Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday led the nation in paying rich tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 61st birth anniversary.
The finance minister could not take the oath earlier in Parliament due to his ill-health.
Under attack from both the Opposition and its Left allies, the government has agreed for a discussion on the Nanavati Commission Report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
It comprises 200 flats, a temple, shopping centre, sewerage treatment plant and other basic facilities. It will cost about Rs 20 crore.
The results of the by-elections in the four Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir were a mixed bag for the Congress' coalition partners.
Over 1,500 people from India and Pakistan, separated from their family members, crossed the border by road through the Kaman crossing post in Jammu and Kashmir in the last one and half years.
The six suspended MPs were also present at the protest.
The move comes after the letter that four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court had earlier written stating that there was danger to the independence of judiciary.
In a letter to Vice President and Chairman of the Upper House Venkaiah Naidu, the parties mentioned the medical college admission scam against a retired Orissa high court judge.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has broached the issue with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani and National Democratic Alliance convener George Fernandes.
The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there.
'Why are the people who stood with the Congress through thick and thin, why are they leaving?'
Azad will have to seek election as an Assembly member in 6 months.
A car bomb ripped through Srinagar, killing six.
Azad had, on Sunday, called on the Governor to stake claim to form the new government in Jammu and Kashmir, replacing Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister.
State Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad will head the nine-member committee that will monitor the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme of the coalition government in the state.
He is scheduled to meet top state leaders and security officials to assess the ground situation in the Valley, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state later this month.
The no-confidence motion against the government could not be introduced amid the din in the Lok Sabha.
Ghulam Nabi Azad 'has asked me to convey the decision to the NDA leaders. We will take a decision on it tomorrow at the NDA parliamentary party meeting', BJP leader V K Malhotra said.
The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha drove to prime minister's official residence after a breakfast meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine persons.
Shiv Sena Member Eknath Thakur withdrew from the race.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Khan emerged as the consensus candidate following talks with the leaders of all parties, including those part of the opposition National Democratic Alliance.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which had always misguided the people, had swung the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
He will now preside over the proceedings of the first two days of the House when new members take oath.
New Delhi is witnessing a spurt of political activity over the Goods and Services Tax Bill.
'Priyanka did draw huge crowds and eventually all of those ended up voting for the Samajwadi Party.' 'The voters today are smart enough to vote for the party which they know is going to win or they know this party will come second, but no way will they vote for a party which will come third or fourth.'
'You need a leader whom India can identify with and I cannot think of any other leader except Sachin Pilot in the Congress party.'
The setback promises to have far-reaching ramifications within and outside the party as it is likely to fuel voices that have challenged the Gandhi family's leadership and also those who have been a votary of a non-Congress front to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Affirming that the Centre was "serious" about Rs 4,000-odd crore (Rs 40 billion) Metro Rail for Bangalore, Union Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said the project was expected to be completed in four years. \n
