill-informed" and "unwarranted", asserting that the matter pertains to the internal affairs of a democratic country.
Union minister files a case against Rajasthan officials, alleges that audio recordings of tapped phone conversations has tarnished his reputation and disturbed his mental peace.
The Union Public Service Commission exam row generated heat in both Houses of Parliament with a member tearing a paper and throwing it towards the Speaker in Lok Sabha and almost the entire opposition staging a walkout in the Upper House as the government refused to set a timeline for resolving the issue.
The government on Thursday said it will respond on the issue of Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a fasting Muslim after ascertaining full facts by Friday.
The disruption by Opposition members drew sharp criticism from Prime Minister Modi who accused them of being unable to digest the fact that a large number of new ministers are women, Dalits, tribals and those from other backward classes
Union minister Ajay Mishra lost his cool at reporters in Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday, calling them "thieves" and lunging at one of them when they questioned him on the October 3 violence for which his son is among the accused.
So strong and caustic was the PM's reprimand, sources say that Singh broke down as the former looked on. But Singh denied it.
In view of the Andhra CM's resignation from the post and the Congress, party president Sonia Gandhi has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to grant special category status to the Seema-Andhra for five years. Renu Mittal reports
The passage of the Union Budget and other key legislations such as triple talaq will be on top of the agenda for the government.
Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary late Saturday night, a BJP leader was hacked to death less than 12 hours later on Sunday morning and later, prohibitory order under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district, additional police force was deployed there and senior officers camped there to monitor the law and order situation.
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