Two home guards were killed and at least 15 others, including several policemen, were injured on Monday as a mob in Haryana's Nuh district tried to stop a Vishwa Hindu Parishad procession, pelting stones and setting cars on fire, officials said.
Despite his statement that the word 'Hindu' is Persian and it has a 'dirty' meaning drawing widespread criticism, Karnataka Congress Working President Satish Jarkiholi on Tuesday sought to defend himself saying he was only referring to what has been written and published.
The Congress on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government over a scuffle between the Delhi Police and the wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, with Rahul Gandhi condemning such 'shameful' behaviour with sportspersons and alleging the ruling party has 'never shied away' from committing atrocities on the daughters of the country.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also decided to convene a 'Chintan Shivir', a brainstorming session from May 13-15 in Udaipur.
She called on the people of the state to ensure this election is not about Modi or any other leader, irrespective of their party.
Around 15 other temporary structures were also demolished as part of the drive, police said.
Vast experience in running the government and mass appeal across the state have favoured Siddaramaiah in the tightly contested race for Karnataka chief minister.
The sources told PTI that Shettar flew from Hubballi to Bengaluru on Sunday in a special helicopter and held discussions with Congress general secretary (Karnataka in-charge) Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress state chief D K Shivakumar, former minister M B Patil and veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed a clear message has come from the House today that if people want relief from 'severe unemployment, extreme inflation, falling incomes and extreme poverty', then the Bharatiya Janata Party 'will have to be defeated' in the elections.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
The opposition party questioned why the government took five years after the liquidation proceedings of ABG Shipyard to lodge an FIR in connection with the alleged duping of 28 banks.
The BJP tweeted a video of Rahul Gandhi apparently at a nightclub in Nepal, inviting a strong response from the Congress which said he was in the friendly country to attend the marriage function of a journalist friend and that it is not a crime to attend weddings of family and friends.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would participate in the Karnataka leg of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" led by Rahul Gandhi that will be entering the state on September 30, state party chief D K Shivakumar said on Friday.
A day before counting of votes polled in the Karnataka assembly elections, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Friday went into a huddle and held strategy sessions on ways to keep their flock together.
Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the 'Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir' is also aimed at deliberating on challenges facing the country such as "freefall of the economy", increasing inequality of wealth, price rise of essential commodities, "deep-rooted conspiracy" to hand over farming sector to a select group of private corporates, "attack on India's territorial integrity by China, "attack" on rights of Dalits, SCs/STs, minorities and attempts to divide by using Hindu-Muslim rhetoric.
President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee DK Shivakumar termed the step "unconstitutional"
Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Randeep Surjewala said party president Sonia Gandhi has been summoned by the ED for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper on June 8, and she was determined to appear before the agency as she has nothing to hide.
Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Friday hit out at the Congress for blaming the anti-incumbency of his four-and-half-years tenure for the poor show in assembly polls, saying the party's leadership will never learn.
The Congress is likely to get 11 Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming election cycle with some of its top leaders, including P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, eyeing another term.
The Congress has decided to shift its MLAs in Rajasthan to a Udaipur hotel, with party sources saying they fear that the Bharatiya Janata Party will poach them ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
Savadi would now be the grand old party's candidate in Athani in Belagavi district, Congress leaders said.
Congress leaders and workers took to the streets on Monday in Delhi and various state capitals as Rahul Gandhi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi for questioning in the National Herald case, with the opposition party accusing the Modi government of 'trampling on democracy'.
Congress MPs on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the motion of thanks on President's address, alleging he was only speaking against the Congress party and not on the address.
"Dear Naddaji, Stop losing cool and all sense of propriety. Please remember -- 10,000 security personnel were deployed for PM's rally. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies," Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.
Days after the Supreme Court held as "illegal" the extension of ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra's tenure, the Centre on Wednesday moved the apex court seeking modification of its order to allow him to continue in office till October 15 in view of the ongoing FATF review.
With this, the Cabinet will reach its full strength of 34.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said no culprit will be spared after a deputy superintendent of police investigating illegal stone-mining was killed in Nuh district when a truck he signalled to stop drove into him.
The BJP calling the Congress a "torn old party" moving towards a stage where its relevance and necessity will be completely lost.
Several top Congress leaders including party general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, Sachin Pilot, Randeep Surjewala and Shashi Tharoor, wished the former party chief on her birthday.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from the Centre and others to a plea challenging the third extension granted to Enforcement Directorate (ED) chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
'I declined the generous offer of Congress to join the party as part of the EAG and take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,' Kishor said in a tweet.
The Congress would also take inspiration from history as it was from Karnataka that an embattled Indira Gandhi had revived her dwindling political future by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Chikmagalur.
The Congress on Saturday made a stunning comeback in Karnataka ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party from its lone southern citadel with a comfortable majority in a morale booster win that will be key for reviving its electoral fortunes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
With most exit polls predicting a tight contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls in Karnataka, leaders of the two parties seem 'jittery' over the outcome, while the Janata Dal-Secular appears to be expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation.
A video released on Monday, the second in two days, shows the two leaders presenting a united front in the polls and exchanging notes on the Congress campaign.
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the three farm laws, which have now been repealed, were a big reform after 70 years of freedom which was not liked by some people and the government has moved 'a step back' and will 'move forward again' as farmers are the backbone of the country.
In Goa, where Assembly elections are a few months away, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders led by Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and including former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and the party's vice president Luizinho Faleiro met Governor P S Sridharan Pillai and requested him to immediately seek resignation from the chief minister and announce investigation by an independent agency.
Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala may attend the meeting on behalf of the party.
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