Delhi recorded a voter turnout of over 19 per cent in the first four hours of polling on Wednesday across 70 assembly constituencies, with the highest voter participation witnessed in North East district.
Dr Manmohan Singh's mortal remains were consigned to the flames at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday, December 28, 2024 amid the chanting of religious hymns.
'If Rahul Gandhi is doing so much for the country and the party without thinking about his own health, then I realised that the only way to impress upon Soniaji and all those who are campaigning against him about how ordinary party workers are looking up to Rahulji was to write a letter in blood.'
Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday afternoon without transacting any business amid uproar by treasury and opposition benches over the no-trust notice against the House Chairman and the George Soros issue.
'This was a decision taken and executed by Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman. Both were convinced that the assassination would not be linked to them.'
Just eight months after its good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) seems to be running out of steam with internal bickering and conflicting ambitions resulting in diminishing electoral returns that have once again put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the driver's seat in national politics.
They said her son and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is accompanying her during her travel to the US. Rahul is expected to return within a week.
Inaugurating the new terminal for the Srinagar international airport from where the first direct flight to Dubai was undertaken, Sonia Gandhi said, " The people of Jammu and Kashmir have shown their faith in democracy by an overwhelming participation in the recently held assembly elections in the state."
Veteran Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, in his latest book, argues that Pranab Mukherjee should have been made Prime Minister in 2012 instead of Manmohan Singh, who was then recovering from health issues. Aiyar believes this would have prevented the "paralysis of governance" and "doomed" any prospects the Congress might have had to form UPA-III. He also criticizes the government's handling of the Anna Hazare-led agitation and the Commonwealth Games scandal, which he believes contributed to the party's downfall in the 2014 general elections.
From bhikshus of Ashokan 3rd century BC and medieval Sufis to Oxfam, Omidyar and Soros now, non-State actors have any real power only when they work in conjunction with a real State, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away at the age of 92 on Thursday. He will be given a state funeral with full state honors at Nigambodh Ghat on Saturday. Singh served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014 and was known for his role in India's economic reforms. Leaders from across the political spectrum paid their respects to the departed leader, highlighting his contributions to the nation.
Initially, she was summoned by the agency on Monday but it was deferred by a day.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
The Congress Working Committee finally accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking.
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Congress observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken on Monday briefed party president Sonia Gandhi about the developments in Rajasthan and are expected to submit a written report about the crisis in the party's state unit latest by Tuesday.
China's ruling Communist Party on Tuesday confirmed that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted President Hu Jintao's invitation to visit the country, saying the event will further enhance friendship between leaders of the two countries.
In their election affidavits, Sonia Gandhi declared a 45 per cent drop in her income in 2017-18 compared to 2013-14, while Irani's income increased roughly an 80 per cent increase in her income in the same time span.
Gandhi also hailed Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' success as a 'triumph for Black Americans and Indian Americans'. The Congress chief said she knew Harris would work to heal and unite a 'bitterly divided nation'.
For the second consecutive day on Friday, several Indian journalists went to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre on 68th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan, New York, where Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has reportedly undergone a surgery
The Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of insulting Dr Manmohan Singh, the country's first Sikh prime minister, by carrying out his last rites at the Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated spot that could later become his memorial.
'The way Congressman feared her, they don't fear her now. That is why you see how she took time to take action in Andhra, Maharashtra and corruption in the Commonwealth Games,' says Arun Shourie.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement.
President Pranab Mukherjee created a flutter in the Congress party by agreeing to meet 40 Congress MLAs from Andhra Pradesh.
The original Mrs Gandhi -- Indira -- had delivered a second successive election victory for the Congress in 1971 but before that she had to win a war. The reigning Mrs Gandhi -- Sonia -- has also led the Congress to consecutive poll successes (in 2004 and 2009) but she hasn't had to go so far as to fight an external war, though there have been many domestic battles, writes Kidwai, whose second book on Sonia Gandhi, 24 Akbar Road, is soon to be released by Hachette Books
'The critical event signalling a new era for India was Dr Singh's 1991 Budget in which he quoted Victor Hugo to say that no power on earth could stop an idea whose time has come,' recalls T N Ninan.
The Congress party alleged that the BJP government has asked social media platform 'X' to remove Home Minister Amit Shah's speech from the Rajya Sabha, which they claim insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar. The party cited an email from 'X' to support their claim. The BJP has not yet commented on the matter, and 'X' has refused to delete the speech, citing freedom of speech. The Congress accused Shah of insulting the architect of the Indian Constitution and demanded his resignation.
Trying to strike an emotional chord with the voters, Sonia asked the people to consider Rahul Gandhi too as their own.
Nitin Desai, who has known Dr Singh from 1971, extends his 'deepest condolences to his wife Gurcharan Kaur and to his three talented daughters Upinder, the historian; Daman, the writer; and Amrit, the human rights activist.'
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers in Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.
There was a celebratory mood outside her Delhi residence.
Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are not eligible to travel by IAF aircraft and helicopters. They have to travel in the company of eligible persons which includes the prime minister, the home minister and the defence minister for official purposes.
The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP's Sanjaya Sinh.
She was born in 1946 in the town of Or Orbassano, near Turin (Italy) and married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968.
'And because she was very close to Indira Gandhi, she was close to me.' 'Sonia is a wonderful person'
Rahul Gandhi claimed a leader from Maharashtra cried in front of his mother Sonia Gandhi, saying he felt ashamed that he could not "fight this power any more and didn't want to go to jail".
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi is said to be travelling abroad for a routine checkup in connection with her treatment.
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