Rajya Sabha

Cong to get chairship of external affairs, agri, rural dev, edu committees

The Congress will chair the parliamentary standing committees on external affairs, agriculture, and rural development in the Lok Sabha and education in the Rajya Sabha, party sources said on Monday, with talks between the government and the opposition over the panels' chairship concluding. In all, the Congress is set to have the chairship of four department-related standing committees -- three in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress will chair the Department Related Standing Committee on External Affairs; Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing; Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the Lok Sabha; and Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in the Rajya Sabha, a source told PTI. Significantly, the Congress will chair the crucial committee on external affairs after a gap of five years. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor headed the panel on external affairs between September 2014 and May 2019. The Congress last held the chairship of two ...

Congress secures chairs for one Rajya Sabha, three Lok Sabha committees

The Congress will chair the External Affairs, Agriculture, and Rural Development Committees in the Lok Sabha and the Education Committee in the Rajya Sabha

Haryana BJP MP claims canter-truck chased his vehicle, tried hitting it

BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra said he had a narrow escape after a canter-truck allegedly chased his SUV from Sirsa district to his home in Meham and tried to hit him. A security personnel accompanying the MP filed a police complaint after the incident took place on Thursday evening. Giving details of the incident, Jangra told PTI on Friday that he was returning from Sirsa district to Meham in Rohtak when his security personnel accompanying him found that there was a traffic jam near Meham's Old Bus stand area. Jangra's gunman got down from the SUV and tried to find out why vehicles were not moving ahead. "He found out that a canter truck in the middle of the road was not moving ahead causing the traffic bottleneck. My gunman tried to get the traffic cleared and told the truck driver to move along one side of the road and also allow other vehicles to pass," Jangra said. "However, the truck driver misbehaved with my gunman, who, however, did not want to escalate the matter

'Have suffered patiently': TMC MP resigns over rape-murder, corruption

TMC MP Jawhar Sircar on Sunday wrote to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, the chief of his party, and said he has decided to quit Rajya Sabha and leave politics altogether, describing the steps taken by the state government in handling the rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar hospital "too little and quite late". In the letter, Sircar said he became increasingly "disillusioned" with the state government as it seemed "quite unconcerned" about corruption and "strong-arm tactics" of a section of leaders. Terming the protests over the doctor's death spontaneous, the retired IAS officer said he had not seen "such angst and total no-confidence" against a government, even when it was saying things that were correct or factual. "The primary purpose of joining as an MP, without any direct involvement in party politics, was that it offered an excellent forum to carry on the struggle against the autocratic and communal politics of the BJP and its Prime Minister. To that extent, I have some ..

With six nominated members, NDA has slender majority in Rajya Sabha

The BJP-led NDA has a slender majority in Rajya Sabha with the support of six nominated members, which would help the party get the nod for key legislations such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. After the recent by-elections, the Upper House has an effective strength of 234, with the BJP having 96 members of its own. The number of NDA MPs is 113. Six nominated members, who usually cast their vote with the government, take the strength of the NDA to 119, two more than the current halfway mark of 117. The Congress has 27 members in the Upper House and its allies add another 58, taking the opposition alliance numbers to 85. Among the key fence-sitters are the YSR Congress Party with nine members and the BJD with seven members. There are four AIADMK members, three Independents and other MPs from smaller parties who are not aligned to either of the two major groups. Four seats from Jammu and Kashmir in the Upper House are vacant as the Union Territory is yet to get its first legislative .

Sujeet Kumar expelled from BJD for 'anti-party' actions, joins BJP in Delhi

After being expelled by the BJD for 'anti-party activities', former Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today in Delhi

Let me finish term in RS, I'll write story set in Parliament: Sudha Murthy

Parliamentarian and author-philanthropist Sudha Murthy on Sunday said although she has read a book set in Parliament way back in the 1980s, about Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, since so much has changed about India and the Parliament since then, that she would not mind writing about it. "Although, I have to finish my term as a Rajya Sabha member first, before I could attempt to do that," said Murthy on Sunday. Murthy was in conversation with fellow author and actor Twinkle Khanna, at the celebration of the launch of her 300th book title and 46th book 'Grandpa's Bag of Stories' here. The event was organised by Bengaluru-based Lit Spirit Foundation. But in her immediate list of wishes is a book on 'shlokas' that her grandfather used to recite, she said. "Like the one my grandfather used to recite when someone went travelling or stepped out of the house," said Murthy. Murthy also said it is not likely that she will not set her stories in the United Kingdom, even though it is the place of

Assam TMC president Ripun Bora resigns, cites party's regional perception

Assam Trinamool Congress president Ripun Bora on Sunday resigned from the party, claiming that the people of the northeastern state consider it as a "regional party" of West Bengal and are "not willing to accept" it as their own. In a letter to All India Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the former Rajya Sabha member said he had offered many suggestions to party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to make TMC acceptable in Assam, but those were "not implemented". "Assam TMC has great potential, but several recurring issues have hindered our progress, including the perception of TMC as a regional party of West Bengal. To counter this perception, we made several suggestions," Bora said in his resignation letter. He claimed that he had suggested the need for an Assamese leader at the national level of TMC, declaring the residence of Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika at Tollygunge in Kolkata as a heritage site and converting the Madhupur Satra at .

Cong leader Abhishek Singhvi elected unopposed to RS from Telangana

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi has been elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Telangana in a bypoll. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Senior Vice President G Niranjan received the certificate of election on behalf of Singhvi from the returning officer here. An independent candidate had filed nomination for the bypoll, but it was rejected during scrutiny. Singhvi was the sole candidate in the fray and he was announced as elected on Tuesday, the last date for withdrawal of candidatures. Singhvi had filed his nomination here on August 19. The senior lawyer had said it is an honour for him to have been nominated as the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll in Telangana. The Rajya Sabha bypoll was necessitated due to the resignation of K Keshava Rao from the Upper House when he quit the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to join the Congress. Earlier this year, Singhvi had lost the Rajya Sabha election from Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh. BJP nominee Harsh Mahaj

NDA on the cusp of RS majority with 11 candidates elected unopposed

The Rajya Sabha currently has 237 members, with four vacancies each in the nominated category and from Jammu and Kashmir, with the majority mark being 119

'Have blood ties with J-K': Rahul Gandhi sounds poll bugle in the Valley

In his first visit to Jammu-Kashmir after the announcement of assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi said that restoration of statehood is a priority for both him and his party

BJP's 9 for the taking: RS seats to be secured without a single vote

The BJP is currently at 87 seats in the Rajya Sabha

RS bypoll: BJP's Haryana candidate Kiran Choudhry files nomination

BJP leader Kiran Choudhry on Wednesday filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha bypoll from Haryana, with some JJP rebel MLAs also extending support to her candidature. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, state BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli, several party MLAs, the party's co-incharge for the state Biplab Kumar Deb and some JJP rebels were among those present when Choudhry submitted her nomination papers. Wednesday was the last day for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha bypoll. The BJP named Choudhry as its nominee for the bypoll shortly after she resigned from the Assembly on Tuesday, nearly two months after she switched over from the Congress. She represented the Tosham seat in the Haryana Assembly. Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda had earlier said his party would not field a candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat as it did not have the numbers. Though BJP has numbers on its side in case of a contest, with the opposition unlikely to field a candidate, Choudhry appears set t

RS bypolls: BJP fields Union ministers Bittu from Raj, Kurian from MP

The BJP Tuesday announced nine candidates for the September 3 Rajya Sabha bypolls, fielding Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan and George Kurian from Madhya Pradesh. The party fielded former BJD leader Mamata Mohanta from Odisha and ex-Congress leader Kiran Choudhary from Haryana. Both these leaders joined the BJP recently. According to a list of nine candidates released by the BJP, Manan Kumar Mishra will contest the bypolls from Bihar, Dhairyashil Patil from Maharashtra and Rajib Bhattacharjee from Tripura. Bhattacharjee is the president of the BJP's Tripura unit. The ruling party has fielded Mission Ranjan Das and former Union minister Rameswar Teli as its candidates from Assam. Elections to 12 vacant Rajya Sabha seats in nine states will be held on September 3. Ten of these seats fell vacant as the sitting members, including Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal and Jyotiraditya Scindia, were elected to the Lok Sabha. Bypolls are also being held fo

HC orders media houses to take down defamatory videos against RS MP Reddy

The Delhi High Court has directed several media houses to take down and block the URLs of certain videos and posts on social media which contained defamatory statements against Rajya Sabha MP Venumbaka Vijaya Sai Reddy. The high court, in an interim order, said if the media houses fail to remove the URLs within 10 days, the Member of Parliament will be at liberty to approach and request the intermediaries, including Google, Meta Platforms and X, which must then take them down within 36 hours. The high court it its observation expressed displeasure over the spreading of rumours, especially when it has the potential to affect the dignity of a woman and the reputation of a person. Perusal of such statements further reveal that most of them are based on rumours and it is trite law that rumours unlike truth must not be acted upon as an information for dissemination before the public at large especially when such rumours can potentially affect the dignity of a woman as well as the ...

Waqf Bill parliamentary review panel to have 31 MPs: Party-wise breakdown

The Waqf Amendment Bill seeks to overhaul the existing Waqf Act by introducing sweeping changes including representation of Muslim women, non-Muslims in the institutions among other measures

Scindia attacks Oppn on Dhankhar-Jaya face-off; says must apologise to V-P

Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday demanded that the Opposition apologise to Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Jagdish Dhankhar, referring to a spat between the chair and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan. Dhankhar and Jaya Bachchan on Friday locked horns after the actor-politician accused him of speaking to her in the Upper House in an unacceptable tone inviting an angry retort that he can't be schooled. The vice president also said even a celebrity has to follow the House decorum. The Opposition had then walked out calling the matter disrespect to democracy and Constitution. Responding to a question here about the face-off, Scindia said the way the Rajya Sabha chairman has been treated is very sad. He is not only the Speaker of the House but also the Vice President of the country. Every person in the Opposition should apologise for this behaviour. This is not an insult of the Speaker of the House and Vice President but of the Constitution and ou

NDA eyes majority in Rajya Sabha after bypolls for 12 seats next month

The BJP-led NDA is expected to achieve a clear majority in Rajya Sabha after bye-elections for 12 seats scheduled next month, which would help the party get the nod for key legislations such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. In the upper house with the current effective strength of 229, the BJP has 87 MPs and with its allies the number is 105. Six nominated members, who usually cast their vote with the government, take the strength of the NDA to 111, four short of the half-way mark of 115. The Congress has 26 members in the Upper House and its allies add another 58, taking the opposition alliance numbers to 84. Among the key fence-sitters are the YSR Congress Party with 11 members and BJD with eight members. Elections to the 12 vacant Rajya Sabha seats in nine states will be held on September 3. The Election Commission has announced 12 separate elections for each of the seats, handing over a clear advantage to the ruling party in the state. The BJP and its allies are expected to win 11

Dhankhar vs Jaya: Walkout over VP's tone, he says Constitution disrespected

Uneasy relations between Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and opposition parties on Friday erupted in a heated exchange between the chair and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, leading to a walkout by opposition parties and Dhankhar calling it "disrespect to democracy and constitution". The cine star objected to the "tone" in which Dhankhar addressed her as well as switching off the mike of Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, triggering a heated exchange. The Chairman, who is also the Vice President of India, said he can't be "schooled" and that Bachchan "may be anybody... a celebrity" but she has to observe decorum. As Dhankhar refused to allow her or any one from the opposition to speak, INDIA bloc parties staged a walkout, which was slammed both by the chair and the treasury benches. Leader of the House and Union Minister J P Nadda called the opposition behaviour "highly indecent and irresponsible". Trouble broke when the Congress MPs sought an apology from BJP memb

Waqf Amendment Bill: 31-member JPC constituted; Owaisi, Masood included

This comes a day after, Kiren Rijiju on Thursday introduced The Waqf (Amendment) Bill and proposed sending it to a joint parliamentary committee after Opposition parties objected to its provision