Arun Jaitley said many statements had been made on all sides during the elections, and that the government does not want the stalemate as a result of this to continue. On Wednesday, making a statement in the Rajya Sabha, leader of the house and finance minister Arun Jaitley said: “The PM in his speeches did not question, nor did he mean to question the commitment to this nation of either former PM Manmohan Singh or former VP Hamid Ansari. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha saw disruptions and repeated adjournments over Union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde’s controversial comments on secularism and changing the Constitution. While members of the government distanced themselves from the comment, the opposition demanded that the minister be sacked. The Rajya Sabha passed the Indian Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which excludes bamboo from the definition of trees under the Act.

Source: Mint December 27, 2017 14:15 UTC