Abu Azmi hit by MNS MLAs for taking oath in Hindi

November 2nd, 2009 MUMBAI - Maharashtra Navanirmana Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday said that all the newly elected legislators (MLAs) of the party to the Maharashtra Government will take their formal oath only in Marathi and no other language. Addressing a press conference in at Mumbai, Thackeray said: "As per our party's ethos, all legislators (MLAs) will be taking oath only in Marathi and no other language.

September 14th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal's first vice president Paramananda Jha, whose status remains uncertain after being caught up in a row for taking his oath of office in Hindi, came under fresh attack Monday with a bomb being found near his personal residence. The bomb was discovered about 10m away from the residence of the vice president, Jha's aide Devananda Jha told IANS.

September 2nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - The row over the use of Hindi as Nepal's official language continued Wednesday with a defiant politician taking his oath of office in Hindi as Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expanded his cabinet for the fifth time. Already accommodating 33 ministers, the coalition government, which includes 22 parties, is set to induct 11 more, creating a jumbo cabinet.

September 2nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - The rift in Nepal over the use of Hindi for official work continued to widen Wednesday with new ministers from a regional party taking their oath of office in that language as Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expanded his cabinet for the sixth time. Already accommodating 33 ministers, the coalition government, which includes 22 parties, Wednesday added nine more - two ministers, six ministers of state and an assistant minister.

August 13th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The use of the Hindi language for official work was dealt a second blow by the Nepal government Thursday with most of the ruling parties saying that Vice President Paramananda Jha, who triggered a controversy by taking his oath of office in Hindi, should be sworn in again in the Nepali language. Ahead of his five-day visit to India starting from Aug 18, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had Thursday called a meeting of the 22 parties in the coalition government to discuss political developments.

June 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The formal oath taking by the 543 newly-elected members of the 15th Lok Sabha concluded Tuesday with several prominent leaders, including Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, and his aunt Maneka Gandhi, cousin Varun Gandhi, both from the BJP as well as BJP president Rajnath Singh being sworn in. The others who took oath Tuesday were Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The 15th Lok Sabha saw many of the newly-elected MPs take oath Monday in their mother tongue or languages of their choice, with Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sumitra Mahajan leading the way by doing so in Sanskrit. She was followed by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP Basudev Acharya taking oath in Bengali and Arjun Sethi of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in his Oriya.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - English was the preferred language for most of the ministers who took oath Thursday. While 38 of their colleagues from the south, east and west took the oath of office in English, 21 MPs, mostly from the Hindi speaking states in the north, opted for the national language.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - She went slow and flumbled twice, but the entire hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan erupted in applause and smiles as Agatha Sangma, the youngest minister in the Manmohan Singh government, took oath Thursday. Wearing a traditional stole and sarong in beige and white, 28-year-old Sangma folded her hands into a gentle namaste for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi sitting in the front row, before taking her place beside President Prathibha Patil to take oath in Hindi.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The morning after taking oath for his second consecutive term, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday called a meeting of the new cabinet at his residence here. The meeting is basically to decide the dates for parliament sessions and when to present the budget, said an official at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

May 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress leader Kamal Nath unwittingly injected humour into the sombre swearing-in ceremony of the new government Friday when he began to take his oath before President Pratibha Patil could prompt him, and then started walking off without signing the register. Perhaps a little too eager to be sworn in as minister, Kamal Nath walked up and said in Hindi 'Main Kamal Nath' much to the amusement of the gathering at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

May 22nd, 2009 English was the language of the evening Friday with 15 of the new ministers as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking their oath of office in it. Only Kamal Nath, Sharad Pawar, C.P.

May 20th, 2009 HYDERABAD - Immediately after taking oath as Andhra Pradesh chief minister here Wednesday evening, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy signed two files related to free electricity supply and low price rice - the two poll promises of the Congress.

April 7th, 2009 MUMBAI - Samajwadi Party activists allegedly distributed money to prospective voters in Mumbai. There were allegations that Shahid Azmi, brother of Abu Asim Azmi reportedly doled out money during the procession.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Wednesday launched the Hindi website of the lower house. Addressing the launching ceremony at Parliament Library Building, the speaker said the launch of the Hindi website would be beneficial for MPs and the Lok Sabha secretariat.