Gandhi, on the other hand, has also reached out directly to the party workers in the three states to know their top choice for the chief minister post through an internal mobile messaging app, party leaders said.
Polling in Madhya Pradesh was marred by complaints of faulty EVMs and voter verifiable paper audit trail machines.
'As long as a Hindu rashtra is not formalised, one can live in hope,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday met Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and formally staked the party's claim to the post of Leader of Opposition in the House, an issue that has got embroiled in a controversy.
Despite his ministers on shaky ground, Chouhan -- at the helm for three consecutive terms -- is holding the fort. He is being aided by a capable team for public relations and the RSS, which has deployed its workers to bolster the BJP's campaign, reports Sandeep Kumar.
Former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam and also the resignation of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on moral grounds.
Bypolls to 28 assembly constituencies in the state will be held on November 3. In order to return to power in the state, the Congress has to win all 28 seats, while the ruling BJP only needs nine seats to reach the majority mark of 116 in the 230-member House.
Former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday appeared all set to become Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha after his appointment as Leader of Congress in the Upper House.
The BJP may be ready and waiting to pounce on another key state of the Hindi heartland, but it is the Congress's holy trinity that issued them an invitation to the beheading, notes Sunil Sethi.
'The Congress today has lost contact with the Hindu clergy.' 'They go to to Hindu clergy only during the time of elections.'
Azad was taken into custody by police on Tuesday for violating the model code of conduct.
The BCCI's three-member Disciplinary Committee, headed by President Shashank Manohar, is set to decide on the fate of tainted cricketers, Ajit Chandila and Hiken Shah on Tuesday. The two players had met the committee members in person here to answer questions put to them on December 24 before the three-man panel deferred taking a decision by giving them time till January 4, 2016 to file a written response to the charges of spot-fixing against them.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's three-member disciplinary panel, headed by president Shashank Manohar, will meet this week to decide the fate of Ajit Chandilla and Hiken Shah who have been accused of trying to fix games in the 2013 and last edition of the Indian Premier League respectively.
He has also convened the first meeting of the extended CWC on July 22 to chalk out the party's future strategy.
Reacting to the voting, chief minister Kamal Nath said, "The BJP says daily that we are a minority government and one which could fall any day."
An Election Commission official said minor clashes between political workers were reported from some areas.
Modi also berated the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress combine in Bihar, calling it an alliance of "double-double yuvraj" (two crown princes) whose sole concern was to protect their "respective thrones".
The bill was passed by LS last year and now it has to go back to the Lower House for incorporating the amendments approved by Rajya Sabha.
The development came against the backdrop of the ruling party accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to poach its MLAs to topple the Kamal Nath-led government, which enjoys a wafer thin majority in the House, and imminent expansion of the state Cabinet.
Many leaders who appealed to Gandhi to stay argued that their political futures depended on his presence in the party and hence he must stay.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has been spearheading the UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill, left the Lok Sabha while the voting was underway on Monday night on various amendments moved by the Opposition.
'Never has this happened in the state's political history -- that every class of people is unhappy.'
Earlier, when reporters asked Nath about his party's strategy for the elections in the central Indian state, he had said the party had not started talks of alliance with anyone.
The government, however, asserted that the Budget will be presented as scheduled, rejecting the opposition's allegations that it will impact the upcoming assembly elections.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who have extended support to the Congress to form the government in the state, were not present.
Belligerent Congress members trooped into the Well during the Question Hour and raised slogans, even as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan went ahead with the proceedings.
The 72-year-old master strategist ensured that the Congress's internal conflict ended and took on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- the state's longest ever serving chief minister.
The Congress top brass staged a dharna in Parliament for the 2nd day in protest against suspension of its MPs.
This is something that Modi's critics are reluctant to accept: He is the most popular leader that India has seen since Indira Gandhi, says Vir Sanghvi.
He also said he does not want any other member of the Gandhi family to succeed him, virtually ruling out Priyanka as well for the top party position.
Nath, 72, reached Bhopal late in night to be greeted with chants of 'Jai Jai Kamal Nath' by his supporters.
Leaders across the political spectrum took to Twitter on Monday morning to extend congratulations to Leander Paes and Sumit Nagal.
'It can be said without hesitation that Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi enjoy perfect relations of mother-daughter-son all together in the family.' 'But their worldview is different and their style of functioning is different and their favourites in the party are different people.'
Is anyone in the BJP listening -- to what Nitin Gadkari had to say, but possibly left unsaid? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress members don't want Rahul Gandhi back as party chief. But the problem is that Sonia Gandhi won't have anyone other than her son to take over the Family Firm, notes Virendra Kapoor.
'Anti-incumbency against sitting MPs and the government is a big issue here. We will win all seats in Mumbai'
The BJP stalwart's body was later brought to his residence at Kailash Colony.
'Probably only Sonia-ji knows the extent of what he is doing.'
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