Thursday was the penultimate day of the Budget Session of Parliament. The second half of the session which began on March 5 has been a washout with no legislative business being transacted due to stalling of proceedings by the opposition.
A Congress-led opposition on Tuesday came together seeking to pin down the government on the demonetisation issue in the winter session of Parliament beginning tomorrow but a consenses eluded on Trinamoll Congress's proposed march to Rashtrapati Bhawan for meeting the President.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again led the BJP's campaign holding several rallies and stepping up his attack on Opposition parties, particularly the Congress.
With only one day left, the Winter session of Parliament is on the verge of a washout as it failed to transact any business again on Thursday.
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive time, heading a 42-member ministry.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
Mamata Banerjee said availability of land won't be a problem in Bengal as the state government has a land bank.
Over 100 Opposition members of Parliament led by Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday marched from Parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhawan
The 61-year-old feisty leader, who had single-handedly wrecked the red bastion in West Bengal in 2011, was unfazed by the Left-Congress alliance ahead of the assembly polls.
Protesting Congress members had on Tuesday too blocked a debate on the bill. The monsoon session ends on Thursday.
With the Supreme Court ordering Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation, the agency will finally be able to question the top cop in cases arising out of the Saradha chit fund scam probe.
The Congress continued to stall the Parliament over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Pakistan remarks' against former premier Manmohan Singh.
A united opposition on Monday cornered the government in Parliament, accusing it of focusing on issues like religious conversions instead of fulfilling promises of bringing back black money and creating jobs.
The Enforcement Directorate questioned Trinamool Congress MP and actor Mithun Chakraborty in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Tapas Pal tendered an unconditional apology on Tuesday for his threat to kill Communist Party of India-Marxist workers and having their women raped after he was asked by an embarrassed party leadership to do so following widespread outrage.
The United Progressive Alliance government's efforts to extend a friendly hand to the Sheikh Hasina government in neighbouring Dhaka were thwarted by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee whose party joined hands with the Adom Gana Parishad in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, ensuring that the Constitution Amendment Bill ratifying the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh could not be introduced.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her "political vendetta" charge over action in Saradha scam, saying she is pressing the "panic button" and "rattled" by the possibility that her "own involvement" could come to light.
'Mamata's fascination with stars is so deep-rooted that she uses her clout as chief minister to get close to them.'
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
Proceedings in Parliament were washed out for the second consecutive working on Tuesday as Opposition members created pandemonium on a host of issues including JPC report on 2G, Telangana, price rise and death of children in relief camps for Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) riot victims.
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
'NDA allies have realised that if they don't dump the BJP, then people will dump their party in 2019.' 'People's mood is against the BJP'
As the death toll in Nepal's devastating earthquake mounted, the Indian government on Monday urged people not to pay heed to rumours being spread on social media as members in Rajya Sabha asked government to prepare disaster management plan.
Members from parties like the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties and the Rashtriya Janata Dal created uproar in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha as soon as the Houses met for the day.
Railway Budget has not discriminated against any state.
Accusing the Congress of putting its interests above the country's, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday tore into the Oppposition, saying unlike earlier when opposition parties stalled Parliament against scams, Congress- led parties are now doing so against government's steps to curb black money and corruption.
Accusing the Congress party of "failing to keep national interests over its political agenda", Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said the chief opposition party stood "isolated" in disrupting the Parliament at a time when MPs of other parties condemned the Gurdaspur terror attack and stood in solidarity.
While all political parties have been talking about following in the footsteps of the debutant Aam Admi Party by fielding fresh faces in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar has set the ball rolling by deciding not to renominate his party's three sitting MPs in the coming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha scheduled for February 7. Anita Katyal reports.
Opposition members kept on shouting 'Pradhan Mantri sadan me aao'.
'I have tutored my family and myself to fight hunger,' the former agent for the disgraced Saradha chit fund says, his eyes welling up. 96 of the 107 cases referred to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office are based in Bengal!
Successors of those who migrated to Pakistan and China during Partition will have no claim over the properties left behind in India, with Parliament on Tuesday passing a bill to amend a 49-year-old law.
This time however, the poll panel did not share the overall polling percentage at its briefing.
Opposition repeatedly sought a reply from the PM on the issue.
BJP claimed close to 116 lawmakers from rival parties appeared to have voted for Kovind.
Members from Opposition and treasury benches had a heated exchange of words in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on foreign soil that he wanted to clean the dirt of 60 years forcing three adjournments in the pre-lunch session.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
Demonetisation hit informal sector hard and caused job losses which was not addressed by the budget, Moily said.
On Tuesday night, the Tamil Nadu chief minister decides that enough is enough, and throws a challenge to Chinnamma.
Apart from Kerala, the northeast perhaps is the only region where Congress can expect a decent win in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. K G Suresh looks at what the elections hold for the northeast.
Opposition on Monday picked holes in various government decisions like demonetisation and surgical strikes as well as allocation of funds for MNREGA, agriculture sector and Scheduled Castes, saying it has failed on all fronts despite which it is trying to "fool" the people.
