MPs from several political parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, met the president on Friday and presented him a memorandum with the demand.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party on Monday announced entering into alliance for the coming Bihar assembly elections and claimed they were in talks with some other anti-BJP and anti-Congress regional parties.
The government indicated on Wednesday that it would hold discussions with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties, which had opposed the Nuclear Liability Bill, and did not rule out the possibility of raising the compensation cap of Rs 500 crore as envisaged.
They are likely to meet Sitaram Yechury following the meeting with Gandhi.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, who was the centre of media attention after the PM's comments daring the Left, said, "I am not saying we are satisfied. We will go by our own counsel".
A meeting of political parties supporting the Women's Reservation Bill on Tuesday failed to evolve a strategy on its passage in Rajya Sabha, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties demanding that a discussion be held before voting.The meeting was called by leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee to discuss a strategy to ensure smooth passage of the Constitution amendment bill.Sources said the meeting failed to reach a consensus on the passage of the proposed law.
The NCP skipped the meeting to express its displeasure over allegations by some Congress leaders that its two MLAs did not vote for Ahmed Patel in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections.
Calling for a national discussion on replicating the Gujarat model of making voting compulsory, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday criticised the Congress and Left parties for opposing it 'without applying their minds'. Describing the bill as 'innovative and useful', senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said the modalities of experimenting it in other states should be discussed.
'Who has given them the right to decide that I am not a Hindu like them'
Scores of opposition workers were taken into custody by police in several areas across the state.
Modi termed it a 'historic document' to fulfil his government's aim of 'sabka sath sabka vikas'.
'The situation in the country is very scary.' 'There is an increasing attack on the Constitutional democratic rights of our people.'
Even two-and-a-half years after the National Democratic Alliance came to power, people remember the previous United Progressive Alliance regime for corruption, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, asserting that demonetisation would go a long way in curbing black money.
The Bihar government on Sunday vowed to punish those responsible for "lapses" that led to the stampede at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna on October 3, leaving 33 people dead and 29 injured.
Sources said the Congress leadership is also in talks with AAP leaders and senior leaders within the party are trying to convince Delhi Congress leaders for an alliance.
The National Democratic Alliance, led by strong man Narendra Modi secured a whopping 352 of 542 seats, making it evident that his message of muscular nationalism, security and Hindu pride had worked wonders.
Shah said the government was committed to ensure development in the country.
Meanwhile, the prime minister's media adviser Sanjaya Baru described as "incorrect" reports that Manmohan Singh has appealed to Left parties not to boycott Bush's visit to India.
Parallel to this, the ruling Telugu Desam has been organising rallies across the state in solidarity with its MPs.
Left parties on Monday agreed to consider government proposals to divest small percentage of equity in non-Navratna profit-making PSUs on a case-to-case basis.
Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, West Bengal CM and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, and Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy lent support to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government's fight with the Centre.
The former UP CM also expressed his gratitude towards Mayawati, who was once his party's bitterest rival in UP.
Among those attending the meeting from the government side were Defence Minister AK Anthony, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal. The Left parties were represented by the Communist Party of India's A B Bardhan and D Raja, and the CPI-M by Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri
The Communist Party of India Marxist, the largest among the Left parties, said the increase in FDI cap would lead to the outflow of Indian people's savings to lubricate speculative profits. It maintained that the Left had not allowed the UPA to take this decision for the past four years.
It was an eventful year for the Left parties capping over four years of love-hate relationship with Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition with which they severed ties on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation under court supervision into chit fund scam in West Bengal, Left parties on Thursday accused the Mamata Banerjee government of opposing such a probe into the "unprecedented fraud" and failing to take any step to recover "hard-earned" savings of the people.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties on Friday slammed Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily for claiming to be under threat from oil import lobby, saying that the minister was concocting a story to help private firms gain from his proposal to raise natural gas prices.
Opposition and members of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G on Wednesday demanded the ouster of chairperson P C Chacko for being "highly partisan" and asked Speaker Meira Kumar to replace him with a new chief. The JPC has 30 members, including Chacko.
A controversy erupted on Monday over business tycoon Mukesh Ambani being provided Z category security with Left parties condemning it as "unprecedented" while the Centre sought to defuse the row saying he will bear the expenses.
Fresh from confabulations with AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, CPI top leader A B Bardhan sees another opportunity for the Left parties to play a more effective role at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections next year.
President Pratibha Patil has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to meet her on Thursday in the wake of Left parties withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance government. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued on Wednesday, hours after the four Left parties submitted letters snapping ties with the UPA government, said, "Keeping in mind these political developments, the President has requested the Prime Minister to meet her tomorrow to have his views."
Condemning the Hyderabad blasts, the Left parties on Friday warned against any "preconceived notions" about probable culprits or attempts to communalise the incident, saying several innocents have been imprisoned wrongly and released later in earlier cases.
Some of the key proposals of the agenda relate to transforming the banking sector, addressing agrarian distress, countering hate crimes and discrimination, and spurring employment generation.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for not supporting the United Progressive Alliance government's efforts to pass a resolution in Parliament on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and rejected accusations hurled at the Congress.
The already strained relations between the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and the Left parties hit the nadir on Friday with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi stating that Communist Party of India - Marxist leader N Varadharajan's remarks only showed that the Left parties had already decided to walk out of the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance. Karunanidhi took a dig at the CPI-M state secretary on the latter's remarks that Congress was a 'sinking ship'
Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Monday evicted enmasse from Tamil Nadu Assembly with a couple of them being handed a two-day suspension for disrupting the proceedings.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
Left parties on Tuesday stopped short of seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after the Supreme Court's observations on the coal allocation scam, but asked him to face Parliament as he "owes an answer" to the country. They demanded the ouster of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.
The Left Front leaders, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, have reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit their letter withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance government to the President. Following the withdrawal of support by the Left parties the strength of the ruling coalition has been reduced to 230.
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