'We shouldn't attach great significance to Obama's 'qualified' assurance on a membership to 'a reformed' Security Council. Nobody knows how many decades it will take and America can easily forget its un-doable promises.'
With the Congress-led government taking most of the credit for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday patted its own back for the success and criticised the United Progressive Alliance for the forcible eviction of protesting Members of Parliament from the House. Despite being in a minority in the Upper House, the Congress-led government and especially party chief Sonia Gandhi earned kudos for passage of the Bill.
At the meeting, many parties urged the Congress to publicly denounce the ordinance but the Congress refused to do so, claimed AAP, adding that the grand old party's "silence raises suspicions about its real intentions".
Finance ministry sources said Mukherjee merely pointed out to the Lok Sabha Secretariat that any change in salaries has to go through a process under the ministry of finance, while Lok Sabha sources expressed ignorance about the finance ministry raising any objection.
Pakistan Peoples Party's firebrand leader Faisal Raza Abidi has accused Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry of misusing his authority to favour his son and asked him to resign, contending that the country was virtually under a "judicial martial law". Asking the chief justice to resign, Abidi, a member of the Senate or upper house of Parliament, demanded a probe against Chaudhry by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, a distant relative of former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Taking note of the central government's submission, Justice Yashwant Varma closed the proceedings in the application filed by Swamy in which he claimed that in spite of an earlier assurance, the Centre was yet to make adequate security arrangements at his private accommodation.
Parliament on Tuesday hailed A P J Abdul Kalam as the "real gem" of India, saying the death of the former President has taken away its "true son" who became the driving force behind the country's space and missile programme.
A Pakistani parliamentary panel on Friday criticised the interior ministry for the delay in implementing a new visa agreement with India, with its members passing a resolution that called on the cabinet to ratify the pact at the earliest.
As the stand-off between the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party on the coal block issue continued, answers to Parliamentary questions for the current session related to Coal ministry are missing from the Rajya Sabha website.
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance on Thursday stuck to its demand for the Prime Minister's resignation on the coal block allocation issue at a meeting convened by the Rajya Sabha chairman to end the impasse and boycotted a meeting called by the Lok Sabha Speaker on the matter.
Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill to regulate the appointment and service terms of Chief Election Commissioner and election commissioners incorporating key amendments like retaining their status at par with Supreme Court judges, upgrading the search committee and inserting a new clause to protect them from court cases while discharging their official duties.
Beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday summoned Pakistan's National Assembly, lower house of Parliament, on August 11 during which the ruling coalition is likely to bring forward an impeachment motion against him. Musharraf signed a summary convening the Assembly on Monday, officials said without specifying the agenda.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy approached the Delhi high court on Thursday, stating that in spite of an earlier assurance the Centre has not made any security arrangements at the accommodation he would be residing in after vacating the government-allotted bungalow.
S P Singh Baghel and B L Verma who made it to the Union council of ministers on Wednesday are two prominent Other Backward Classes leaders from Uttar Pradesh.
Deputy leader of BJP in the Rajya Sabha, S S Ahluwalia, maintained that both Houses of Parliament had to be adjourned on Tuesday as the government did not agree to put to vote the discussion on price rise in the Upper House and did not accept adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha.
Rediff.com lists a few celebs who have donned the role of a politician in the Rajya Sabha.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and yesteryear actress Rekha are among four eminent personalities recommended for nomination as members of the Rajya Sabha. The 39-year-old Tendulkar and Rekha will become Members of Parliament under a provision of the constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the Upper House.
The government is keen to get the GST Bill approved during the Monsoon Session of Parliament ending on August 12.
Income tax officials on Monday conducted surveys at offices of engineering major Larsen & Toubro and media firm Zee Group for alleged GST evasion, an official of the tax department said. When contacted, L&T neither confirmed nor denied the development, while the media group has confirmed the tax survey. The tax official said surveys have been carried out at many L&T premises in the city, and in case of Zee, the surveys are underway at all its offices across the country since morning.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday night named 12 candidates, including cash-for-vote scam accused Faggan Singh Kulaste and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley for election to the upper house of Parliament.
The Ethics Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by veteran Congress leader Karan Singh, decided to give Mallya one week time to explain his conduct.
Buoyed by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party's strong performance in elections to the upper house of parliament, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Saturday dismissed speculations about an early general election and the installation of a caretaker regime. "Now there will be no caretaker or chair-taker. The prime minister will not go up, inside or outside. He will stay right here," Gilani said.
Rajya Sabha's next session will begin from April 23, three days after the second half of the budget session of Lok Sabha commences.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day as the opposition sought govt's clarification on tainted ministers.
Known for his witty one-liners, Naidu said "after all, the culture of India is agriculture."
Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad made this assertion outside Parliament while speaking to reporters and said the revocation of suspension of the Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs was not a demand, but a 'request'.
RLD sources said that the party chief was "taken aback" by the SP's delay in announcing his name as the candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.
A united Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Thursday pitched for referring the triple talaq bill to a 'joint select committee' of Parliament, claiming its provisions were unconstitutional.
A question asked in Tamil triggered heated exchanges in Lok Sabha on Wednesday between the Opposition and Treasury benches that spilled over to the issue of ministers giving replies in Hindi.
The Rajya Sabha approved 15 legislations during the session while the Lok Sabha passed 23 bills, including the GST bills.
Prime Minister called the wrestler-actor a 'son of the soil.'
The Congress will reach out to various parties in this regard.
Jaitley said the resort was not an area where the Karnataka minister can get 'immunity from the law'.
A day after the Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail got the approval of the Lok Sabha as the opposition motion seeking immediate withdrawal of the decision was rejected convincingly as the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party walked out, the Rajya Sabha will debate and vote on the issue over the next two days starting Thursday.
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's nomination to the Rajya Sabha drew mixed reaction with most members of the upper House on Friday, welcoming the decision even as the Opposition felt this could be a move by the Congress to divert attention from the problems afflicting the party.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and actress of yesteryear Rekha are among four eminent persons who have been recommended for nomination as members of Rajya Sabha.
Pakistan claimed on Wednesday that India is "interfering" in its southwestern Balochistan province, a charge New Delhi has repeatedly denied.
The decision to disrupt the House would be taken on a day to day basis, says Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad
The Bahujan Samaj Party and Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party forced adjournment of the Rajya Sabha on the opening day of the monsoon session of Parliament, protesting delay in introduction of new law on land acquisition and scams, including 2G spectrum.
