MPs of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are expected to hold protests on Thursday in the Parliament complex over financial allocation for Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget 2018-19.
Latest updates: Mocking the government’s economic policies, Chidambaram said that we are the only country that claims that the jobs have gone down but the GDP has gone up. “Where have all the jobs gone? what is this mystery? I will tell you,” Chidambaram said as he read out a data about a slew of vacancies across government departments. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for a third time on Thursday at 2 pm for ten minutes, after Opposition and BJP MPs created a ruckus in the House. In the Rajya Sabha, Congress disrupted proceedings over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
comments on MP Renuka Chowdhury in his
speech on Wednesday. Session in both the Houses began on a stormy note. Launching a tirade against the Congress, Modi on Wednesday said he was pursuing Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a
'Congress-mukt Bharat' and accused the grand old party of eulogising the Gandhi family when in power, at the cost of India’s development. Replying to a debate in both Houses of Parliament on the motion of thanks for the President’s address, he asked whether the opposition party wanted the “Old India” marked by Emergency, scams and massacre of Sikhs, as against the ‘New India’ that the BJP was seeking to create. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi dubbed Modi’s speech in both Houses of Parliament as a
campaign speech .
Today, MPs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) expected to held protests on Thursday in the Parliament complex over financial allocation for Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget 2018-19, according to media reports.
Rajya Sabha on Wednesday could not take up a discussion on the General Budget and was adjourned for the day after TDP members trooped into the Well demanding immediate implementation of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The Act provides for a special package for the state after bifurcation in 2014. The TDP members have been protesting the delay in implementation of the Act and commitments made by central government at the time of bifurcation. [caption id=“attachment_4338075” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]![File image of the Lok Sabha. PTI]()
File image of the Lok Sabha. PTI[/caption] Immediately after passage of motion of thanks on the President’s Speech, three TDP members led by CM Ramesh trooped into the well raising slogans “we want justice”. Ramesh was later suspended from Rajya Sabha for disrupting proceedings. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien suspended him after he did not heed repeated calls to return to his seat. Replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Motion of Thanks for the President’s address, Modi urged the MPs to have a “constructive discussion” on holding of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies. He also criticised the Congress for non-passage of a bill to provide constitutional status to OBC Commission and the legislation against triple talaq. He questioned the grand old party for the long delay in conferring Bharat Ratna to Saradar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Constitution’s architect BR Ambedkar. Earlier in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, he said the country has been suffering due to the “wrong” policies the Congress has pursued since independence as the party has spent time singing paeans to one family instead of focusing on people’s welfare. In the Upper House, Modi countered Opposition criticism of his government’s vision of ‘New India’ and said the Congress wanted ‘Old India’, a country envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi. In response, the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha mounted a scathing attack on the Modi government charging it with undermining democracy and painting a “rosy” picture when the ground reality was different. Leaders of several parties charged the government with being “intolerant” and “full of arrogance”, with Congress alleging ‘a big scam’ in the Rafale aircraft deal. Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks for the president’s address, Congress deputy leader Anand Sharma alleged there was “a big scam” in the Rafale deal as the price at which the planes were negotiated were four times higher and benefitted private firms. Without taking into confidence the defence minister and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Modi had clinched the deal during his visit to France in 2015, he alleged and noted that even state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was not consulted. He said the Modi government scrapped the 2005 deal signed during the UPA regime for purchase of 126 jets at a rate of Rs 526 crore each and inked a fresh pact in 2015 to purchase 36 jets at a much higher rate of Rs 15,070 crore each. Accusing the government of not being “transparent” about the deal, Sharma said it is a “big scam” and compromised national security because neither the country’s defence minister or the CCS nod was taken on the matter. With inputs from agencies
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