Congress releases 5th list of candidates
New Delhi: The Congress Monday night released its fifth list of 56 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including 22 from Andhra Pradesh and 11 from West Bengal.
The list also included eight candidates from Telangana, six from Odisha and five from Assam, besides three remaining seats from Uttar Pradesh.
On Saturday, the Congress had called off alliance talks with the Left parties.
The Congress has fielded former president Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee from Jangipur Lok Sabha seat, former PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Behrampur and former minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi's wife Deepa Dasmunshi from Raiganj.
The party also fielded former Union minister M M Pallam Raju from Kakinada constituency and party's former Rajya Sabha member J D Seelam from Bapatla reserved seat.
The party also fielded its Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita from Mangaldoi in Assam and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das from Kalahandi in Odisha.
The Congress also fielded its state party chief Uttam Kumar Reddy from Nalgonda in Telangana.
The list was declared after a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee chaired by party chief Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day.
The Congress has so far announced a total of 137 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
The party separately also issued a list of 36 candidates for Odisha Assembly elections.
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Opposition stages walkout in RS over BJP MP's remarks on misuse of OBC reservation
New Delhi (PTI): The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed a walkout by several opposition parties over BJP member K Laxman's remarks that OBC reservation is being misused in the name of religion.
Leader of the House and Union Minister J P Nadda criticised the walkout, saying the Congress leadership and the opposition's INDIA alliance are neither interested in debates nor have any respect for democratic values or the Constitution.
During Zero Hour, Laxman raised the issue of OBC reservation, and said their quota is being misused in the name of religion.
He said some states are extending reservations to Muslims and requested the government to order a comprehensive review of such religion-based reservations.
While he was speaking, certain opposition members raised objections to Laxman's remarks.
Later, almost the entire opposition staged a walkout from the House.
Nadda said the opposition parties are disrespectful to the Constitution and do not respect the parliamentary procedures.
He further said opposition parties consider Muslims as a vote bank, while accusing them of engaging in appeasement politics.
