New Delhi, Beleaguered railway minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, earned another sobriquet in the Rajya Sabha on Monday he could have done without. Bansal was repeatedly addressed as "mamu" by Opposition MPs as they again prevented the House from functioning by vociferously insisting on their demand for action against not just Bansal and law minister Ashwani Kumar, but also PM Manmohan Singh. The minister was repeatedly addressed as "mamu" by Parshottam Rupala (BJP), a close aide of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, while his party members stormed the Well of the House seeking his ouster along with that of PM Manmohan Singh. The minister's nephew has been arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from a railway board member. Without naming Bansal, Rupala repeated "mamu" numerous times amid sloganeering by his party colleagues. "O Mama...desh ko mat banao mamu...Mama isteefa do (Uncle, Don't befool the nation...Please resign uncle)," were Rupala's terse comments on Bansal, sending many in the visitors' galleries into laughter. This happened in the presence of a Parliamentary delegation from the Maldives which seemed thoroughly amused by the melee. Rupala kept shouting "Mamu...mamu" ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Attacking the government for "subverting" institutions to hide its misdeeds, the opposition in Rajya Sabha on Thursday targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with Coalgate, saying the "needle of suspicion" pointed at him as he was the coal minister when the coal block allocations were made. On government's interference in the CBI probe, leader of opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley said, "Whatever facts have come forward, some businessmen are benefitting... prime minister may not be an accused but the needle of suspicion is towards him, who was the coal minister at the time". Noting that the CBI had shared its investigation report with both PMO and law ministry officials, Jaitley said, "This is the first time that an investigative agency has shared its investigation report with the suspects, some of whom may be possible accused." The PM also came under attack from L K Advani, who said he had no qualms about calling Singh India's "weakest" PM ever though his own colleagues felt he was being too severe when he first made the charge more than three years ago. Advani said Singh was unable to avail the authority innate to his office due to ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Parliament on Friday approved the rail budget with railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal promising in Rajya Sabha that there will be no further hike in reservation or cancellation charges in the near future. Replying to the debate, Bansal, however, justified the hike in fares effected on January 21 and said it was "inevitable" as it had come after 12 years. "People have largely accepted the hike," he said. His speech was marked by disruption from Trinamool Congress member Derek O'Brien who later staged a walkout after accusing the railway minister of giving short shrift to the demands of better rail connectivity in the Jangalmahal area in West Bengal. Asserting that the UPA did not do any kind of discrimination against any state, Bansal said, "I was accused of raising the fares through backdoor and was criticized for it. But I want to say that it was a minimum fare hike. They accuse me of raising the fare by 25%. This is, however, a marginal hike as in real terms it is only a hike of Rs 2 for a person travelling up to 100 km. The bus fare has in the meantime gone up several folds." Bansal, however, ruled out any more fare hike despite pressure on railways due ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Law minister Ashwani Kumar on Monday said the government would shortly bring a legislation for an alternative system for appointment of judges to replace the present mechanism where a collegium of judges has a larger say in such decisions. "Consultations are on with political parties to evolve a consensus", Kumar told Rajya Sabha during question hour. He said, "We are thinking of an alternative system for appointment of judges... without disturbing integrity of judiciary." The law minister, however, did not elaborate on the new system being considered but said the government was conscious of not interfering with judicial independence. Noting that the present process of appointment of judges is "not satisfactory", he said his ministry was holding final consultations on the alternative system that would ensure expeditious filling of vacancies. The new architecture will remove shortcomings in the present system, he said, adding inadequacy of funds will not hold up expansion of judiciary. Currently, there are 278 vacancies in various high courts. The vacancies amount to 30% of the total sanctioned strength of judges. Besides, the present strength of ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the party should draw a bottomline beyond which it should not compromise despite coalition compulsions as it distorts the "ideology" and "vision" of the party. Rahul said Congress was committed to an ideology and vision of governance that came under pressure when it was dependent on other outfits. He said while alliance issues were understandable, the party should draw a clear line beyond which it would not compromise. The young leader was talking to Maharashtra MPs at an interaction on Monday. While his statement was not a jibe at state ally NCP, which is also a key component of UPA, the meeting echoed with the warning that Sharad Pawar was looking to upstage Congress in the next elections. The MPs said NCP was eager to downsize Congress to emerge as the senior partner. With Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar having made clear his intentions, Congress MPs said the party should be ready to contest on two fronts - checking the NCP within the alliance while taking on Shiv Sena-BJP and MNS outside. While some MPs felt that NCP will not rock the UPA boat in the Lok Sabha elections but it cannot be trusted for ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Hitting back at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the BJP on Thursday rubbished his comment that the UPA would return to office at the Centre, saying he was "day dreaming" about winning the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Asked for his response to Singh's attack on BJP and its senior leader L K Advani, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "We reject his statement." In his reply to the motion of thanks on the President's address, Singh said on Wednesday in Lok Sabha that BJP had used the 'India Shining' slogan in 2004 and fielded 'Iron Man' Advani "against the lamb that Manmohan Singh is". He said the NDA had lost in 2004 and 2009 and UPA would retain power in 2014 as well. The combative stance of the soft-spoken PM had taken the BJP by surprise but the party dismissed his claim of handing down another defeat to the NDA in the next elections. "We have nothing to say about his day-dreaming, no one can stop him from it. If he wants to live under a misconception, he can do so," Javadekar ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections and is the "most appropriate" prime ministerial candidate, the AICC said on Thursday, a day after he distanced himself from such talk. "As and when the time comes, the party will take an appropriate decision, as you said he (Rahul) is the most appropriate candidate. It is not the party's policy to announce the leader beforehand," party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit told reporters here. He said that the Congress vice-president was heading the party's campaign committee and would lead the party in the polls and decide the strategy. The Congress Parliamentary Party and the Congress high command will decide whether he would be the Prime Minister, he said. His reaction came when asked to comment on the remarks of 42-year-old Gandhi, widely seen to be the party's PM candidate, that asking him whether he wanted to be PM is a"wrong question". The Congress vice-president had made this suo motu remark on Wednesday while interacting with party MPs amid a growing clamour in the party for annointing him the party's prime ministerial face before the next Lok Sabha elections. He had told the MPs in no ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Rajya Sabha MPs, including those from Congress, on Tuesday asked the Centre to intervene in the rape and murder of three minor girls in Maharashtra's Bhandara. A Congress MP said he had no confidence in Maharashtra police and wanted a CBI probe into the rape of the three dalit girls. Shiv Sena MP Bharatkumar Raut raised the issue during zero hour in Rajya Sabha. He said he was ashamed that he lived in a nation which talked about women's empowerment, yet 12 days after the ghastly incident, the accused roamed scot-free. "Three dalit sisters were raped and murdered and their bodies thrown in a well. Why are the police not arresting the culprits when the entire village knows them," Raut asked. Congress MPs from Maharashtra — Rajni Patil, Hussain Dalwai and Bhalchandra Mungekar —supported Raut. Cutting across the political divide, MPs in Rajya Sabha asked the home minister to intervene in the case which occurred barely two months after the Delhi gangrape. Mungekar said, "The Centre must direct the state government to conduct a CBI inquiry into the issue. I do not have faith in Maharashtra police." Patil called the case shameful and sought ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari on Friday directed the government to enquire into the manhandling of a woman MP and submit a report before the next sitting of the House. CPM leaders, including MPs and members of its women, youth and students' wings, were allegedly manhandled by Delhi Police near Rail Bhavan while they marched towards Parliament on Thursday demanding RS deputy chairman P J Kurien's resignation for his alleged involvement in the Suryanelli gang-rape. CPM's Rajya Sabha MP T N Seema was allegedly dragged on the road while cops kicked Lok Sabha MP M B Rajesh after bundling him into a police van. SFI national president V Sivadasan and JNU student Akhila were also injured. "Some members met me this morning and informed that Dr T N Seema, MP, was manhandled yesterday by Delhi Police personnel in a police van. It is a serious matter which relates to the dignity of the member and prestige of the House," Ansari said. Rajesh and Seema were admitted to RML Hospital with serious injuries. A complaint was lodged at the Parliament Street police station. "The police action on a totally peaceful gathering is highly condemnable," CPM politburo member ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Always double check airfares with the airline before buying a ticket from an agent. The Rajya Sabha secretariat paid long haul international fares for domestic air tickets for one of its members. The scam was detected only when the MP realized the incredulous prices paid for the tickets and then complained to the government. The secretariat paid Rs 99,292 for a one-way Delhi-Chennai flight on Jet Airways for Ashk Ali Tak, a Congress RS member from Rajasthan. A Chennai-Hyderabad ticket on Air India was bought for Rs 35,184. A Hyderabad-Bangalore journey on Jet and a Bangalore-Jaipur ticket on low cost IndiGo 'cost' Rs 67,270 and Rs 17,270, respectively. Tickets are bought for MPs by either the LS or RS secretariat, depending on which house the member is from. "I noticed that the fares were very high and complained to the authorities. After all public money is being spent on this and a probe is on. The tickets in question were for travel last year," Ashk Ali told TOI. The RS secretariat forwarded the MP's complaint to the DGCA, which has detected a major rip-off of the state by the travel agents from whom the tickets were purchased. The airlines were asked just ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati Wednesday lashed out at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's direct cash transfer scheme here, describing it as a ploy to hoodwink voters in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. "This is an old book with a new cover," the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo told reporters, pointing that scholarships for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the state initiated under her chief ministership was already in place where financial aid was transferred straight to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. Accusing the Congress of yet again trying to "fool the voters," she said people should not be swayed by false promises of the Congress. "This is an 'adh kacchi' (half-baked) scheme cooked up by the dhokebaaz (fraud) Congress and I warn the people of the country not to fall to the allurements," she said. 'Aapka paisa, aapke haath', the credo coined by the UPA government was nothing but a "sham and a political stunt aimed at fooling the electorate," she alleged. Her remarks came a day after the central government began the New Year by rolling out the ambitious direct cash transfer of benefits covering seven ...
Read Full Story

Lucknow, The Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday said his party will not allow the debate on reservation in promotion bill in the Lok Sabha. He said the party will strongly oppose the bill even if SP MPs were expelled from the House. The SP leader's statement came while addressing wrestlers and sportsperson at Safai Mahotsav. Mulayam's statement came a day after the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati accused the UPA government of stalling the passage of quota in the winter session of Parliament. "The Centre has only staged a drama. When the copy of the bill was snatched by the SP MPs on Wednesday, they should have suspended the MPs concerned and used marshals to restore order in the House. But they did not do it because they never wanted to," Mayawati had said on Thursday. He said SP had made its stance clear since the bill was tabled in the monsoon session. "We will not allow the Bill to be passed by the Lok Sabha no matter what. Those who are in favour of the bill will be taught a lesson by the people in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections," Mulayam said. The SP president said the bill, if passed, will lead to utter chaos in the government departments. ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Failure by the Congress to clinch the bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday is likely to make it vulnerable to attacks from BSP chief Mayawati. Congress president Sonia Gandhi's reflexes in Lok Sabha may have saved the day for the Congress on Wednesday, underlining her cruciality for the party at a time when political parlours remain abuzz with speculation about the elevation of son Rahul. Her presence in the Lok Sabha when the bill was taken up in the post-lunch session after two adjournments forced by the protesting Samajwadis did indicate seriousness. But it was her act of taking on the hostile SP member with screams of "give it back" that underlined the eagerness of the leadership to pass the legislation crafted to restore reservation in promotions for SCs and STs. Sonia's political smarts may mitigate the loss in the war of credits at the hands of the volatile BSP supremo who put her indelible stamp on 'promotion quota' by taking it up in the monsoon session and then pursuing it right to the end of the winter session. In fact, the government had appeared happy to hide behind SP protests to consign the legislation to the deep freeze, until Mayawati's ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Parliament on Tuesday expressed shock and outrage over the barbaric gangrape of a girl inside a moving bus in south Delhi with strong demands being made for capital punishment to perpetrators of such heinous crimes. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha saw members of all parties speaking in unison and raising serious concern over repeated incidents of rape in the national capital, whose law and order comes directly under the Union Home Ministry. Opposition members demanded a categorical assurance from home minister Sushilkumar Shinde that such an incident will not recur. Women members in both Houses were in the forefront in expressing shock and anguish over the incident, voicing concern over the safety of the fair sex in Delhi. Cinestar- turned-MP Jaya Bachchan even broke down while speaking on the issue in the Upper House. In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Meira Kumar led the House in expressing outrage over the "spine-chilling" incident, saying it was shameful for the entire society. She asked the government to take strong steps immediately in the matter as an impromptu debate took place in both Houses over Sunday night's incident in which the 23-year-old para-medic ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The Rajya Sabha will on Monday vote on the controversial Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill 2012 that seeks to provide quota in promotion for SC/ST employees in government offices. While the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been pressing the government to pass the bill, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has issued veiled threats saying it could reconsider its outside support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) if the bill is passed. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had said in Lucknow on Saturday: "If voting is done on the bill in the house, I will reconsider my party's support to the government." BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters: "The SP and BSP are hand-in-glove with the Congress. On several occasions, the two have jumped in to save the UPA government. The threat by Mulayam Singh Yadav is mere political posturing." Parliament has been disrupted frequestly over the issue since the winter session started on November ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena Thursday disrupted proceedings in the Lok Sabha as they noisily demanded the hanging of Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for the terror attack on parliament on this day 11 years ago. The house observed a minute's silence to pay tribute to the nine people killed in the Dec 13, 2001 attack. The bedlam began soon after as members of BJP and Shiv Sena gathered near the speaker's podium shouting slogans demanding that Afzal Guru be hanged. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's repeated requests to members to run the question hour fell on deaf ears. "I will not adjourn the house today. We have just paid tributes to people who gave their lives protecting parliament. Did they give life for this," she asked sternly. But this had little impact, and members of both parties continued with the sloganeering, forcing the speaker to first adjourn the house till 11.30 a.m. and later till noon. Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shahsi Tharoor expressed sadness over repeated disruptions. "Sad that we mourn those who gave their lives to defend this institution of parliament and then betray it daily by ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Thursday slammed the lawmakers of the Opposition party when they raised a ruckus over Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's hanging inside the House. "This day 13 people were martyred to save the Parliament. They did not sacrifice their lives for this," an angry Meira Kumar said pointing to the pandemonium that broke out. She was angry over the uproar by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena MPs after the house observed a minute's silence. BJP and Sena lawmakers started shouting demanding the hanging of Afzal Guru. Paying tribute to the martyrs of the Parliament attack on this day in 2001, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the best tribute to the dead would be when Afzal Guru was hanged for the crime. "We can pay real tribute to the martyrs only when the date of hanging of Afzal Guru is announced," said Swaraj. She said why Afzal Guru was not hanged remained unanswered. The BJP has given a notice for the suspension of Question Hour in the Lok Sabha to discuss the hanging of Afzal Guru, who is convicted in the Parliament attack case. Congress, however, criticized the BJP ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Union commerce minister Anand Sharma has said that the Opposition is graceless in defeat. Sharma made the comment while speaking to a TV news channel after the government's win in the foreign direct investment (FDI) vote at Rajya Sabha on Friday. Responding to a question on the Opposition's claims about the government's determination to push FDI through not being about the law of management, but fund management, he said, "They are insulting the premises of Parliament and it's a serious breach of privilege. They are graceless in defeat as they were in the debate." Speaking to another channel, Sharma accused the BJP of dragging the economy down. If each issue is brought to vote, the country will never move forward, he said. Helped by Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress on Friday comfortably won the vote in favour of FDI in multi-brand retail in Rajya Sabha, passing a crucial test in the upper house that now paves the way for implementation of the big bang economic decision by the Manmohon Singh government. Since the motion was that the House disapproves FDI in multi-brand retail, a total of 123 ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, Strongly opposing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the policy will make India a country of "sales boys and sales girls". Stating that the entry of international retailing chains without correcting the manufacturing sector would eventually destroy production in the country, Jaitley said the coming generations would be left with little options. "The essence is that domestic retail sources products locally; international retailers source internationally... They buy from the cheapest market," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said during the debate on FDI in multi-brand retail in the upper house of Parliament. "When we open our market to foreign retailers without reforms in manufacturing, what will happen? The first to be affected will be jobs in manufacturing sector. We (will) cease to be a manufacturing nation. We will be consumers and our children will be sales boys and sales girls," he said. Jaitley also questioned the government's claim that the policy would create more jobs. "You say retail FDI will give 10 million jobs. But how many livelihoods will be lost? See the ...
Read Full Story

New Delhi, The Lok Sabha was on Wednesday adjourned briefly following verbal clashes between Rashtriya Janata Dal (RLD) chief Lalu Prasad and Bharatiya Janata Party members. As soon as Lalu Prasad stood up to participate in the debate on FDI in multi-brand retail, BJP members created a ruckus. An agitated Lalu Prasad addressed BJP members as "jamhoore" (side-kicks), which led to protests by BJP members. Lok Sabha deputy speaker Karia Munda, after failing to restore order, then adjourned the house ...
Read Full Story