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Parliament's winter session begins

     New Delhi: The over fortnight-long winter session of Parliament began on Wednesday amid speculations that the opposition would not allow the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to function. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, back from a three-day visit to Laos where he had gone to attend the third India-ASEAN summit, was among the first leaders to arrive for the opening session. The session of Lok Sabha commenced with Bahujan Samaj Party demanding the dismissal of the Samajwadi party Government in Uttar Pradesh for arresting their colleague Mohammad Tahir. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee named those shouting slogans in the well against the state government and warned that he would suspend them. "Don't force me to take unpleasant action. This drama cannot be allowed to go on," Chatterjee said. As soon as he initiated the suspension process and named those standing in the well, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Suresh Panchouri pleaded with them to resume their seats to avoid the action. The Question Hour resumed after BSP members went back to their seats.

      Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day as a mark of respect to sitting CPI member V V Raghavan who died in October in Kerala. The House also condoled the death of UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Palestine leader Yasser Arafat and six former members who died during the inter-session period. The session is expected to be stormy as main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought to move an adjournment motion on two senior cabinet ministers trading corruption charges against each other. The other issues to be taken up in the crucial session are the arrest of the top Hindu seer Kanchi Shankaracharya and the re- induction of a tainted minister in the cabinet. Forty-nine bills are likely to be tabled for discussion in the short 17-day session. The last parliamentary session, the first since the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came to power, turned out to be an expensive fiasco with constant stalling by the opposition, costing taxpayers millions of rupees. The budget session had to be cut short and the federal budget was passed without discussion. The opposition and the treasury benches have been at loggerheads over the induction of tainted ministers or those with criminal chargesheets against them. After returning from Laos on Tuesday, Singh said his government is willing to discuss any issue with the opposition. Analysts say the brief session is the biggest challenge for the government to ensure the smooth functioning of parliament.

PM tells Lalu, Paswan to shut up (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today held separate meetings with his Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Fertilizers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan following their public spat ahead of Bihar Assembly polls. The PM is understood to have told them to be mindful of the fallout their war of words on the ruling coalition, sources said. The exercise was held in the backdrop of reports that BJP planned to raise the issue in Parliament tomorrow demanding that both the ministers be dropped and investigation launched into the charges made by them against each other. Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad too had a meeting with Lalu. The Congress downplayed the spat dubbing it as "dynamics of regional politics" ahead of Bihar polls and in no way a reflection on the image and credibility of the Manmohan Singh Government. Party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters that such issues could be sorted out in the UPA Co-ordination Committee meetings only.

Vajpayee, Advani court arrest over inflation (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Senior BJP leaders, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, and party activists courted arrest today in protest against the rising inflation under the Shouting slogans like 'Congress (I), Mehangai lai', 'Sonia Gandhi Hai Hai', the protesters followed their leaders towards Ambedkar Stadium after the BJP rally at the Ramlila Grounds a short distance away. The Rapid Action Force, however, stopped them outside the stadium at the first of the three lines of barricades. Vajpayee came in a car and was followed by Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj and Sayeed Naqvi. Police asked them to go inside the stadium as they had been detained. Several of the activists, who gathered here from different parts of the country, jostled with police in an attempt to breach the barricades. The peaceful movement turned into a melee after Advani, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Mr Jaswant Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu came in an open jeep. In his address to party activists, Advani said that the UPA lacked unity not only in policy making, but also in leadership. ''The UPA which is in the control, unfortunately does not have control over the situations. In the past six months, the country's pace of development has decelerated and people's self respect shattered,'' Advani claimed. He also criticised the imposition of service tax on every item and alleged it was due to the government's financial mismanagement. The government was also placed in the dock for intiating talks with the insurgentsin the Northeast and Andhra Pradesh. ''This Government will function if it takes along everybody'', he said.

Kanchi seer's case diary to be placed before Madras HC (Go To Top)

     Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government will produce the case diary along with other documents in the Madras High Court in the case involving Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati. The documents will be produced today in a bid to substantiate the government's claim that the Kanchi Sankaracharya was involved in the murder of Sankaraman, a former accountant of the mutt. Reserving its judgement on the bail plea of the pontiff, the High Court had directed the prosecution to bring the relevant documents to court in support of their claim.

Clashes in Kerala over tainted minister, 20 injured (Go To Top)

     Thiruvananthapuram: At least 20 people were injured in Thituvananthapuram as hundreds of Opposition party activists demanding the resignation of a state minister accused of sexual harassment, clashed with police outside the state legislature here on Wednesday. Police used water cannons and fired tear gas shells as the violent mob, mostly CPI activists, pelted stones and set afire public vehicles. Eight policemen were also injured with two of them receving serious burn injuries. "Resignation of Industries Minister P.K Kunjalikkutty is essential. If he will not resign the strike will continue," V.S Achutandan, a Left activist, said. Meanwhile, women organisations have also joined the political parties in the campaign against the minister, and took out protest marches on the opening day of the winter session, which was adjourned sine die within hours, following the protests.

CITU activists cause chaos in Kolkata (Go To Top)

     Kolkata: Normal life and traffic in Kolkata was disrupted on Wednesday by CITU-sponsored "Chakkabandh". Despite Kolkata High Court's order against all kinds of "Bandhs" or jams or any kind of protest that disturbs public life, CITU cadres took to the city's roads with their flags and forced many vehicles to stop at the spot. The "Chakkajam" was called to protest against the diesel price hike. The protest started at 12 noon. "We are facing a lot of difficulty in commuting. We never imagined that in the morning we will have to face such problems. Because of Chakkajam at CITU, we are unable to reach our offices. So I do not know when we will reach our destinations," said Deepak Dey. The West Bengal Road Transport Workers Federation, an amalgam of over 50 lobbies, played the lead role in the protest.