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Budget Session: In Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley blames UPA, TMC for poor state of Railways; Sonia Gandhi makes Congress' claim for Leader of Opposition

The new government will be presenting its first Railway Budget tomorrow and the Union Budget on Thursday. The ground realities of the economy have not changed much with inflation soaring above 6%. The expectations on the new government are very high which is seen in the overheating of the market.

Budget Session: In Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley blames UPA, TMC for poor state of Railways; Sonia Gandhi makes Congress' claim for Leader of Opposition

It will be the first big test for the Narendra Modi government as the Budget session at the Parliament begins today. The opposition will not go easy on the BJP government, though the numbers of the BJP at the Lok Sabha will certainly help the Modi Sarkar. The new government will be presenting its first Railway Budget tomorrow and the Union Budget on Thursday. The ground realities of the economy have not changed much with inflation soaring above 6%. The expectations on the new government are very high which is seen in the overheating of the market. The Sensex and Nifty have crossed their all time high and are hovering around 25,962 and 7751 respectively.

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16:15 IST Monday, 7 July 2014

Congress, BSP, CPI-M stage walkout in Rajya Sabha expressing dissatisfaction over Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's reply on price rise

16:07 IST Monday, 7 July 2014
Arun Jaitley addresses the parliament. "The Railways has been left in tatters by the UPA Govt," he accused. He further even blamed the Trinamool Congress for the poor state of the Railways. "Suggestions of fare rise in railways came to the government due to losses incurred in February," he blames the rail fare rise on the UPA govt. "It is not possible to fill gaps which Congress left, in just five weeks," he adds.
 
Defending the rail fare hike, he even added, "If you want to use a service, you need to pay for it."
 
He then blamed the Congress for the hike, saying the decision for the hike was taken by their govt. "We have contained prices; Govt committed to keep them under check," Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha
 
13:09 IST Monday, 7 July 2014 

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday said her party should get the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha. "Congress should get the post of LoP," Gandhi told reporters. When asked what if Congress does not get LoP post?" Gandhi replied: "We'll see." The tussle over getting the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP) between the Congress and the Government has been going on for a while with the Congress pushing its case for the post on grounds that it has the most seats (44) in the opposition. Read more

Opposition slams government in Rajya Sabha on price rise
Slamming BJP government for spurt in prices of essential commodities during its 45-day rule, Opposition Congress today took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for riding to power on promise of controlling inflation yet doing nothing on it. Speaking on the issue after his demand for suspension of Question Hour to discuss price rise was accepted by the ruling party, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the one-and-half-month rule of BJP government has seen all round rise in prices of vegetables and fruits. Since coming to power, the BJP-led government has raised rail passenger fares and freight charges besides hiking petrol, diesel and LPG rates that have cascading impact on prices of other commodities, the Congress leader said. Read more

12:52 IST Monday, 7 July 2014

Sonia Gandhi makes Congress' claim for Leader of Opposition in the parliament. "We are the single largest party and we have a pre-poll alliance. Hence, we are entitled to get the post of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha," she said Sonia Gandhi.

Inflation, communal incidents and status of Bihar to be taken up in Parliament: Ali Anwar
Janata Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar on Monday said issues such as inflation, communalism and granting special status to Bihar should be discussed during the Budget Session of Parliament. Anwar told ANI that, "The biggest issue is inflation, due to which the common man is suffering the most. It was expected to come down, or at least, stay unchanged. But, it has increased drastically. Prices of essential commodities, including onion, salt and even sugar has gone up." Read more

Lok Sabha adjourned till noon after uproar over issue of price rise and rail fare hike
Ruckus in Parliament over price rise, Lok Sabha adjourns till noon
The first day of the Budget Session of Parliament on Monday witnessed an opposition-led disruption on the issue of price rise, thus forcing an adjournment of proceedings in the Lok Sabha till noon. As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the day, several opposition members raised slogans against the price rise and the government's failure to control it. Amidst the chaos, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till noon. Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha. The 42-day-long Budget Session of Parliament began on Monday and will have 28 sittings. Read more
 
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan above party lines, says Venkaiah Naidu; slams Kamal Nath's remarks over Leader of Opposition
Government today slammed Congress leader Kamal Nath for his remarks that Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's decision on the issue of grant of Leader of Opposition status could be "flavoured" by BJP, saying it is "unfortunate" as the Speaker is above party lines. The remarks were made by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu even as the government reached out to the opposition ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament, saying it was ready to discuss any issue raised by the opposition. "Government has no reservation on any issue. We are willing to discuss each and every issue of national importance," Naidu told reporters after the meeting which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Read more 
 
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan says her priority is to ensure smooth Budget Session
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday said her priority is to ensure that proceedings in the house run smoothly, and added that she expects every member to co-operate during the Budget Session. "My priority is that the budget session runs smoothly, and we solve issues like economic and other issues, and I hope that we all, including myself co-operate during the Budget Session," Mahajan said. This morning, an all party meeting was convened by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, besides other leaders. Prominent leaders of the Congress, AIADMK, TMC, NCP and Left Front also attended the meeting. Read more
 
11:37 IST Monday, 7 July 2014

Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament begin.

BSP chief Mayawati attacks BJP government, says instead of 'acche din', 'mehenge din' have come. “We want a discussion on it in Rajya Sabha,” says Mayawati.NDA government ready to discuss any issue raised by Opposition, assures Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu after Congress raises concerns over rising inflation. The Speaker will go by the rulebook. Once elected, the Speaker is above party politics, says Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

11:10 IST Monday, 7 July 2014

Sensex breaches 26,000-mark; Nifty at record-high of 7,787.95
The benchmark BSE Sensex crossed the 26,000-mark for the first time and the NSE Nifty soared to hit yet another high of 7,787.95 in opening trade today on the back of strong inflow of foreign funds ahead of the Budget. The BSE 30-share barometer spurted by 137.29 points, or 0.52%, to trade at a lifetime high of 26,099.35 with stocks of infrastructure, IT, power, capital goods, auto and realty sectors, leading the rally. The gauge had gained 138.31 points in the previous session. The NSE Nifty also maintained its record-breaking trend and gathered another 36.35 points, or 0.46%, to hit a new all-time high of 7,787.95 points, surpassing its previous intra-day high of 7,758.00, touched in Friday's trade. Read more 

10:39 IST Monday, 7 July 2014

* All party meet ends."The Speaker will go by the rulebook. Once elected, the Speaker is above party politics," said M Venkaiah Naidu on the subject of Leader of Opposition."Govt ready to discuss any issue raised by Opposition. Although no one raised the issue of Leader of Opposition in the all party meet," he informed. Naidu termed as "unfortunate" Kamal Nath's remarks against the Speaker on issue of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

The 42-day-long Budget Session of Parliament will begin from today and will have 28 sittings. During this period, Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government's first Railway and General Budgets on July 8 and July 10 respectively. The Economic Survey will be released on July 9. The session will end on August 14. Read more

09:39 IST Monday, 7 July 2014
 
The oil minister has already made clear that LPG and kerosene prices cannot be hiked and that the government will find newer ways to fix its subsidy burden. The parliament and the market will be watching the subsidy and fiscal deficit target numbers.

A PTI report quotesspeakers Sumitra Mahajan as saying, ""The session will have 28 sittings and 168 working hours. Since the Standing Committees for various ministries are yet to be constituted, the demands for grants for various ministries will be passed by both Houses by July 31 after discussion in Parliament instead of the committees," Ms Mahajan said after the meeting yesterday."

"Government is willing to give full time to discuss any issue. They are ready to discuss every issue. Different suggestions have come and they will be decided after the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee," she added.

Interestingly the session begins today without any one being named as the leader of the opposition. Whether the parliament will disucss and fix this in the ongoing session remains to be seen. While the Congress will pitch in heavily for the position, the BJP might not easily give it to them. 

Apart from inflation, the ongoing crisis in Iraq and bringing back of Indians mgith also be raised in the parliament.

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