Mohammed Azharuddin backs BCCI; BJP and Congress clash over Mustafizur Rahman issue
In a major organisational revamp, the Congress on Friday appointed former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as general secretary in-charge of Punjab and Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain as general secretary for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
After the party's drubbing in the just-concluded assembly polls in five states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers.
Gearing up for the assembly polls next year, the Congress on Wednesday constituted the election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Shukla and R P N Singh.
Gaurav Gogoi will head the screening committee for Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot included among the ex-officio members of the panel.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh are among those named by the party as its star campaigners in Uttar Pradesh.
Notwithstanding Priyanka Gandhi Vadra crisscrossing Uttar Pradesh and a buzz built around the "Ladki hoon, Lad sakti hoon" campaign, the Congress was leading in only one seat out of 403 in the state, with many of its senior leaders trailing in their respective constituencies, according to trends available at 1.20 pm.
Farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states on Tuesday offered 'antim ardas' -- the final prayers in the Sikh tradition -- for the protesters killed in the recent violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, with their leaders vowing to intensify the agitation against the Centre's new agri laws.
The districts where polling is being held on Thursday are Ambedkar Nagar, Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia.
The Congress said that the move is meant to keep away candidates who are not serious.
Spread over 10 districts, polling in these constituencies will be held from 7 am till 6 pm on Thursday.
According to a close source to Vadra, she was already scheduled to set up base in Lucknow. For this, renovation work had already been initiated at Sheila Kaul's residence from January.
He also said the governments of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the BSP and the SP that have ruled Uttar Pradesh in the last 32 years, when Congress was not in power, failed to live up to the expectations of the people and the Congress was set for a comeback in the state.
'About 90 per cent of our netas have no loyalty and will go with the winner.'
The sixth round of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will see voting for 57 seats on Thursday sealing the fate of political heavyweights such as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Congress' Ajay Kumar Lallu and Samajwadi Party's Swami Prasad Maurya.
Asked whether the Congress will go it alone on all the 403 assembly seats in the state or align with some political party, the party general secretary told reporters in an informal meeting here, "It is too early to say."
The interim panel headed by him would take the place of the Congress Working Committee, the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed after Kharge's election is ratified at the party plenary.
In a terse message to the ruling party, Priyanka in a Hindi tweet said, 'The goons of the BJP involved in 'cheerharan' of the democracy should hear that women will become pradhans, block pramukhs, MLAs, MPs and prime minister, and defeat the government, which gives patronage to those committing atrocities against women.'
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday brainstormed with senior Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh on the preparations for next year's assembly polls, as the party resolved to hit the streets against the Bharatiya Janata Party government over issues such as unemployment, price rise and law and order.
'This is against the Constitution and we will oppose it tooth and nail.'
The Congress on Wednesday cancelled its four marathon races listed this week and also decided not to hold any big rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh amid rising cases of the novel coronavirus infection.
The prominent faces among the 676 candidates for 57 seats spread across 10 districts in this phase included Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban and state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj.
Ajay Kumar Lallu said the party has emerged as the main challenger to the "oppressive" UP government and the 'winds of change' were blowing in the state.
The Congress has alleged that she was arrested on Monday while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri.
As Uttar Pradesh gears up for assembly elections early next year, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address a public rally on October 10 in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a party spokesperson said.
Speaking at a function in Varanasi on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti, she urged the audience to take the teachings of the saint to the masses. "He (Sant Ravidas) had dreamt of a society, where there is no discrimination and where every person is respected. You all should take forward his teachings to the masses, especially at a time, when there is so much violence and hatred in the society. His teachings are need of the hour," Priyanka Gandhi said.
The BJP stormed back to power in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, trouncing its main rival SP, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserting that people have buried the politics of caste and religion.
The body of the 22-year-old woman, who had gone missing two months ago, was recovered from a vacant plot near an ashram built by Fateh Bahadur Singh, a minister in the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government, police had said on Friday.
The Congress would go to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections without a chief minister face but will fight under the watch of general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whom the state party chief Ajay Kumar Lallu described as a 'storm' that will help sweep the polls.
With the Yogi Adityanath government taking credit for cracking down on criminals and making it an election issue, political parties are now having a rethink on aligning with those who have a criminal background but also enjoy influence in their areas.
The woman, Tara Yadav, also lodged a police complaint against four office-bearers of the party, including the district president, for allegedly beating her and molesting her.
But the Congress said its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will attend the event.
The sloganeering continued for 15 minutes. Police used force to drive away the protesters after which the two ministers and the MP were taken to the victim's home, villagers said.
The privately-operated bus with 34 passengers on board was hijacked by recovery agents of a finance company, officials said. Police said the bus driver, staff and passengers are safe.
Senior party leader P Chidambaram, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed support to Priyanka, who has alleged that no notice or first information report (FIR) has been given to her even after her 38-hour detention and was not allowed to meet her legal counsel.
The reward for the arrest of gangster Vikas Dubey involved in the killing of eight police personnel in Uttar Pradesh has been increased to Rs 2.5 lakh.
Priyanka said the party's fight will continue till the laws are scrapped.
Ashok Chowdhury, a Dalit politics expert said, "BJP had impressed the Dalits in the 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections, but it's difficiult to retain them now".
Before pedalling down the streets of the state capital, Yadav told mediapersons at the party headquarters that the BJP government has "failed" in Covid management.
The cook is seen mixing a litre of milk in a bucket full of water in the video clip.
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