Former Prime Minister and Rajya Sabha lawmaker HD Deve Gowda wrote to Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday, expressing concern over disruptions that have been “unthinkingly” introduced inside and outside Parliament by Congress leaders.. File photo of former PM HD Deve Gowda in the Rajya Sabha. (Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab). Deve Gowda told Gandhi he has been “greatly disturbed by a certain chaos orchestrated “primarily by the opposition parties” and said, “I strongly feel that Congress parliamentarians, led by the Leader of Opposition, have provoked far too many disruptions inside Parliament and in its premises.”. The veteran leader also claimed that there is an “unprecedented” scale of disruptions in the recent times.. “Parliament, in recent times, has witnessed an excess of slogan-shouting, display of placards and name-calling. There has been an attitude of non-seriousness, which has assaulted my very idea and construct of Parliament and parliamentary democracy,” he added.. Deve Gowda urged Gandhi to speak to her party leaders and others in the opposition, and ask them “not to harm themselves, their cause and their political futures in the long run”.. “I am very confident that you will do the needful…,” the former prime minister said. 

 Kerala Congress (M), a partner in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced their candidates for the upcoming Kerala assembly polls on Monday.. Kerala Congress (M), BDJS announce names of 12 candidates each. KC(M) chairman and Rajya Sabha MP Jose K Mani will fight from the Pala assembly constituency in Kottayam, a seat his father KM Mani represented for over five decades until his death in 2019. Pala is currently represented by Mani C Kappan, a partner in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).. Water resources minister and senior KC(M) leader Roshy Augustine has been renominated from Idukki constituency while four of the remaining five sitting MLAs including Pramod Narayan, N Jayaraj and Sebastian Kulanthungal will fight from their respective seats.. Nirmala Jimmy, the sole woman candidate among 12 faces of the party, has been allotted the Kaduthuruthy seat while Biju Chirayath, a former Congress councillor, has been nominated from Chalakudy assembly constituency.. The BDJS also announced candidates in 12 seats while the remaining are set to be named by Tuesday. The fate of the BDJS president Tushar Vellappally is not known.. Some of its candidates are Santhosh Shanthy (Kuttanad), Thambi Mettuthara (Kayamkulam), Suresh Ettikunnel (Kaduthuruthy) and Sangeetha Viswanathan (Udumbanchola).. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BDJS contested 21 of the 140 seats. 

 Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has agreed to revoke the suspension of eight Opposition MPs, including seven from the Congress, who were suspended for the entirety of the ongoing budget session. At a meeting convened by Birla, both the ruling and the opposition sides also agreed not to enter the well of the Lok Sabha to confront the other and to adhere to the established norms and traditions of the House.. The Opposition’s notice for a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had also mentioned the suspension of MPs. (ANI). The government will move a motion to revoke the suspension of lawmakers on Tuesday, 42 days after they were barred for the remainder of the budget session. They were suspended after massive protests rocked the House following Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s insistence to read from former army chief MM Naravane’s unpublished memoir.. The Opposition’s notice for a no-confidence motion against Birla had also mentioned the suspension of MPs. On Monday, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal raised the issue in the Lok Sabha. “Rose in the Lok Sabha to raise concern over the unfair suspension of 8 Opposition MPs for this Session. Parliament has seen countless protests but the suspension of MPs is a disturbing new trend that cannot be allowed to continue. This suspension should be revoked immediately,” the Congress MP said in a post on X.. At the meeting convened by Birla, several opposition MPs, including Congress’s K Suresh, NCP(SP) lawmaker Supriya Sule, TMC’s Shatabdi Ray, demanded that the suspension be lifted. Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav told Birla: “You are a large-hearted Speaker. You should revoke the suspension.”. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju also raised the topic of disruptions and unruly protests. “The leaders collectively decided that no member from either side would approach the opposite side in the well of the House, tear papers and throw them towards the Chair, or climb on the officials’ table inside the House. There was further consensus that all members would adhere to the established decorum and traditions of Parliament, and that both sides would ensure such incidents are not repeated in the future,” an official said.. Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole and Dean Kuriakose (all Congress) and S Ventakesan of the CPI(M) were suspended from the House by a motion moved by Rijiju on February 3.. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a bulletin reminding the members that areas in the Parliament estate should be kept obstruction-free to ensure the movement of members. “…Members have also been repeatedly advised not to bring or display posters, placards, or banners inside Parliament,” it added. 

 A second repatriation flight carrying Indian students stranded in war-torn Iran arrived in New Delhi late on Monday. The flight with dozens of stranded Indians on board flew from Armenia capital Yerevan to New Delhi after a layover in Dubai.. A second repatriation flight with stranded Indians nationals in Iran reaches Delhi airport on Monday. (Hindustan Times). “Till the time I don’t see my family in Kashmir, I won’t feel like I have returned home,” said 23-year-old Labeeb Qadri who arrived at the Indira Gandhi International airport along with dozens of other students.. The flight was delayed by nearly 12 hours after completing its first leg between Yerevan and Dubai due to a temporary suspension of flight operations by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.. The group travelled by bus from universities across Iran to the Iran–Armenia border, crossed into Armenia, and then flew from Yerevan to Dubai before boarding a connecting flight to Delhi, as Iranian airspace remains closed following the war that began on February 28.. Also Read: First batch of nearly 70 Indians stuck in Iran returns; students recount ‘panic’ amid war. Qadri, who spent past five days travelling and is pursuing MBBS from Iran’s Urmia University, said after spending nearly two weeks in constant fear of losing life, he still can’t process that he has returned back safely.. “When we were in Iran there was constant bombing, then once we crossed the border we thought we are safe. Just when we were on the last leg of our journey in Dubai, multiple drone attack happened at the airport. We were stranded first in Iran then in Dubai. So, I am still unable to process that we have reached India,” said Qadri. “We were in complete lockdown and constantly lived in the fear that the next bomb could be dropped on our hostel,” Qadri added.. All other students from my university those who belonged to the land border countries of Iran or nearby nations had already returned and it was just us the Indian students who were there.. “Students from Iraq, Turkey, and Pakistan had all left. It was just us around 45 Indian students who were left. We stayed in the basement for nearly two weeks, and barely moved out. In case, we needed to do some really necessary shopping, we would go out in groups,” the 23-year-old told HT while recalling what he described as his most traumatic experience.. Another student, who is in the 5th year of her MBBS degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and hails from Kashmir’s Srinagar, said the relocation provided temporary relief. However, the sense of deep relief can now be felt since she has finally arrived in India, she added while constantly holding hands of mother who stood next to her wiping her tears as her daughter narrated the horrific scenes from the ongoing war.. Also Read: Indians in Iran cross into Armenia, Azerbaijan amid West Asia tensions, MEA shares update. “It was just horrible. The Indian Embassy shifted us from Teh 

 The opposition’s move in the Lok Sabha to remove Speaker Om Birla from the post undermined the parliamentary traditions, Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta said on Monday.. Gupta urged that the members respect constitutional institutions. (HT Photo). In a letter written to Birla, he asserted that the neutrality of the Chair of the House is central to the parliamentary democracy of the country, and urged that the members respect constitutional institutions.. The resolution brought by the opposition parties, seeking the removal of Om Birla as the Lok Sabha Speaker, was defeated by a voice vote last Wednesday.. Gupta, in his letter to Birla, said, “It is deeply saddening that certain opposition parties, driven by narrow political considerations, chose to bring a motion against the incumbent Speaker – an office that stands above partisan politics and is entrusted with safeguarding the rules, traditions and dignity of Parliament.”. Defeat of the motion reaffirmed the confidence of the members in the authority and impartial functioning of the Chair, the Delhi Assembly speaker asserted.. The authority of the Chair ensures that parliamentary proceedings are conducted in an orderly and impartial manner while safeguarding the rights and privileges of Members across the political spectrum, he said.. The attempt to bring a motion against the Speaker risks undermining the spirit of parliamentary functioning if driven by “narrow political motivations”, Gupta said and appreciated those Lok Sabha MPs who were against the “ill-conceived” effort.. Under the stewardship of Birla, the Lok Sabha has continued to function with balance and dignity, enabling meaningful democratic debate while maintaining the discipline and decorum that define parliamentary institutions, he added.