CBI questions NCP MP

September 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Saturday said she is "having a look at" the request of DMK ministers to answer questions in parliament in Tamil. Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K.

September 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Lok Sabha secretariat Wednesday turned down the request of DMK ministers to answer questions in Tamil but said party MPs could ask questions and make speeches in the language as there was provision for it in the constitution. "According to the precedence in the house, the ministers should answer the questions either in English or Hindi," said Lok Sabha secretary general P.D.T.

August 21st, 2009 RANCHI - Jailed former Jharkhand minister Enos Ekka was questioned by vigilance sleuths for nearly four hours in the graft cases against him, but he failed to give "satisfactory" answers, vigilance department sources said. Ekka was interrogated after he was taken on remand following the vigilance court's permission.

July 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had the Lok Sabha in splits Friday, with Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde being at the receiving end of her good-natured leg pulling. "You are the power minister now.

July 16th, 2009 Kyl decries heat at Sotomayor confirmation hearingWASHINGTON — As interrogation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resumed, housekeeping items were front and center. Republican Sen.

July 10th, 2009 Appeals court questions DC police checkpointsWASHINGTON — A federal court that refused to block a police checkpoint program in a crime-plagued Washington neighborhood has been told to reconsider. The ruling Friday by the U.S.

July 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A week-long orientation programme for first-time MPs begins in the Parliament House here Monday. The MPs will be given tips on how to ask questions in the house and explained other parliamentary proceedings during the course being organised by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The newly elected MPs will get tips on how to ask questions in the house and the other parliamentary proceedings at an orientation programme being organised by the Lok Sabha Secretariat next week. "The orientation programme will cover issues such as parliamentary questions and other procedural devices available to members to raise issues on the floor of the house, parliamentary committees, parliamentary privileges, budgetary process, etc.," said a release issued by the Lok Sabha Wednesday.

June 11th, 2009 House chairman questions Bank of America bailoutWASHINGTON — The top Democrat on a House investigative committee says internal e-mails by Federal Reserve employees raise serious questions about $20 billion in government aid provided to Bank of America to buy Merrill Lynch. Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York calls the money a "dowry for a shotgun wedding." The chairman of the House Oversight and Investigative Reform Committee said Thursday that questions remain about what happened exactly and "who was holding the shotgun." The panel is investigating claims that top government officials, including then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, urged Bank of America to go through with the acquisition and not to disclose to shareholders the details of Merrill Lynch's deteriorating financial state.

May 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi voted Thursday in the Lok Sabha elections and flashed her inked finger to reporters but declined to answer any questions. Gandhi turned up at the polling station at the Nirman Bhawan building in the heart of the city with Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the party's New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Ajay Maken.

May 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi left most journalists attending his press conference in the capital impressed with his articulate answers and composure even in the face of uncomfortable questions. And they were forced to admit over the post conference tea at the convention hall of the Ashoka Hotel -- 'aaj pappu paas ho gaya'.

April 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The most questions members asked during Question Hour in the three parliament sessions in 2007 were about the finance ministry, while the least number of queries were on panchayati raj, according to a report. According to the 'Citizens' Report on Governance and Development 2008-2009', around 7.61 percent of the total 14,379 questions asked in the three sessions of the Lok Sabha (the lower house) were related to the finance ministry.

April 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - What is common to cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, filmstars Govinda, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Jaya Prada, wrestler Dara Singh, industrialists Vijay Mallya and Rahul Bajaj, director Shyam Benegal and economist Bimal Jalan? They are all celebrities, all achievers in their respective fields, but singularly unimpressive as members of India's two houses of parliament. The Citizens' Report on Governance and Development 2008-09 by civil society organisation National Social Watch (NSW) has given the 12 MPs a definite thumbs down and detailed their lack of interest in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings.

March 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Shashi Tharoor has been appearing on TV talk shows taking questions ranging from what he wrote about Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a book to his plans for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. In one talk show, Tharoor, who has lived in the US for the most part of his life, was asked if he is a 'US agent'.

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - As many as 56 MPs - among them former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and actor-politicians Dharmendra and Govinda - did not ask a single question during their five-year term, statistics reveal.