The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both Bharatiya Janata Party), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Janata Dal-United), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
18 leaders from 14 parties said it is unfortunate that the government has 'unleashed a misleading campaign to malign the combined opposition' and blaming it for the continued disruption of Parliament proceedings.
It was after a gap of two decades that saw such an occasion where MPs of the upper house enthralled their fellow colleagues at a dinner hosted by Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu for 72 retiring members.
The Congress on Friday said it did not participate in the Constitution Day event in the central hall of Parliament in protest and to remind the country that the Constitution is not being respected and is being undermined instead.
The Bill was supported by the members across party lines, however, some suggested to add in its purview hospital sanitary staff, ASHA (accredited social health activist) workers and 'Corona warriors' in emergency services such as police and personnel from other departments.
Union ministers said Parliament passing over two dozen Bills was evidence of increased productivity of Narendra Modi government 2.0.
Opposition charged the government with making Parliamentary Standing Committees irrelevant.
The case is understood to be related to the alleged irregularities in land allotment in 2009, sources said.
Ending a weeklong logjam, Rajya Sabha on Monday resumed normal functioning during the Question Hour after government and opposition leaders agreed to a compromise formula to end protests over Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's controversial remarks.
Angry members of the Congress and other opposition parties forced adjournments of the proceedings as they questioned the NOTA provision for these elections.
Nand Kishore Balmiki, the main accused in the alleged forced conversion of about 100 people in Agra recently, was arrested after he surrendered before the police on Tuesday.
Tendulkar was slated to initiate a short duration discussion on the right to play and the future of sports in India, which was disrupted by the protests that led Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the House for the day.
Rajya Sabha failed to transact any business for the second straight day on Tuesday as opposition members persisted with their demand for a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of conversions and created ruckus on government's move to hold events in schools on Christmas holiday.
The Opposition members on Monday strongly raised the issue of religious conversions, and a controversial statement made by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Yogi Adityanath on the Ayodhya issue and a report that government schools have been asked to observe Good Governance Day on Christmas Day, in the Rajya Sabha.
Seeking truce with agitating Opposition members over controversial remarks made by Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the matter should be put to rest after her apology, but it failed to satisfy them.
Rajya Sabha on Wednesday unanimously passed a historic bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh that provides for exchange of territories to settle the 41-year border issue.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up the four bills related to the GST, with the Opposition urging the government to insulate taxpayers from harassment and questioning how the new regime was "ideal" when 40 per cent of the revenue base of the GDP was kept out of its purview.
Deadlock in Rajya Sabha continued for the fourth day on Thursday as opposition kept demanding a reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a debate on religious conversions, which the government steadfastly rejected.
Congress members trooped into the Well raising slogans like 'We want justice', and 'Modi's dictatorship will not be allowed'. They also shouted slogans like "Killing of democracy will not be allowed in Arunachal" and "Killing of Constitution will not be allowed in Arunachal".
The issue of alleged bugging at Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's residence rocked Parliament on Wednesday with Congress alleging that the methods used in Gujarat to keep tabs on ministers and MPs were being employed at the Centre, a charge stoutly rejected by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Accusing the Congress of creating obstacles in the path of growth and economy, he declared that the government would try to get the bill passed with the help of parties
The government on Wednesday came under a blistering attack in Rajya Sabha on the issue of black money, with Congress asking it to apologise before people for 'selling lies' or else fulfill the poll promise made to them.
A day after media reports stated that 39 Indians in Iraq had been killed by terrorists belonging to the Islamic State, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Rajya Sabha said that there was no evidence to corroborate the same.
The main opposition party alleged "trampling" of democracy by the BJP-led government which hit back by reminding that Congress had "butchered" democracy by misusing Article 356 about 100 times.
The Question hour in the Lok Sabha was also washed out for the second consecutive day as an aggressive opposition stalled the proceedings over the same controversy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances