The United Progressive Alliance government will move the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha in the coming session, Union Minister for Law and Justice M Veerappa Moily said on Monday. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties have assured their "unconditional" support to the bill, which has prompted the government to introduce it for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha, Moily told media-persons in Karnataka.
Sonia made the announcement while addressing a press conference at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence at 7, Race Course Road.
This State-corporate 'cooperation' didn't begin with the arrival of the Modi government.
Many of the big licences, contracts, and even environmental clearances for the Adani group had come in the UPA's time, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The support of a majority of his own party MPs to the legislation notwithstanding, JD (U) president Sharad Yadav on Tuesday accused the UPA of forcing through the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha and said constitutional amendments should only be passed after evolving a consensus.
The beleaguered United Progressive Alliance got a boost on Saturday with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, led by Ajit Singh, deciding to join the coalition at the Centre and fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the Congress. Ajit Singh, whose RLD has five members in the Lok Sabha, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday evening and expressed his willingness to join UPA. His decision was welcomed by the Congress president.
The CPM will review its decision to support the UPA only if the govt operationalised the N-deal, leader Nilotpal Basu said. The CPI(M) also downplayed the apparent differences between the party's Bengal leaders and General Secretary Prakash Karat.
The failed alliance with Congress for the May 30 civic polls in West Bengal notwithstanding, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her party did not want any rift with the United Progressive Alliance government.
All 40-odd rooms at the resort have been booked for the guests from Jharkhand for the next two days, Congress sources said.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has justified the Narendra Modi government's move to raise the rail fare by 14.2 per cent, saying it was a result of the policies undertaken by the previous United Progressive Alliance government. In an exclusive interview to CNN IBN, Prasad blamed the UPA II government for leaving Indian Railways in shambles, adding that his government never knew that the railways was bleeding, thanks to the Congress-led regime.
In less than a week after bailing out the UPA-II during cut motions in Lok Sabha, Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday announced programmes to "expose" the Congress-led coalition on May 22 when it completes one year in office.
Attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for its "utter failure" to check rising prices, the CPI(M) on Friday said the Centre's "faulty approach" in blaming states, without taking effective steps to tackle the real issues, would not solve the problem.
Following his disqualification as a member of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi may have to vacate his official bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi within a month if he does not get relief from a higher court in the criminal defamation case, an official said on Friday.
The ED said AB Exports Pvt Ltd is a "shell" or fake company owned by Prasad's son and Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Chanda Yadav (another daughter of the RJD chief) and its registered address is the bungalow located in the New Friends Colony area.
The decision by SP, with 21 members in Lok Sabha, and RJD with four will, however, have no impact on the stability of the UPA government. The SP and the RJD were outside supporters of the government.
"The economic environment in the country has suddenly become dismal. The UPA blamed the Left Front for the paralysis in economic decision making during UPA-I. However, there is no such compulsion during UPA-II."
The Congress on Wednesday asserted that the only way to comprehensively investigate the Adani issue is through a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and claimed that the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee would be a 'clean chit' panel for the government.
How many marks will Prime Minister Manmohan Singh give to the performance of the United Progressive Alliance's second term? This is the question being asked in political circles ahead of Dr Singh's first press conference in Delhi on Monday since taking over as PM for the second time. When the UPA-I had completed one year in May 2005, Dr Singh gave six out of ten marks to its performance, but said he was not satisfied with it.
"The basic purpose of the whole deal is to cap, reduce and eliminate our nuclear weapons programme," he said.
There is a lack of connect between the Congress president and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in UPA-2. But Sonia Gandhi has ensured that the government does not waver from her pet policies -- NREGA, RTI etc, notes Neerja Chowdhury.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
Political observers say that neither Mulayam Singh Yadav nor Mayawati have any intention of toppling the UPA government, as neither stand to gain from it. Sharat Pradhan reports
The BJP has sought the disqualification of Soren as an MLA accusing him of allocating a mining lease to himself while he held the state Mining portfolio in 2021.
The UPA's old schemes are unravelling while the new ones are still to take off, says Sunita Moga
"I appeal to the Muslims to understand that the soft approach of the UPA government to terrorism has endangered the security of all sections," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday said that the United Progressive Alliance government will not complete its five year term in office. Advani reiterated that the government will not last till 2009 and mid-term polls will be held in 2008. "It is certain now that the UPA government at the Centre is not going to last till 2009 because of major differences within the alliance partners. The country is heading for a mid-term polls," declared Advani.
The poll, conducted across 23 states with a sample size of 18,000 voters, predicts that the UPA will win 267 seats as against the 222 seats it secured in the 2004 elections.
They raised slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the central agencies.
Bracing up for an Opposition onslaught in Parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will host dinner for United Progressive Alliance leaders on Friday to firm up a joint strategy on various issues like Foreign Direct Investment that are expected to come up during the session beginning next week.
Singh did not speak on recent developments in the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation but confined himself to self-explanation during the short duration discussion.
The two-day deliberations, which will be held at Grand Hyatt in the suburbs, will begin in the evening of August 31 and from 10am on September 1. The meeting will be followed by a press conference, Raut informed.
Banerjee wants the two top leaders of the United Progressive Alliance to nudge the Planning Commission into including some of her most important initiatives in the Railway Budget.
A controversy has erupted over the reported remarks of Central Bureau of Investigation chief Ranjit Sinha that the United Progressive Allianc government would have been happy if the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah was named as accused in Ishrat Jahan case chargesheet, a comment which he has denied.
Following his arrest, support for Baba Ramdev seems to pour in. While the Bharatiya Janata Party declared a 24-hour satyagrah, the Uttarakhand chief minister assured the Baba that he could continue his protest in the state if he wanted to. With the Left and Samajwadi Party joining in to criticise the UPA, th government seems isolated
In the wake of Pakistan's refusal to extradite those guilty in the Mumbai terror attacks, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday accused the United Progressive Alliance government of converting the 'warning rhetoric into a bail-out plan' for the neighbouring country."It seems that the warning rhetoric of the UPA government against Pakistan has converted into a bail out plan for the neighbouring country from its participation in 26/11 attack in Mumbai," BJP said.
Joshi alleged that in many of the cases there has been a hundred per cent rise in the price of commodities. He also said that the UPA government is ignoring the plight of farmers.
The Ambani brothers -- Mukesh and Anil -- have emerged among the biggest beneficiaries of the people's mandate in favour of the Congress-led UPA government as their group companies added close to Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion) of wealth in just five trading sessions after the results were declared.
Complaining that the ruling UPA was treating it like an 'outsider' on the issue of dealing with Pakistan, the SP said it was under 'tremendous pressure' from its cadres as the government was not doing anything against the neighbouring country despite the Mumbai attacks.
Disapproving of Janata Dal-United's remarks against Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday firmly stood behind the Gujarat chief minister saying no "unfounded inferences" should be drawn against him
He wanted changes in certain criteria for the project.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said his party would contest the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar in alliance with the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Lok Janashakti Party, but ruled out conceding more than 13 seats given to the United Progressive Alliance allies in 2004 elections.
