Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee about his report in the 2G spectrum allocation. His report on a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation had created a storm in Parliament and outside. The PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, is examining the controversial allocation of 2G radio waves and Rai apprised the committee of how the audit looked into the whole issue.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, whose report on a presumed loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation created a storm in Parliament, will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, whose report on a presumed loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation created a storm in Parliament, will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday.
Politics is going to get even more sharply polarised in the weeks and months to come. And the 2G scam is not going to die down so easily, says Neerja Chowdhury
The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states' education ministers on Wednesday trashed Human Resources and Development Minister Kapil Sibal's road map for education, stressing that fiddling with examinations and a single board for 12th class examination cannot reform the education.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday sought to bring the curtain down on the turf war between the Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee, asking the two bodies to work in close cooperation and harmony with each other.
Anil Ambani, chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, was made to wait for over an hour by the Murli Manohar Joshi-led Public Accounts Committee before he was called in for intensive questioning on the 2G spectrum issue. He pleaded that since the name of his company and some key officials figure in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation on the massive scam, he would not like to say anything.
Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia appeared in no mood to co-operate with the Public Accounts Committee when she appeared before them for questioning on the 2G scam on Monday morning as her answers were 'evasive' and 'clever,' preferring to use the non-descript phrase, "I do not remember" in reply to most of the questions.
Chairman of Public Accounts Committee Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday said that there was no conflict or clash between the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the panel headed by him and both can function within their own domain to probe irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. He said that the JPC was supposed to work under specific terms of reference and conditions and did not have the right to summon the prime minister or any minister but PAC was a constitutional body.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
Murli Manohar Joshi demanded an apology from Omar Abdullah for saying that Jammu and Kashmir had not merged with India but it agreed to be with India under the accession instrument which had the clearance of the then Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten.
On a day when the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G scam was set up, the Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi said his panel has every authority to ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to appear before it.
Amid a plethora of Bharatiya Janata Party bigwigs, Manohar Lal Khattar and his council of ministers took the oath of office at Panchkula on Sunday.
Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said on Thursday that no decision had been taken regarding the offer made by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to appear before the PAC for questioning in the 2G Spectrum scam.
A nation must educate its own, foreigners can only help at the margin.
Sources in the security establishment said the force is also set to get sanctions from the Union Home ministry to raise at least nine fresh battalions soon. They said in order to bolster troop numbers along the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, as many as 60 companies have been ordered to move towards the front in various areas like Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi is likely to become the next chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee while Yashwant Sinha will replace him as head of the Standing Committee on Finance, BJP sources said.
Journalists, whose names have cropped up in the 2G scam tapes, will face the Public Accounts Committee, PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi has said.
Shiv Sena on Wednesday stalled the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha briefly to demand an immediate discussion on the Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute, leading to adjournment of the House for 15 minutes.
Ram Vilas Vedanti said Advani tried to persuade the karsevaks to come down from atop of the structure.
Giving in to opposition parties' protests on withdrawal of National Security Guard cover, the government on Thursday announced that the security cover provided to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad will not be reduced.
The National Democratic Alliance on Thursday termed the Presidential address to the joint session of Parliament as "totally disappointing" and said there was "nothing new" in it.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will not participate in the discussion on the Liberhan Commission findings in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday following a decision by the party against fielding those indicted in the report. "We have taken a conscious decision that leaders whose names appear in the accused list will not speak during the discussions," a senior party leader said on Monday.
The Liberhan's leaked report has turned all the attention away from the sugarcane issue that was kicking up a storm in Parliament.
Slamming government's foreign policy as "hazy and directionless", the BJP on Tuesday said India cannot become a super power by "riding piggy back" on the US and wondered why efforts were not being made to counter China's attempts to attain dominance in South Asia.
Former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K S Sudarshan and former Bharatiya Janata Party president Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday attended a function to release a book, which severely criticises former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has backed Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's demand that the Centre should convene all-party meeting to discuss the Sino-Indian border issue.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are not on talking terms with expelled leader Jaswant Singh after he refused to resign from the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, Union minister Murli Deora claimed on Friday. The Petroleum and Natural Gas minister, who is heading a high-level delegation to London, said senior BJP leaders, including L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murali Manohar Joshi, are not on talking terms with their former colleague.
After a breakfast meeting between Mohan Bhagwat and L K Advani, the RSS today said that it has been assured by BJP that its leaders will resolve all problems faced by the party, including the leadership crisis, unitedly.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday stepped up efforts to rescue the Bharatiya Janata Party from its current crisis, by possibly discussing a road map ahead, as he held hectic parleys with L K Advani and top leaders including Murli Manohar Joshi.There were indications that the BJP could come out with some statement on Sunday but Sangh Parivar sources said nothing spectacular could be expected.
The event brings to fruition the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'mandir' movement that defined its politics for three decades and took it to the heights of power.
Bharatiya Janata Party veterans like Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh and V K Malhotra may be accommodated as governors as their names are doing the rounds for appointment in gubernatorial posts in key states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana.
It re-nominated Speaker of the dissolved Lok Sabha, Manohar Joshi, and Union ministers Anandrao Adsul and Subodh Mohite.
For the second successive day, the Opposition disrupted proceedings in Parliament over the government's new sugarcane price policy.
Jaswant Singh could stick out like a sore thumb for BJP even in the Lok Sabha after its attempt to remove him from the Chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee has been virtually rejected by Speaker Meira Kumar.
The 56-year-old leader is considered to be close to both Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi on Sunday night gave an ultimatum to the Bharatiya Janata Party to mend its ways with regard to the on going border issue and stop atrocities on Marathi speaking people in Belgaum.Joshi said that Shiv Sena has taken the matter of sufferings of Marathi speaking people in Belgaum seriously. Any atrocities on Marathi speaking people will not be tolerated, he added.
When Advani shook hands, the prime minister did not come out his seat. While Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav hugged Advani for a second, Lalu Prasad too came out of his seat to greet Advani, but did not hug him.
A B Vajpayee and L K Advani head a list of 68 leaders of the Sangh Parivaar and bureaucrats held culpable by the Liberhan Commission for leading the country to the "brink of communal discord" over the Ayodhya issue. In a scathing indictment, the Commission said these leaders cannot be given the benefit of the doubt and exonerated of culpability.
The Centre is examining proposals for foreign direct investment in the education sector on case by case basis, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.