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Once bitter political and ideological rivals, the CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) have of late mended fences. Now CPI(M) leadership will have All India Students’ Association (AISA), the students wing of CPI(M-L) together with it in an agitation on education and youth issues in West Bengal.
Three Lok Sabha MPs of the National Congress Progressive Initiative (NCPI) on Tuesday skipped the NDA parliamentary party’s weekly Mangal Milan meeting for the second time, bringing to the fore apparent differences within the 20-member breakaway Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction over its proximity to the BJP-led alliance.
Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor scripted a major political upset in Bihar by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Bankipur Assembly byelection, a constituency represented for five consecutive terms by the BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin. The BJP retained Manjalpur in Gujarat while the Congress held on to Madhya Pradesh’s Datia in other Assembly byelections.
At the meeting of the high level committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to select the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and commissioners, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi submitted a dissent note on the lack of representation in the list from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC)s.
Congress Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “no longer the PM he once was”, questioning his confidence and policies in recent years. Addressing the Lok Sabha, Priyanka Gandhi fired shots at the BJP over their negligence of people’s problems.
Triggering a war of words between the ruling BJP and the main Opposition Congress, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and his Rajya Sabha counterpart Mallikarjun Kharge were not invited to the official dinner hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for Russian President Vladimir Putin at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Parliament on Thursday approved a bill to levy a higher excise duty on tobacco and related products once the GST compensation cess ends, with the Rajya Sabha returning the legislation to Lok Sabha.
Facing flak over its order to mobile companies to preload the Sanchar Saathi app, the government on Tuesday sought to downplay the controversy as the Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said mobile users who do not want to use the app can delete it from their phones. Notwithstanding the minister’s assertion, tech experts raise doubt about whether the app, which critics fear could be used for “snooping”, can be uninstalled or deleted.
“Parliament is not a place for drama; it is a place for delivery,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday in his customary remarks ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament. “For some time now, our Parliament is being used either as a warm-up arena for elections or as an outlet for frustration after defeat,” Mr. Modi went on to allege, referring to the Opposition.
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