The post Opposition Moves No-Confidence Motion Against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The opposition has leveled serious allegations against the Speaker, primarily focusing on the suppression of the Leader of the Opposition’s voice during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address and the forced suspension of eight members. In response to these developments, sources indicate that Om Birla has decided on ethical grounds not to occupy the Speaker’s chair until the matter is resolved.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has confirmed that proceedings will follow established rules. The notice was handed over to Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh by a delegation including Congress Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi, Chief Whip K. Suresh, and MP Mohammad Javed, among others. While members from the Congress, SP, DMK, and RJD have signed the notice, notable absences include the signatures of Rahul Gandhi and members of the TMC.
Four Major Allegations by the Opposition:
* February 2: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly prevented from completing his speech during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.
* February 3: Eight MPs were suspended for the remainder of the session, a move the opposition describes as punishment for exercising democratic rights.
* Nishikant Dubey Case: The notice mentions objectionable remarks made against former Prime Ministers without naming Nishikant Dubey.
* Misuse of Office: The opposition rejected the Speaker’s claim that Congress members intended to cause an “untoward incident” near the Prime Minister’s seat, calling such accusations a blatant misuse of a constitutional position.
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]]>The post “Opposition Dividing Society in Name of Backward Castes,” Blasts CM Yogi Adityanath appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>He contrasted this with his government’s policies, which, he said, were designed to benefit every community without discrimination. “Our goal is to ensure that every citizen enjoys equal access to development opportunities. The opposition, however, thrives on creating divisions,” Yogi asserted.
The statement comes amid increasing political maneuvering ahead of upcoming state elections. Analysts say caste dynamics will play a decisive role, especially in rural constituencies. While the ruling party is banking on its “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” model, the opposition hopes to consolidate backward caste votes.
This exchange marks yet another escalation in Uttar Pradesh’s political war of words, which shows no signs of cooling down.
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]]>The post Mamata Banerjee’s Message to the Opposition Ahead of Her “Maiden” Visit to Goa appeared first on The Edge Media.
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Ms. Banerjee tweeted: “As I prepare for my maiden visit to Goa on 28th, I call upon all individuals, organizations, and political parties to join forces to defeat the BJP and their divisive agenda. The people of Goa have suffered enough over the last 10 years.”
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]]>The post Government dismisses the Opposition’s claim that the country’s “crown jewels” were up for sale appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The government plans to raise ₹88,000 crore this year by leasing infrastructure assets of the central government ministries and state-run companies under NMP. The funds will then be used to build new infrastructure assets, helping boost economic growth. Roads (27%), railways (25%), power (15%), oil and gas pipelines (8%) and telecom (6%) are the top five sectors by value under the monetisation programme.
The government maintained the assets have been put on a “limited period lease” and will be retaken later. It said the monetisation idea was not new as it was taken up earlier as well at the central and state levels. “In fact, it was the former (Congress-led) UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government at the Centre that had taken the initial steps towards… privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports.” It added non-discriminatory access of the assets to the public will follow the monetisation and there will be no monopoly.
The government said the bulk of the infrastructure asset base will continue to be under the public sector after monetisation. “So public sector will continue to operate, run these assets and build more assets that can be further monetised.” The government called the monetisation “structured contractual partnership”. It insisted the private partners will only “operate and maintain the assets and return them to the government on completion of the transaction period.”
Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh rejected the government’s explanation as irrelevant. “Public assets which were created with the taxpayers’ money will be given on lease. The people, who are going to lease them, are going to get that expense (for leasing) from public sector banks. The same assets will later be put in front of the same public who will have to pay for them (to utilise their services),” Vallabh said. He added technically this is a “grand clearance sale”.
Vallabh said the monetisation contracts of airports such as in Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram were given to those who have never had any experience in such management. “Were they handling airports, were they into the business of airports? What was their experience in airports? Nothing at all. The same is going to happen with the rest of the assets of the country.”
He said many gas pipelines, ports, warehousing assets, passenger trains, transmission lines, which the government seeks to monetise, are strategic assets. “There cannot be a more strategic asset than transmission lines because the country’s entire network, be it defence or whether it is normal day to day electricity consumption, everything depends on them.” He added the government is transferring strategic assets, not to one but two of their friends and everyone knows who they are. “I would not call this monopoly, but this is a duopoly,” he said. Vallabh added the government is leasing the assets for the “useful life” which is another way of sale. “The value of an asset after its useful life is that of scrap.”
Vallabh said it was confusing to see the government is deliberately creating a monopoly in the economy. “Even the developed economies, be it the US or the UK, are making laws to do away with monopolies… and cartels. In India, assets created in the last 70 years are being used by the government to create monopolies.”
He cited the government’s claim to raise ₹six trillion from the monetisation of assets and asked are they not yielding any revenue at the moment. “What is the current revenue of these assets… ?” He added for the last three years, the government has promised 100 lakh crore investment in infrastructure. “Where are they? You have said that you will generate six lakh crores from monetisation… where will the rest of 94 lakh crores come from?”
Vallabh referred to the government’s claim that the “formulation of NMP included extensive consultations” with the stakeholders from the industry and experts. He added NMP was not even discussed in parliament. Vallabh called the government clarifications “haphazard” and said apparently finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is not a good listener. “She should specify when this was discussed in Parliament and which trade unions did you (the government) have discussions with.”
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]]>The post Uddhav Thackeray urges the opposition parties to win people’s trust appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>He made this appeal during a virtual meeting of opposition leaders convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday.
Talking to reporters, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said, “During the meeting, Uddhav Thackeray stressed that the parties must win people’s trust.”
“As of today, there is no lust for power among the opposition parties, but even when the chair of power is in sight, people should be able to trust the opposition parties with the belief that they will remain strong and united,” Mr Raut quoted Uddhav Thackeray as saying during the meeting.
The Sena’s Rajya Sabha member said that Sonia Gandhi had personally called up the leaders of all parties and requested them to join the meeting.
The meeting was attended by leaders of 19 opposition parties, including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and four non-Congress chief ministers – TMC’s Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), DMK’s M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu) and JMM’s Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) and Uddhav Thackeray.
During the meeting, Mrs Gandhi urged the leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning “systematically” to realise the “ultimate goal” of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to provide a government that believes in the values of the freedom movement and provisions of the Constitution.
Mr Raut said that apart from discussion on how to prepare for the next general elections by staying united, several issues like alleged Pegasus snooping, issues concerning farmers, price rise and “attack on democracy” figured at the virtual meeting, he said.
When asked about the developments in Afghanistan, Mr Raut said, India faces the threat of Taliban since it has support of Pakistan and China, which are India’s “enemies”, reported news agency PTI.
If there are voices of support for Taliban in India, the government should crush them immediately, ” he said.
(This story has not been edited by The Edge Media staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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]]>The post Sonia Gandhi urges opposition parties to “plan systematically” for the 2024 national election appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The 2024 polls is “the ultimate goal”, the Congress president said, adding: “This is a challenge, but together we can and must rise to it because there is simply no alternative to working cohesively together.”
She urged opposition parties to begin to plan “with the single-minded objective of giving to our country a government that believes in the values of the Freedom Movement and in the principles and provisions of our Constitution.”
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and Left leader Sitaram Yechury were among those who joined the virtual meet.
Sonia Gandhi’s initiative to host the interaction is seen to signal the Congress’s readiness to corral the opposition ahead of polls.
The Congress party “will not be found wanting,” said Sonia Gandhi, perhaps acknowledging skepticism about her party’s ability to inspire confidence as the lead player in any opposition plan to fight the BJP.
“The 75th anniversary of India’s Independence is indeed the most appropriate occasion for us to reaffirm our individual and collective resolve. Let me say for its part, the Indian National Congress will not be found wanting,” she said.
Today’s meeting takes off from recent opposition huddles and the unprecedented display of unity in the monsoon session, which saw opposition parties united taking on the government over issues like the Pegasus snooping scandal, rising fuel prices and the farmers’ agitation over three central laws.
Sonia Gandhi said the session was marked by the “determined unity” that all Opposition parties demonstrated for over 20 days in both houses of parliament. “We functioned in a coordinated manner with daily discussions among our floor leaders… I am confident that this unity will be sustained in future sessions of Parliament as well. But the larger political battle has to be fought outside it,” she said, referring to the next general election.
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]]>The post Opposition demands action against those responsible for “foisting false cases” against Stan Swamy. appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>In the letter, the leaders alleged that Stan Swamy, Jesuit priest, an accused in Elgar Parishad case was jailed on “trumped up charges under the draconian UAPA” and “was denied treatment for his various ailments”. “The numerous appeals made to shift him out of the over crowded Taloja jail that had seen a huge rise in Covid cases went unheeded. His appeals for bail and being sent home too were rejected, the leader said.
The leaders noted that it was after Bombay high court’s intervention Swamy was admitted to a private hospital when his condition started deteriorating due to Covid-19.
“But it was too late to prevent his death in custody,” the letter read.
The letter has been signed by former PM HD Deve Gowda, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav, NC chief Farooq Abdullah and CPI’s D Raja.
The opposition sought President Kovind’s immediate intervention to direct Centre to act against those responsible for “foisting false cases on hint, his continued detention in jail and inhuman treatment”.
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