With the all-party meetings called by Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla producing no breakthrough to end the deadlock in Parliament, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi accused opposition parties of repeatedly 'insulting' Dhankhar.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said he does not see a 'middle path' to end the logjam in Parliament as the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue was 'non-negotiable' and the question of an apology over Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the United Kingdom does not arise.
A Twitter spokesperson said they remain committed to working with the Government of India and that they respect the sensitivities involved, duly acknowledging the letter.
Central Bureau of Investigation Director AP Singh will appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the 2G scam on Tuesday. This follows the appearance of Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai before the committee last week.
Ahead of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's meeting with opposition parties on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said there would be no dilution in its stand on a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam and threatened to disrupt the budget session of Parliament if the demand was not met.
The Communist Party of India - Marxist may support the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the allegations of corruption against former telecom minister A Raja."We are of the view the government must agree to the Opposition's demand for holding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the telecom scam. If that cannot be done, than the govt must come up with an alternative mechanism to unearth the truth," said a CPM leader.
'The Bharat Jodo Yatra successfully resurrected the Rahul Gandhi brand.' 'There's a critical mass that has built up for the Congress and Mr Modi is feeling the heat on the Adani issue, the raids on the BBC offices, the Opposition getting together.'
As reports of political parties swiftly switching loyalties -- to quench their thirst for power -- swirl over Maharashtra, Rediff.com speaks to different players involved in the game of thrones.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari tells Gyan Varma that there is no disagreement within the party over the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam.
There is, between Rao's tenure as PM and the current Modi regime, a powerful resonance of how transition can be managed. Rao's tenure saw many scams -- one where he was supposedly approached by Harshad Mehta with a bribe for making the securities scam go away. The Opposition insisted on a JPC. Despite knowing a JPC report would undermine him politically, Rao agreed to one, saying he had 'nothing to hide'.
Ramesh, however, said it was too early to talk about all this right now as the Congress' first priority was the upcoming elections in Karnataka and the string of state polls this year.
A joint parliamentary committee is not the perfect but the best option to inquire into the cesspool that Indian cricket seems to have become, CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury tells Aditi Phadnis
The Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the grand old party, passed a resolution to this effect. The CWC, chaired by Sonia Gandhi earlier discussed the issue along with that of the farmers' agitation and the COVID-19 vaccination drive and passed three resolutions on each of them.
Over the last 50 years, the number of sittings of Parliament has been declining and has halved since the 1950s and the 1960s, the report stated.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned amid ruckus and sloganeering by the Opposition members over the Adani issue.
First Rajya Sabha approved the Rs 45 lakh-crore spending proposed in the Budget, followed by the nod to the Finance Bill that contains tax proposals.
Gandhi had recently alleged in London that the structures of Indian democracy are under "brutal attack" and there is a full-scale assault on the institutions of the country.
The plenary session in Chhattisgarh's Nava Raipur will start from February 24 and is expected to be attended by around 15,000 delegates.
Proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted as Opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout.
A fresh political war of words erupted on Tuesday over the Rafale issue as the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress leadership of corruption citing claims of a French media report on 'commissions' being paid during the United Progressive Alliance rule and said the Indian National Congress should be renamed 'I Need Commission' party.
Kharge said the BJP made all efforts to get him disqualified as he was speaking the truth.
A private member resolution seeking that the government implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report and other reports that have discussed the educational and social backwardness of Muslims and enact a legislation for the prevention of atrocities against minorities was moved in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Amid slogan shouting by MPs from the Trinamool Congress, the Congress and other opposition parties from the Well of the House, Modi began replying to the debate on the motion thanking the President for her address to the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the start of the Budget Session, and accused the Congress of adopting only 'tokenism' to solving problems the country faced.
The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on pesticide residues in safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages will be held on Tuesday.
Adani group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group. The group has maintained it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations in its report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group.
Suspended Congress leader claims 100 letters to Sonia Gandhi over leadership change
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera sought to know that in an inter-governmental defence deal, where there cannot be any middlemen or corruption, when the beneficiary of any "corruption" has ordered a probe, why has a country, which has lost public money, not ordered one?
Leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday linked Gautam Adani's meteoric rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coming to power and said "magic" happened after 2014 that propelled the businessman from the 609th to the second spot on the global rich list.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday favoured a thorough inquiry into allegations of phone tapping with the help of Pegasus spyware which has led to a logjam in Parliament.
The US on Thursday raised concerns over India's Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill and draft non-personal data governance framework, claiming these could potentially threaten innovation and economic growth. In its latest 'Special 301' Report, the US Trade Representative (USTR) kept India on the priority watch list, maintaining the country remains one of the world's most challenging major economies with respect to protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP). In December 2021, a joint parliamentary committee released a report recommending changes to the PDP Bill, 2019, that could undermine important IP protections in India.
Both Houses have been witnessing a ruckus over the Rafale fighter jet deal and Cauvery river issue, among other matters.
Gandhi's remarks came after the Supreme Court gave clean chit to the Modi government on the purchase of 36 fully-loaded Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault Aviation.
After the first draft of the Bill was submitted under a committee chaired by Justice B N Srikrishna in 2018, there were objections raised by businesses, especially on the broad restrictions on cross-border data flow.
Former telecom minister A Raja has urged Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to return the Joint Parliamentary Committee report on the 2G spectrum scandal and resubmit it with his written statement.
A united opposition is all set to corner the government in Parliament today on the banning of old notes.
After a three-and-a-half-hour meeting, which was stormy at times, the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest policy making body, authorised incumbent chief Sonia Gandhi to schedule the internal elections after the conclusion of assembly polls in five states due to be held in April-May.
Joint Parliamentary Committee Chairman P C Chacko on Wednesday rejected Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha's demand for Prime Minister Minister Manmohan Singh's appearance before the panel probing the 2G issue, saying the committee has "passed that phase".
However, even 10 days after Modi took the nation by surprise by announcing demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes, his rivals continued to aggressively target him
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.