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.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident of two persons jumping into the house chamber from the public gallery with smoke canisters.
Discussion on the Union Budget 2019-20 to be held in both houses on Tuesday.
'Everyone's voice must be heard. We will be talking to both Kukis and Meiteis'
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist said that it will field a candidate as those opposed to the TMC and BJP needed an alternative.
"He has already apologised," Sonia Gandhi responded to the media on party's Adhir Chowdhury's 'rashtrapatni' remark.
The issue of National Register of Citizens in Assam is likely to rock both houses of Parliament on Wednesday too.
Meanwhile, ED officers faced resistance again during the arrest of TMC leader and former Bongaon Municipality chairman Shankar Adhya on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
Tension was palpable in the area, and a large police contingent was deployed to prevent any further flare-up.
International pop star Rihanna teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and others extended their support to farmers protesting on the borders of India's capital against the three agriculture laws introduced by the Central government last year and asked why people were not talking about it.
Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
Ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday sought cooperation of all parties for the smooth conduct of proceedings with "decency, dignity and discipline", even as the Opposition demanded discussion on the Agnipath scheme, unemployment and farmers' issues.
Some of them also flagged a lack of consultation before finalising the reports.
He has been appointed to the CBI director's post for a period of two years from the date of taking charge after Subodh Kumar Jaiswal completes his tenure on May 25, a government order said on Sunday.
In separate letters to the speaker, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Supriya Sule of the NCP, DMK leader Kanimozhi and TMC's Aparupa Poddar said what had happened with Ali is unfortunate and that action should be taken against Bidhuri.
According to sources, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Anand Sharma and Jairam Ramesh reached out to other Opposition leaders for the boycott of the event.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
This is the first bill passed by the Lower House of Parliament in the Winter session, which began on Monday.
There have been media reports of Banerjee meeting Rahul Gandhi at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday morning. A leading Bengali daily had reported the meeting.
Chowdhury said that the visiting MPs will present their observations on Manipur in Parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hosted dinner for outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi with members of the Union Cabinet, chief ministers of various states and other dignitaries attending it.
The change was made as the Congress's leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury would be busy in West Bengal assembly elections which is starting on March 27. Chowdhury is also the Congress' West Bengal unit president.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
Noting that Gandhi had claimed that armed forces can restore peace in the state within days if allowed, BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered if he wanted what his grandmother and then prime minister Indira Gandhi had done by ordering the Air Force to drop bombs in Aizawl in the 1960s.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha did not see a debate on the Manipur violence, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke on it during their addresses on the no-confidence motion.
Chowdhury said the voice of the Opposition has been "ignored" and that is not good for democracy.
Ahead of the visit, Congress' deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi called for an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence in Manipur.
Raising the issue of setting afire of a rape survivor in Uttar Praesh's Unnao during Zero Hour, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said while on the one hand plans are afoot to build a Ram temple (in Ayodhya), on the other hand Sita is being burnt.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders celebrated Raksha Bandhan on Thursday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the Trojan horse of the Bharatiya Janata Party and should be kept out of all efforts to cobble up an opposition platform ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged on Wednesday.
Chowdhury also tendered a written apology to Murmu on Friday for his "rashtrapatni" remark.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday came out in support of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was involved in a face-off with Union minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha, and said the 75-year-old leader was 'encircled and heckled pack-wolf style'.
In between spells of adjournments, the House conducted business for a brief period and passed two Bills -- the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill - amid continuous protests by the Opposition.
'Meddling with our national emblem was totally unnecessary and avoidable'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attacked the Congress, saying it skipped the meeting convened to select the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) as he is a Dalit and this reflected the anti-Scheduled Castes mindset of the main opposition party.
The bill seeks to authorise taking measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters and to preserve records and related matters.
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
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