Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Wednesday that the government would stick to fiscal consolidation without cutting back on public spending. She was replying to the general discussion on the Budget for 2019-20. Deficit target and electric vehicles Sitharaman said the government had fixed the fiscal deficit target for 2019-20 at 3.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). She also told the House that the government would approach the GST Council to lower the tax on electric vehicles. “We will move GST Council toRead More

Karnataka Congress minister DK Shivakumar travelled to Mumbai on Wednesday in an attempt to meet the rebel legislators of the state’s ruling coalition, who were staying at the Hotel Renaissance. He was accompanied by JD(S) MLA Shivalinge Gowda. Shivakumar said he would stay put outside the hotel until he could see his friends, whom he expected to return to the coalition in the end. Shivakumar’s appeal Describing the rebels as members of his own party, Shivakumar said he and they had been born together in politics and would die togetherRead More

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has opposed a proposed law that would drop the Congress president from the permanent membership of the trust running the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial, calling the move “completely wrong”. The bill The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday by Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel. It seeks to delete the reference to the president of the Indian National Congress as a trustee, with the stated aim of making the memorial trust apolitical. The previous government had introduced a similar measure, but it lapsedRead More

The Aam Aadmi Party will not ally with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, a senior party leader said on Wednesday. AAP’s decision AAP leader Gopal Rai said the party’s State unit had been asked to prepare a report on the political situation in Haryana. He told reporters that after reviewing the position following the Lok Sabha elections, the party had decided to fight the coming polls on its own, without any alliance in the State. The Assembly elections in Haryana were due in OctoberRead More

The Congress on Tuesday denied that it had asked for a front-row seat for Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, calling media reports suggesting otherwise propaganda. The seating row The denial followed reports that the government had turned down a Congress request for an additional front-row seat. According to those reports, the party had been given only two seats in the first row, for Sonia Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Chowdhury, the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, responded: “We have proposed seat no. 466 for Rahul Gandhi ji. DesistRead More