Member Of Parliament

The ongoing winter session of Parliament, which commenced on November 25, has been marked by frequent adjournments, with both houses facing early disruptions

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who arrived in Kerala for a two day visit following her huge maiden electoral win from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, on Saturday said she was "ready to start working" to ensure a better future for the people of the hill constituency. Priyanka said she was happy to come back to Wayanad and will do whatever she can to help the people there. "I am happy to be back here and I am ready to start working and do whatever I can to help the people of Wayanad have a better future," she told reporters outside the Karipur airport here. This is her first visit as MP of the Wayanad LS constituency. She will be holding a joint public meeting with her brother and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at Mukkam in Thiruvambadi assembly constituency in Kozhikode district in the afternoon, according to her itinerary released by the Congress party. Subsequently, receptions will be held for her at Karulai in Nilambur, Wandoor, and Edavanna in Eranad, the party

Priyanka will be accompanied by her brother and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi during her maiden visit as MP

Priyanka Gandhi took the plunge into active politics in 2019 and was later appointed Congress general secretary

Bolstered by the TMC's clean sweep in the West Bengal assembly bypolls, senior party leader and MP Kalyan Banerjee asked the Congress to "set aside its ego" and recognise Mamata Banerjee as the leader of the INDIA bloc. He also criticised the Congress for its poll debacle in Maharashtra. Kalyan Banerjee emphasised the need for "unified and decisive" leadership to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, drawing confidence from the TMC's impressive performance in the recent by-elections, where the party retained five assembly seats in West Bengal and snatched Madarihat from the BJP. The TMC MP emphasised that Mamata Banerjee's "proven leadership and grassroots connect" made her the "most suitable" figurehead for the opposition alliance. "The Congress and other opposition parties should admit their failures in the recent elections and prioritise unity over individual ambition. They must set aside their ego and accept Mamata Banerjee as the leader of the INDIA bloc, he said

The father of the Samajwadi Party's Sambhal MP is among 34 people "bound down" by the local administration over apprehensions of breach of peace following claims that a local Mughal-era mosque was originally the site of an ancient temple significant to the Hindu faith. Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Vandana Mishra told PTI on Saturday that the 34 people had been bound down on a bond of up to Rs 10 lakh to maintain peace and order. The local administration can order someone to be bound down if they receive information that the person is likely to breach the peace, disturb public tranquillity, cause danger to public harmony or commit any wrongful act. Among the 34 people bound down is Mamlukur Rahman Barq, the father of the Samajwadi Party's Sambhal MP Zia ur Rahman Barq, the SDM said. Police had stepped up security, imposed prohibitory orders and conducted a flag march ahead of Friday prayers at the mosque. The mosque was surveyed on Tuesday on the orders of a local court following

The government plans to repeal a 65-year-old law which lays the ground for disqualification of MPs for holding office of profit and bring a new one which is in sync with present requirements. The legislative department of the Union law ministry has floated the draft 'Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Bill, 2024' prepared on the lines of recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit (JCOP) then headed by Kalraj Mishra in the 16th Lok Sabha. The proposed bill seeks to rationalise section 3 of the existing Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 and to remove the negative list of offices provided in the schedule containing offices, the holders of which would incur disqualification. It also proposes to remove the conflict between the existing Act and certain other statutes which have an express provision for not to incur disqualification. The draft bill also proposes to omit section 4 of the existing law relating to "temporary suspension" of .

The Budhni assembly seat is the bastion of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Opposition MPs in the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill are likely to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday over its chairperson Jagdambika Pal's alleged unilateral decisions and attempts to "bulldoze" proceedings without giving them reasonable time to prepare. Claiming that they have been "stonewalled" during the committee's proceedings, opposition MPs have written in their letter, which they circulated among themselves on Monday, to Birla that they may be forced to disassociate with the panel. Opposition sources said they are likely to meet Birla on Tuesday and put forward their grievances. Opposition members, including DMK's A Raja, Congress's Mohammad Jawed and Imran Masood, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, AAP's Sanjay Singh and TMC's Kalyan Banerjee among others, have written the joint letter addressed to the Speaker. They accused Pal, a seasoned BJP MP, of taking "unilateral decisions" on fixing the dates of sittings and at times for three consecut

The Congress released its candidate list on Tuesday for the November 13 bypolls to four assembly seats in Punjab, fielding Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring's wife Amrita Warring from Gidderbaha and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa's wife Jatinder Kaur from Dera Baba Nanak. The bypolls to the Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal and Barnala seats were necessitated after the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. The party fielded Amrita Warring from the Gidderbaha assembly segment. Her husband Raja Warring had won the seat in 2012, 2017 and 2022. The seat fell vacant after sitting MLA Raja Warring won the Lok Sabha election from Ludhiana this year. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was the Dera Baba Nanak MLA when he won the parliamentary election from Gurdaspur and vacated the assembly seat. The Congress has fielded his wife Jatinder Kaur from the seat. Sukhjinder Randhawa had won the Dera Baba Nanak assembly seat in 2002, 2012, 2017 and 2022. The Congress fielded Ku

The issue of recent train accidents and overall passenger safety was raised at a parliamentary panel meeting on Wednesday, with some opposition members questioning the "delay" in rolling out 'Kavach', an automatic train protection system. Officials representing the railway ministry assured the members of the Estimates Committee, which is headed by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, that the government has been taking a series of steps to ensure that the vast network of Indian railways will have world-class safety measures in place by 2030, sources said. All trains will have anti-collision LHB coaches by that time, they said. Some members, the sources said, questioned the officials over recent cases of train accidents and wondered if sabotage was behind them. An opposition MP asked why the ministry does not acquire land in advance for doubling the tracks knowing well that it will be done in future as the land acquisition process later often delays projects. Officials added that the rate of ...

In an apparent jibe at the Congress after its poll rout, Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Wednesday said the attitude of not accommodating regional parties in places where they felt they were winning is leading to its electoral losses. In a post on X, Gohakle, without naming any party, said arrogance, entitlement and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster. "This attitude leads to electoral losses- if we feel we're winning, we will not accommodate any regional party... But in states where we're down, regional parties must accommodate us," the TMC MP said. "Arrogance, entitlement, and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster," he said. The remarks came a day after the BJP clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback. Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had also questioned the Congress poll strategy. The chairperson of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), which was keen on hav

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday searched multiple locations in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurugram and Delhi in connection with a land "fraud" case against AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora and others, official sources said. About 16-17 locations, including the house of the 61-year-old MP at Ludhiana (Punjab) and Gurugram (Haryana), are being searched, they said. Premises linked to real estate businessman Hemant Sood and another person, Chandra Shekhar Agrawal, in Jalandhar are also among the locations being searched. Arora said he doesn't exactly know the reason that warranted the searches. "I am a law abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered," Sanjeev he posted on X. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia posted on X that the raids against their MP, also a businessman, is an attempt to break their party. But AAP members will n

BJP MP from Bihar's Araria Pradeep Singh on Wednesday claimed that he has received a threatening message from a notorious gangster who asked him to cough up Rs 10 lakh and extend some other favours. The gangster also threatened to eliminate him if the demands were not met, Singh alleged in his complaint with local police. He got a message on his mobile phone recently from an unknown number with the ISD code of Nepal. Singh said, "The sender identified himself as Vinod Rathore, whose gang has been targeting me for some time". The sender had demanded, in the message, Rs 10 lakh, besides the intervention of the MP for "the release of my brother Dinesh Rathore", the MP claimed. Singh added that he received the message on the August 27 afternoon, shortly after he did not pick up an incoming call from the same number and claimed that the sender wrote, "It is the last warning..... if you do not do as directed, we will bump you off at any spot in the district, by launching a fusillade of

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said a penalty of Rs 908 crore has been slapped in a case related to the violation of foreign exchange rules against DMK MP S Jagathratchakan and his family members. The federal agency issued a statement which said that properties worth Rs 89.19 crore, seized in September 2020, have been confiscated following an adjudication order issued on August 26 under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Jagathratchakan, 76, represents the Arakkonam Lok Sabha seat. The agency said a FEMA probe was initiated against the MP, a businessman from Tamil Nadu, his family members and related Indian entity. This investigation, it said, resulted in the passing of seizure order, dated September 11, 2020 under section 37A of FEMA, for various movable and immovable properties in the name of the MP and his family members. There are valued at Rs 89.19 crore. "The properties worth Rs 89.19 crore which were seized in terms of section 37A of FEMA were also ordere

Congress MP Vasant Chavan passed away on Monday at a private hospital in Hyderabad after prolonged illness, party sources said. Chavan (69) breathed his last at the hospital around 4 am, the sources said. He was undergoing treatment for renal issues there since last week. The Congress veteran had won the Nanded Lok Sabha seat this year despite ill health and big desertions, including that of former CM Ashok Chavan, who joined BJP ahead of the polls. Soon after the Lok Sabha election results were out, Vasant Chavan had thanked Ashok Chavan for defecting to BJP. In the Lok Sabha election, Vasant Chavan defeated sitting BJP MP Pratap Patil Chikhalikar by 59,442 votes, overcoming issues like a weakened party after Ashok Chavan defected to BJP just before the elections and his own personal health problems. Born in Naigaon in Nanded district, Vasant Chavan was a gram panchayat member for a long time and later became a zilla parishad member in 1990 and 2002. He was elected to the ...

The Allahabad High Court on Monday set aside the Ghazipur court order sentencing Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari to four years' imprisonment under the Gangsters Act over the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. With the high court allowing the plea against his conviction, the SP MP can now continue as a member of Parliament. The court also dismissed pleas by the UP government and Piyush Kumar Rai, Krishnanand Rai's son, seeking enhancement of the Ghazipur MP's sentence. The high court's judgment was passed by Justice S K Singh.

Rulings given by the chair should not be criticised directly or indirectly in or outside the House and members should not raise slogans, including "Vande Mataram" and "Jai Hind", MPs have been reminded ahead of the Parliament session beginning Monday. The members have also been reminded that displaying "exhibits" on the floor of the House is "not in order". The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has come out with excerpts from the "Handbook for Members of Rajya Sabha", drawing the attention of the members to parliamentary customs and conventions and parliamentary etiquette. The excerpts were published in a Rajya Sabha bulletin issued on July 15. The session begins on July 22 and is slated to conclude on August 12. "The decorum and the seriousness of the proceedings of the House require that there should be no 'thanks', 'thank you', 'Jai Hind', 'Vande Mataram' or any other slogans raised in the House," the bulletin said. It noted that rulings are given by the chair according to the precedent

The Budget session of Parliament is slated to take place from July 22 to August 12

Labour has emerged as the predominant party among People of Indian Origin (PIO) MPs, winning 19 seats, marking a substantial rise compared to previous terms