Politics

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) Ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi met Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday and sought an assurance that her Trinamool Congress will vote for the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha, Congress sources said.

By Mayank Chhaya

The passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, elevates Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi to a league of her own and guarantees her a defining place for posterity.

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) 'Certainly disappointing' is how a neatly dressed young man from Chandigarh responded as he came out of the parliament visitors' gallery after witnessing noisy protests in the Lok Sabha over the Women's Reservation Bill.

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) India is charting a grand scheme targeting its rural outback to reach telecom and broadband services to each of its 626,000 villages, using funds to the tune of $3.5 billion lying unutilised in a dedicated fund.

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, a relative newcomer to politics, won praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others for the manner in which he controlled the ruckus in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday over physical eviction of seven suspended opposition members from the house.

Hyderabad, March 10 (IANS) The last wish of a student who committed suicide over the delay in formation of a separate Telangana state was fulfilled when his funeral procession was allowed to be taken to Gun Park near the Andhra Pradesh state assembly here.

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Tuesday expressed regret over the disrespect to Vice President Hamid Ansari in the Rajya Sabha by some parliamentarians opposing the women's reservation bill.

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India -Marxist (CPI-M) welcomed Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari's decision to suspend seven MPs disrupting the house and asked the government to discuss and pass the women's quota bill Tuesday itself.

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United's Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal's Lalu Prasad Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the women's reservation bill and asked for an all-party meeting to evolve consensus on the contentious legislation.

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha was adjourned again when the seven MPs who had been suspended earlier Tuesday for unruly behaviour continued to squat on the floor and effusively greeted vice chairman P.J. Kurien when the house reassembled at 2 p.m.