Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow to personally invite the Congress vice-president to his daughter Sonali's wedding.
'...to think apna time aa gaya after the 2024 election.'
Rahul Gandhi's focus will be on his Nyay Yatra, rather than the INDIA bloc's election campaign, leading to speculation among allies that the Congress leader is already looking at the Opposition's fight beyond May 2024.
The Lokpal Bill is likely to be introduced in Rajya Sabha on November 29, according to a highly-placed source. The Congress Party's confident manner towards the approaching winter session indicates the party's decision to use the bill as a political weapon to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party refrains from disrupting Parliament sessions.
Opposition parties think they have until New Year's Eve to build nationwide narrative against demonetisation.
He ruled out the possibility of 'arm-twisting' to get the MPs, especially from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on board on these bills as they fear the reforms will affect institutes patronised by them.
A firm opening in the European market uplifted the mood.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday demanded an apology from the Opposition, accusing it of "destroying" Parliament after they rejected his offer of a special session to discuss the Joint Parliamentary Commitee issue on 2G scam.
Expecting fireworks in both Houses during the Winter Session of Parliament starting from Wednesday -- with the opposition planning to target the government on several issues, including demonetisation -- the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party Executive will go into a huddle on Monday to chalk out strategy to counter the opposition which is divided over how to take on the government on the issue.
As many as 14 opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the winter session for disrupting proceedings, as the Lok Sabha security breach incident snowballed into a major row on Thursday with the government asking the opposition not to "politicise" the "grave national issue" and the Congress, Trinamool Congress and others demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
On the first day of winter session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the Opposition.
Ahead of the budget session, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed readiness to explore "all possible approaches" to end the deadlock in Parliament on the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into 2G spectrum scam.
A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in three assembly polls.
The marshals wore a blue uniform with a military-style peak cap and stripes on shoulders. In summers, the marshals are likely to wear white uniforms which have a resemblance to the uniform of the Indian Navy.
Ahead of the Winter session of Parliament beginning on December 4, the Congress' Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday wrote to Speaker Om Birla, saying the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra from Parliament is an 'extremely serious punishment and has very wide ramifications'.
The meeting saw archrivals TMC and CPI-M coming together on a common platform against the government.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted the laws, said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the British-era laws that gave primacy to penal action.
Since Parliament is still in session, the government refrained from making an official statement but the ministers said there were ample 'precedents by the Congress governments in the past' of Bills being pushed through the ordinance route.
A top oil ministry official said it will be "suicidal" to even think of raising prices of diesel, LPG or kerosene just before Parliament is to meet.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Lok Sabha secretary general on Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra's plea challenging her expulsion from the Lower House.
Modi addressed Bharatiya Janata Party's Parivartan Yatra through mobile phone from Lucknow after the Indian Air Force chopper carrying him failed to land in Bahraich due to poor visibility.
Ahead of the Parliament session beginning November 22, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is meeting leaders of the United Progressive Alliance constituents and outside supporters to firm up a strategy to unitedly face any Opposition onslaught on issues like the Foreign Direct Investment in retail and price hike.
Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting of party MPs and legislators on Friday afternoon amid reports of Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray's deteriorating health.
Vociferous protests by Opposition benches demanding the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate on demonetisation on Tuesday led to the stalling of proceedings in Parliament once again.
With several Parliament sessions during UPA-II being largely disrupted, BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Sunday "regretted" that a lot of valuable time was lost in the last five years due to "confrontationist politics" and said the Opposition achieves much more through debates than disturbances.
Fissures in the opposition over Foreign Direct Investment in retail came to government's aid Thursday as the opening day of Parliament's winter session was washed out and Trinamool Congress' move for a no-confidence motion flopped.
A recent public interest suit in the Supreme Court over foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail may have thrown the industry into a tizzy, but lawyers, constitutional experts and government officials indicate the multi-brand retail FDI policy is unlikely to get derailed over Fema.
This was announced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi shortly before the conclusion of the winter session of Parliament during which the government had promised to bring the Constitution amendment Bill.
"Insofar as the US is concerned, certain inputs were given to us as part of our security cooperation with the United States. Those inputs were of concern to us because they (were) related to the nexus of organised crime, trafficking and other matters.
Sources said that Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will now sit in the opposition benches during the Winter Session of Parliament, beginning Monday.
Unfazed by the stalemate over the Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti issue, government has lined up a heavy legislative agenda in Parliament this week including a bill seeking to replace coal blocks allocation ordinance.
Although UPA government has somehow managed to scuttle Opposition's stiff antagonism to FDI in multi-brand retail in both the Houses of the Parliament, it has certainly opened itself to the charge of being a minority government, analyses Renu Mittal.
Party's chief spokesperson K C Tyagi said Kumar has agreed to take over the mantle from Lalan Singh.
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Trinamool Congress, a former ally of the United Progressive Alliance, will move a no-confidence motion against the UPA government on Thursday when Parliament meets for the winter session.
Trinamool Congress, a former ally of the United Progressive Alliance, will move a no-confidence motion against the UPA government on Thursday when Parliament meets for the winter session.
Stepping up pressure, Anna Hazare on Thursday announced a new agitation of filling up jails (jail bharo) from January 1 if Parliament does not pass a strong Lokpal law, amid indications that it is unlikely to be done before the scheduled conclusion of the current winter session.
Congress member of parliament Kalpana Parulekar on Monday created ruckus in the Madhya Pradesh assembly during question hour by raising the issue of her arrest in the previous session.
