'Each of them is a setu (bridge) that links the government with the party, but their territories are different.'
In a blistering attack on Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi on Monday dubbed the Gujarat model propagated by Modi as a 'toffee model', saying it has only benefited one industrialist in the state, ignoring the interests of farmers and the poor.
The party leaders are confident the NDA will achieve the majority mark of 272, reports Archis Mohan.
Earlier, while presenting the Budget on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed to cap cash transactions at Rs 300,000 with effect from April 1.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, 11 parties on Tuesday got together with a vow to defeat Congress-led United Progressive Alliances and prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power by presenting themselves as an alternative to them.
The road for the Opposition is full of 'ifs' and 'buts', reports Sunil Gatade.
LS MPs are paid Rs 2.8 lakh per month plus travel and other perks which works out to nearly Rs 177 crore for 545 MPs during the last financial year. Add another Rs 78 crore for the Rajya Sabha MPs, according to data.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury was in Chennai on Saturday and AIADMK sources said Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa could be sounded as convenor for the proposed Third Front. Aditi Phadnis reports
Action has been initiated on making the Communal Violence Bill a law to protect minorities from targeted attacks, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday said, but was not sure if it will be tabled in the Winter Session of Parliament.
A total of 13 motions were moved in support of Birla.
"It is a historic day. We are making history today," Law Minister said.
'You can fight to win leadership of a party, yet join party rivals to win a general election in the US. The fact that dissent is not rebellion is not really appreciated in India, where we are used to the 'High Command' culture,' says T V R Shenoy.
India could start some element of military training for its youth, especially in border areas, but compulsory training on the lines of Russia and other countries is ruled out.
As the Odisha CM prepares to face the BJP onslaught, the BJP hopes to rope in some BJD heavyweights.
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
The JD-U also used the meeting to call for a joint Opposition candidate for the election to the President's post and urged Gandhi to take the lead in the matter.
Seventy-one parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states voted in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
On July 25 too, the speaker had asked Mann not to attend the House till a decision was arrived at.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday opposed in Rajya Sabha the government move to put in place a single examination for medical and dental courses through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test
K C Venugopal (Congress) charged the Modi government with providing little funds for the MGNREGA.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 11.
The move came at a time when deliberations between the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.
'It will be fascinating to see how Modi, for the first time in his political life without a majority, is able to manage the ambitions and the conflicts,' says Aakar Patel.
'The BJP will be the single largest party in the next Lok Sabha, the only one party with a three digit tally.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier called for consensus in passing the bill.
'I don't think there will be many problems after the assembly election results.'
The Goods and Services Tax Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May.
The passage of this major legislation comes ahead of the general election due early next year.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the instances of people running away and evading the legal process was increasing and this needed to be stopped, as the current laws do not allow fully dealing with the severity of the problem.
Cross-voting by Left and Congress MLAs on Friday helped Trinamool Congress gain an extra seat in West Bengal while a similar action by Congress MLAs in Andhra Pradesh saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi making its debut in Rajya Sabha as high drama marked the polls to the upper House in the two states.
Here's everything you need to know about the Goods and Services Tax Bill.
Lok Sabha is set to witness a confrontation over Land Acquisition Bill on Tuesday when it is taken up for voting with opposition bent on opposing it even as the government again offered to make changes in the legislation in the "larger interest" of the farming community.
Lack of numbers would upstage it in Rajya Sabha
Even as the BJP makes inroads into previously unfamiliar territories in eastern India, the party will have to be wary of losing out elsewhere, says Amulya Ganguli.
After a 6.5-hour debate, the upper house clears the bill. Amit Shah said the bill is not anti-Muslim and Indian minorities have nothing to fear from its passage.
'In being dismissive of Naveen, his colleagues showed incredible naivety.' 'On the few occasions that he put his foot down, the overconfident party leaders, who believed they were using him and not the other way around, failed to read the signs of what was to come.'
2,470 BJP workers from across the country would spend a year visiting polling booths, while another 1,441 workers would spend six months and 378,000 workers will spend 15 days to reach out to party cadres and ensure better polling management in areas outside their home districts.
Slogan shouting Congress and BJP members on Monday forced four adjournments of Rajya Sabha demanding dismissal of SAD-BJP government in Punjab over alleged atrocities against Dalit youths.
The Government on Friday managed to have its way in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam when the panel approved the draft report giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram with a 16-11 vote in its favour.
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