After a marathon meeting in which differences between Siddaramaiaha and his deputy DKS were resolved, as many as two dozen ministers will be inducted into the Karnataka Cabinet tomorrow.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders will not be attending the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament which will take place on May 28
AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal said that BJP does not even consider the constitutional values, and that is the reason why the Congress is boycotting the inauguration
Two days before the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Ambalavana Desiga Paramachariya Swamigal, Thiruvavaduthurai Atheenam, said that it was Lord Mountbatten who got the Sengol and gave it to former PM Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947. He added that he would be travelling to Delhi and giving it to the PM.
As all eyes continue to be on the newly formed Karnataka government, Karnataka Congress in-charge Randeep Surjewala says that it is CM Siddaramaiah’s decision as to who would be a part of the cabinet. Furthermore, he added that the extended cabinet may swear in tomorrow.
Taking a different view on the Parliament inauguration row, J&K JDU president GM Shaheen has said that criticism over it is right. However, he added that suggestions from all the parties should have been taken.
Independent MP Navneet Rana took a dig at the Opposition for boycotting the inauguration of the new Parliament building. She said that the old Parliament was built by the British but the brain and work behind the new Parliament is of Indians.
As the ‘Sengol’ ceremony controversy refuses to die down, Devanathan Yadav, Founder-President, Inthiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam, said that it is an Indian tradition and not a Tamil tradition.
While many Opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Lok Jansakti Party (Ram Vilas) President and Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan has extended support to the PM Narendra Modi, expressing his support to the endeavour.
As the controversy over ‘Sengol’ refuses to die down, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri urges detractors to read an article related to it published in the Time Magazine of America in 1947.
With the political war of words between the Opposition and the Narendra Modi-led government intensifying over the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami lent his voice to support the Modi government, and accused the Congress of protesting for the sake of protest.
"Whenever any good work is done under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Congress and its fellow opposition parties create obstacles. Today these people are protesting just for the sake of protest, which has no reason," Dhami was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Amid the ongoing row between Opposition parties and the ruling BJP over the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the Congress and the JD(S) on Friday traded barbs over the parties' stance on the issue.
While former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy slammed the grand old party for its comments on the JD(S)'s decision to attend the event, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar hit back, reminding how the JD(S) had boycotted presidential elections in the country.
With the BJP and its allies celebrating nine years of the Narendra Modi-led government, the Congress on Friday sought to play down the hullaballoo by posing questions to the Prime Minister, who is known for being averse to press conferences.
"On the completion of 9 years of the Modi Government, the Congress party wants to ask 9 questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are also releasing a document for the same '9 saal 9 sawaal'," Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
With Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal planning to meet the Congress top brass to seek support against the Centre's ordinance in the tussle between the Delhi government and the L-G, the BJP on Friday slammed the AAP, flagging Kejriwal's dual standards.
On the back of the Congress criticising the BJD's decision to attend the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Narendra Modi on May 28, the Odisha-based party hit out at the grand old party.
"Let Congress say whatever they want. BJD is only answerable to the public and will work for them,"Odisha minister Pramila Malik said.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday claimed there is no documented evidence of Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari and Jawaharlal Nehru describing the 'Sengol' as a symbol of transfer of power by the British to India.
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BJP National President J P Nadda on Friday intensified his attack on the Congress and other Opposition parties over their move to boycoytt the inauguration of the new Parliament building.
While Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier targeted the Congress over alleged disrespect towards the 'Sengol', Nadda slammed the grand old party and other Opposition parties of 'dynastic politics'.
Nadda said that the "monarchic methods" of these political parties clash with India's democratic ideals and the Constitution and accused them of putting "politics above the nation."
Amid the ongoing row between the Congress and the BJP over the 'Sengol' to be placed in the new Parliament building, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at the grand old party, accusing it of reducing the ancient sceptre to a 'walking stick'.
"Why does the Congress party hate Indian traditions and culture so much? A sacred Sengol was given to Pandit Nehru by a holy Saivite Mutt from Tamil Nadu to symbolize India’s freedom but it was banished to a museum as a ‘walking stick’," Shah wrote on Twitter.
"Now, Congress has heaped another shameful insult. The Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, a holy Saivite Mutt, itself spoke about the importance of the Sengol at the time of India’s freedom. Congress is calling the Adheenam’s history as BOGUS! Congress needs to reflect on their behaviour," the Union Home Minister added.
Delhi CM and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has sought time to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi to seek the Congress's support in Parliament against the undemocratic and unconstitutional ordinance passed by the BJP govt and also to discuss the general assault on federal structure and prevailing political situation.
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Amid the sparring between Opposition parties and the BJP-led Centre over the inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday slammed the politicisation of the event and called for unity.
Describing the inuaguration as a "festival of democracy", Jaishankar said, "I think we should all celebrate it together."
Rewriting history and redoing architecture become sibling functions in the script of Modi playing the future as erasure. What the BJP is distorting is the symbolic idea of democracy. Democracy as memory and the building as mnemonic disappears.
Architecture as majoritarian logic destroys diversity. In fact, there is a mimic view of history as Modi receives and installs the Chola sceptre which the British had given Nehru during the transfer of power. The question of security takes over from memory. Parliament is no longer about public spaces and people’s memory. The ecology could be a blank sheet of erasures.
Worse, the idea of Parliament as a scene for debate, plurality, and diversity which the Congress upheld in the early years is lost. The new Parliament Office follows the ideas of majoritarianism and technocracy, linearity and efficiency are preferred over the dream of difference.
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After talks on expanding the Karnataka Cabinet proved inconclusive on Thursday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday arrived at10, Janpath in Delhi to continue discussions with the party high command.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday stepped up the attack on the ruling Narendra Modi government over the inauguration of the new Parliament building, accusing "BJP/RSS Distorians" of spreading "false narratives".
Commenting on the controversy around the 'Sengol' to be placed in the new Parliament building, Ramesh flagged what he claimed was several inaccuracies with the narrative around the sceptre.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday commemorated late party leader Vilasrao Deshmukh on his birth anniversary.
"He was staunch Congress person, who rose through the ranks and became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and also served as a Union Cabinet Minister," Kharge wrote on Twitter.
The Congress would implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for government employees in Telangana if it is elected to power in the state, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Thursday.
Addressing a party rally at Jadcherla near here, Sukhu said his government, taking a humanitarian approach, has brought 1.36 lakh government employees in the state under the OPS.
He said Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and AICC in-charge of party affairs in the state Manikrao Thakre told him that the OPS would be implemented in Telangana once it comes to power.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi could still undo his "blunder" and invite President Droupadi Murmu to inaugurate the new Parliament building.
Several opposition parties including the Congress have announced that they would boycott the inauguration of the new building by Modi on Sunday, contending that it is the President who should do the honours. “We are not opposed to Central Vista. For the first time, a tribal woman has become President of the country. By not inviting her to the ceremony, the post of President has been insulted," Singh told reporters.
Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena on Thursday accused state Minister Shanti Dhariwal of selling government land in a posh Jaipur colony to a private man for personal disposal.
The BJP leader alleged that the Urban and Housing Department Minister sold 2,377 square metres of land worth Rs 45 crore for Rs 6.18 crore to a Kota-based person for the construction of a skill development and education centre.