The Congress is hopeful of soon finalising the Lok Sabha poll seat-sharing arrangements with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, sources said on Friday, days after the principal opposition party arrived at an understanding with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Aam Aadmi Party, it has received permission from the authorities concerned to hold the rally of more than 20,000 people.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The recent controversy unfolded after West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee had in November advocated the need to give due respect to senior members and rejected the notion that elderly leaders should retire from active politics.
In the letter, they said as members of the committee, it is their moral and constitutional responsibility to discuss this matter with utmost urgency and the required sincerity.
Some of them also flagged a lack of consultation before finalising the reports.
Some constituents of the alliance have raised concern that the panels, particularly the 14-member coordination committee, are at risk of becoming ineffective, as their decisions have so far not been acted upon.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the verdict is a victory of democracy.
Opposition parties have not been given the chairmanship of any of the four key parliamentary panels including the committee on home affairs and information technology, which were with the Congress, in the latest rejig announced on Tuesday.
"The agenda as published at the moment, is much ado about nothing - all this could have waited till Winter session in November. I am sure the legislative grenades are being kept up their sleeves to be unleashed at the last moment as usual. Parde ke peeche kuch aur hai!" he said.
Opposition alliance INDIA on Thursday boycotted a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi not making a statement on Manipur violence in Parliament, a senior leader said.
The next meeting of opposition parties will be held in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, the Congress announced on Monday, and asserted their resolve to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party has been strengthened by the 'Mumbai operations' of the 'BJP washing machine'.
Soon after the suspension of 33 opposition Lok Sabha MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all democratic norms have been thrown into the dustbin by this "autocratic" government and it has shown zero accountability towards Parliament.
Gandhi, who is usually flanked by senior party colleagues, was also greeted by both President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
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.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi had invited leaders of four political parties for a meeting on Monday morning convened by Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal to discuss and resolve the stalemate over the suspension of MPs.
While seven of the suspended MPs belonged to the TMC, six were from the DMK, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two from the Communist Party of India-Marxist and one from the Communist Party of India.
The eight members -- distributed among the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party -- were suspended earlier in the day for the remainder of the Monsoon Session over their 'unruly behaviour' during the passage of farm Bills in the Upper House of Parliament.
Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said the first priority should be to hold a comprehensive and detailed discussion on the Manipur situation in Parliament, going by the fact that people have been killed and the chief minister himself has admitted that several such incidents have happened in the state.
From issuing whips to arranging ambulances for their ailing leaders, opposition parties from the newly-formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc are making all-out efforts to ensure that they get 100 per cent attendance of their MPs in the Rajya Sabha to give the Bharatiya Janata Party a tough fight on the Delhi services bill next week.
The opposition leaders are expected to meet at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge's office in the Parliament complex around 10 am, sources said.
The government had on Friday directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary titled India: The Modi Question.
In the all-party meeting on Tuesday, Opposition parties demanded discussions on price rise, unemployment and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota among other issues, sources said.
Opposition parties on Thursday agreed to jointly raise the issue of allegations of fraud against the Adani Group in Parliament but were yet to agree on the mode of inquiry into the Gujarat-based corporate major.
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda said.
Derek O'Brien of Trinamool Congress came near the podium and tried to show the rule book to the Deputy Chairman. An attempt was also made to snatch the microphone and the marshals tried to prevent it.
Soon after the panel vice chairman Sasmit Patra called for the start of the discussion amid slogan shouting, leaders of various opposition parties took to raising points of order frequently to get the discussion stalled.
"I am very excited about joining the TMC. I will work for the development of Bengal," he said.
The bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
A video showing the incident involving school teacher, Tripta Tyagi, and the Class 2 boy in Muzaffarnagar has gone viral on social media eliciting strong words from several political parties.
'Who knows, they might now want to rename the Eden Gardens and call it Modi Gardens!'
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
Sources said former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for early passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha during the upcoming session as the same has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
The opposition on Tuesday termed as an 'election jumla' the women's reservation bill brought by the government with many leaders raising questions over the proposed legislation, contending it doesn't account for reservation for OBC communities and that it will be effective at the earliest by the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
The Manipur violence issue rocked both houses of Parliament on the opening day of the Monsoon session on Thursday with opposition members creating uproar, demanding a discussion on the situation in the Northeastern state.
Banerjee, who met party MPs, discussed various issues that need to be brought up in Parliament, including the Nagaland tragedy in which 13 civilians were killed in firing by security forces, the COVID-19 situation and the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members.
He said the prime minister has received global recognition and India was rising under his leadership.
The party released two videos as 'proof' of BJP workers vandalising the statue.
Video footage of BCCI secretary Jay Shah appearing to turn down an offer to wave the national flag after India beat Pakistan in a thrilling cricket match at the Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday has sparked a controversy, with Opposition leaders taking a dig at him.
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