Abhijeet Ganguly, Bengal HC Judge-turned-politician, takes oath as Lok Sabha MP
Category: Politics
-
Mayawati on Constitution: BJP, Congress have made Constitution casteist, communal through amendments: Mayawati
BSP president Mayawati on Tuesday said BJP and Congress governments have made the Constitution “casteist, communal and capitalistic” to a large extent through various amendments. At a press conference here, Mayawati said both parties show copies of the Constitution inside and outside Parliament and appear to be chips of the same block.
“Their thinking also seems to be similar and both of them have made this Constitution a casteist, communal and capitalist Constitution to a large extent through various amendments,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
It is no longer the egalitarian and secular Constitution of Bhimrao Ambedkar, she said.
“The way these people are playing with the Indian Constitution for political gains is not at all appropriate,” she added.
RECOMMENDEDSTORIES FOR YOU
Mayawati also said the BJP and Congress governments did not implement the Mandal Commission report providing reservation benefits to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
-
JP Nadda: BJP chief and Union Minister JP Nadda to be Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha
BJP President and Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda will now also handle the important role of Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha. He succeeds Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who has now moved to the Lok Sabha as a representative of Mumbai North constituency.
The decision to appoint Nadda, 63, as Leader of the House was expected since the Lok Sabha election results came out and Goyal quit his membership of the Upper House on June 10. Among the BJP members in the House, he qualifies on the basis of his experience and seniority.
Nadda is into this third term in the Rajya Sabha. He entered the Upper House for the first time on April 3, 2012 from his home state Himachal Pradesh and was given a second term in 2018, again from HP. His current term began in April, 2024 when he was elected from Gujarat, putting at rest speculations that he may contest the Lok Sabha polls.Nadda is on extension as BJP chief, having completed his term last year. With his appointment as Leader of the House and responsibilities as Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers, there is a likelihood of BJP choosing an acting party chief before a full-time President is elected in January 2025. The forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year are a formidable challenge for the BJP as the Opposition has emerged stronger in these states after the Lok Sabha polls.
It is not clear if Nadda will be asked to continue till January as BJP Chief or be replaced. He had himself stepped into the role of Working President of BJP in June, 2019 when Amit Shah quit the post to become Home Minister. Later he was duly elected as BJP Chief in January 2020.
Nadda has vast political experience and has risen through the ranks in the BJP. Hailing from Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, the veteran leader served as a minister in the BJP government in the state in different portfolios- Health, Forest, Parliamentary Affairs and so on. He has also worked as national general secretary of the BJP.This is Nadda’s second stint in the union Health ministry. He held this portfolio from November 2014 to May 2019 in the first Narendra Modi government.As Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, Nadda will play a crucial role in the NDA 3.0 government where the ruling coalition has a thin majority with 293 seats in the Lok Sabha. In the Upper House, BJP has 90 members in a House of 231. BJD and YSRCP, parties which used to extend issue-based support to BJP, have now turned against it in the changed political equations. The Opposition will make the going tough for the government in both Houses. The demand for sending Bills to the parliamentary committees for scrutiny and for holding discussions on current issues plaguing the country are set to increase.
Nadda will have his hands full as Leader of the House while also juggling two important ministerial portfolios as well as the role of BJP Chief till the party finds a replacement.
-
lok sabha: Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, and Shivraj Singh Chauhan take oath as Lok Sabha members – The Economic Times Video
As the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha commenced on Monday, various prominent leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, took oaths as Members of Parliament. Watch.
Follow @EconomicTimes
-
Parliament session: Congress upset over pro-tem speaker election, will not assist during oath-taking of MPs
After seventh-term BJP MP Bhratruhari Mehtab was appointed as pro-tem Speaker, instead of Congress leader K Suresh, who is an eighth-term MP, the MPs of the India bloc have decided not to sit on the speaker’s chair to assist the pro-tem Speaker during the oath-taking ceremony of MPs, sources said.
According to the sources, Congress and India Bloc parties are upset with the fact that tradition has been broken as Mehtab was made the Protem Speaker instead of the 8-time Congress MP K Suresh.
The Congress has reacted sharply to the central government’s decision to appoint Mahtab as Pro-tem Speaker of Lok Sabha over senior-most Dalit MP Kodikkunnil Suresh of Congress, saying that the appointment by the BJP deviates from the traditional practice of appointing the senior member.Congress leader K Suresh said that there is an eighth-term MP in the House, but a seventh-term MP has been appointed as pro-tem Speaker.
“We are claiming that an eighth-term MP should be the pro-tem Speaker…They have done wrong, and now the whole country is criticising the decision of the BJP government,” K Suresh said.
Congress MP Hibi Eden said that the NDA government has violated all the traditions and customs.”There are certain customs related to the Parliament of India, and it is always the senior-most member, irrespective of the party, who is given the opportunity to become the pro-tem speaker. It is merely a matter of two days, but it is the respect given to the member, whichever party he/she is from. Unfortunately, a Dalit member, who is an 8-time MP from Kerala has been denied the right to become the pro-tem speaker. This shows the attitude of the NDA government towards the Dalit and the oppressed community of this country. They have violated all the traditions and customs… Even though this session is hardly for 8 days, it should have been in consensus with the opposition because we are representing almost 45 per cent of the country,” he said.The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will witness the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected Members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The first session is expected to be stormy as the opposition is likely to corner the BJP-led NDA government on the election of the Speaker on June 26, discussions regarding allegations of paper leaks in NEET-UG and UGC-NET, and a row over the appointment of the pro-tem Speaker.
President Droupadi Murmu will administer the oath to Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro-tem Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Mahtab will then call upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Leader of the Lok Sabha, to take oath as a member of the House.
On June 26, the Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected. On June 27, President Murmu is scheduled to address the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.
This is the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha after the general elections, which saw the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secure 293 seats and the INDIA bloc win 234, with the Congress holding 99 of them.
Meanwhile, the Newly Elected Congress MPs meeting is called at 10 am at the CPP office in Parliament today.
After the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance examination National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate 2024 (NEET-UG), Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi targeted the BJP and said that they stand with the students.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Mahtab, who has been appointed as the pro-tem Speaker, will administer the oath to newly elected members and oversee the proceedings of the House.
President Murmu also appointed Suresh Kodikunnil, Thalikkottai Rajuthevar Baalu, Radha Mohan Singh, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Sudip Bandyopadhyay to assist the Speaker Protem in oath taking of the newly-elected members.
The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will be held from June 24 and conclude on July 3 for oath/affirmation of newly elected Members. The 264th Session of Rajya Sabha will also commence on June 27 and conclude on July 3.
Moreover, the Samajwadi Party Parliamentary meeting is to be held on Monday in Delhi. The meeting will be chaired by party National President Akhilesh Yadav.
The last session of the 17th Lok Sabha (Budget session) was held between January 31 and February 10, 2024.
-
Mayawati reverses decision; reinstates nephew Akash Anand as political heir
Reversing the decision, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday declared Akash Anand, as her successor. Akash Anand will take charge of the national coordinator, informed BSP reader Sarvar Malik.
Earlier, BSP supremo Mayawati removed nephew Akash Anand as her political heir and from party post till he becomes “mature”. Akash Anand was designated as the National Coordinator of the BSP. The party on Saturday released a list of 13 star campaigners for the upcoming Uttarakhand Assembly by-elections. Party chief Mayawati and her nephew Akash Anand are on the list.
Why was Akash Anand removed from the post?The decision by Mayawati to remove her nephew came after Akash Anand was drawing flak over his aggressive language in his addresses. An FIR was lodged against him in Sitapur when he called the central government a government of atankwadis (terrorists).
“This government is a bulldozer government and a government of traitors. The party that leaves its youth hungry and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan,” he had said in criticism of the BJP-led state government.
Besides Anand, BSP candidates Mahendra Yadav, Shyam Awasthi, and Akshay Kalra and rally organiser Vikas Rajvanshi were booked in the matter, Superintendent of Police (Sitapur) Chakresh Mishra had then said.
The case was registered under sections IPC 171C (undue influence at elections), 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and section 125 of the Representation of People Act.About BSP’s key meeting:The BSP supremo called a meeting on Sunday to review the party’s defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting to be held at the BSP office will mainly focus on why the party could not win even a single seat in the general elections in the country. The discussion will also be held on how things can improve in the upcoming 2027 assembly elections.
Voting for the assembly by-polls in the Badrinath and Manglaur seats will be held on July 10.
The Badrinath seat fell vacant after Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and joined the BJP.
The Manglaur seat fell vacant after the death of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari.
Votes will be counted on July 13.
(with agency inputs)
-
“Total incompetence…”: Jairam Ramesh on NEET-PG exam postponement
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed that exam cancellations are happening in the country every day because of the “total incompetence” of PM Modi and the “people around him”.
“No day is complete without news of the cancellation of an exam because of the total incompetence of the non-biological PM and the people around him. The latest exam to be put off is NEET-PG, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday,” Jairam Ramesh posted on X.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare postponed the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET PG) Examination on Saturday, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday and said that a fresh date will be announced at the earliest.The NEET-PG exams were scheduled to be held on June 23.
“Taking into consideration, the recent incidents of allegations regarding the integrity of certain competitive examinations, the Ministry of Health has decided to undertake a thorough assessment of the robustness of the processes of the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, conducted by the National Board of Examination for medical students,” the ministry statement read.
“It has accordingly been decided, as a precautionary measure, to postpone the NEET-PG Entrance Examination, scheduled to be held on 23rd June 2024. The fresh date of this examination will be notified at the earliest,” the ministry added.”The Ministry of Health sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to the students. This decision has been taken in the best interests of the students and to maintain the sanctity of the examination process,” the health ministry said.The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducted the NEET-UG exams, is facing criticism over alleged irregularities in the exams. This resulted in several protests across the country, with protestors and political parties demanding to disband the NTA.
An unprecedented 67 candidates achieved a perfect score of 720 marks out of 720, which added to the concerns.
The Ministry of Education said it has constituted a high-level committee of experts to make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvements in data security protocols and the functioning of the NTA.
The 7-member committee, led by ISRO former chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan, will submit its report to the ministry in the next two months.
-
Enforcing law against paper leak mere whitewash: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday termed the enforcement of the anti-paper leak law a “whitewash” and asserted that the BJP cannot evade its responsibility in “promoting corruption and education mafia”. The Centre on Friday night operationalised the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which aims to curb malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations and entails provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore for offenders.
In a post in Hindi on ‘X’, the Congress president claimed that 70 question papers were leaked in the last seven years and sought to know why the BJP has taken no action so far.
“No matter how much effort BJP makes in the NEET scam, it cannot escape its responsibility in promoting fraud, corruption and education mafia,” Kharge said. He said the law against paper leaks got the President’s assent on February 13 this year but was notified only on Friday night.
“When the education minister was asked about it in the press conference, he had said the law was notified… Why did the Education Minister of the Modi Government lie that the law has been notified when the Ministry of Law and Justice had yet to frame the rules?” Kharge asked.
He said the Union education minister first denied the paper leak and after arrests were made in Gujarat, Bihar, and Haryana, he said the exam will not be cancelled since papers were leaked locally in some places. “The fact is that in 2015, 44 students were involved, yet the Pre-Medical Test was held again for six lakh candidates on the orders of the Supreme Court,” the Congress president said. He said that on NEET too, the Supreme Court has said if there has been even 0.001 fraud, then action should be taken.
“Why is the Modi government not conducting the exam again even though the education minister has admitted to the irregularities?” Kharge posed.
“In nine days, NTA has cancelled or postponed three major exams. Even after passing the law, the leak of the UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board’s (UPPRPB) exam paper in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh has been found to be linked to a Gujarat company,” he said.
The Congress president asked, “Why are (question) papers still being leaked despite a law being passed against it? When 70 papers were leaked in the last seven years, why did the Modi government not take any strict action against it?”
“Bringing a new law is merely a whitewash by the BJP. Unless the education system and autonomous institutions are freed from the interference and negative influence of BJP-RSS, this fraud, theft and corruption will continue,” Kharge said.
The National Testing Agency, which conducts the competitive exams, on Friday, announced the postponement of the June edition of the Joint Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test, citing unavoidable circumstances and logistic issues.
It came two days after the agency cancelled the UGC-NET examination within 24 hours of its conduct saying the integrity of the exam had been compromised, and a massive row on NEET over alleged irregularities, with the issue now before the Supreme Court.