Babbar was elected from Agra as its Lok Sabha MP twice -- in 1999 and 2004. However, following delimitation in 2008, the Lok Sabha seat became reserved for the scheduled castes.
The Samajwadi Party is unwilling to cede ground to the BJP, especially in Amethi, since the Congress is too weak to counter the BJP's well-oiled election machinery.
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.
The Congress, meanwhile, alleged that both the Samajwadi Party and the BJP are hand-in-glove with the criminals and were two sides of the same coin.
"You don't change party leadership for losses in one or two elections. The leadership is ideology. They make teams. Our team failed there (in UP)," he said.
Rahul Gandhi was defeated by BJP's Smriti Irani in 2019 elections.
SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Akhilesh will not participate in the yatra, nor will any other leader from the party.
Raising serious objections against the manner in which the entire Anna Hazare episode was handled by the Congress leadership during the absence of its President Sonia Gandhi, a Congress member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh has shot off a letter to party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, urging him to get the whole affair investigated by a panel of seasoned Congressmen.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi was on Saturday granted interim bail by a local court in a case relating to derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati. The release order has been sent to the district jail, where she has been lodged after she was arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Mayawati.
Cross FIRs were lodged against 30 people, including Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas and a Congress leader, after an altercation between activists of both parties, at Peparpur police station in Amethi district.
The Congress party should project its prime ministerial candidate for the general elections next year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
A portion of the Bundelkhand expressway developed deep potholes due to heavy rains in Jalaun, within a week of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the 296-km-long road.
The muscle-flexing by 140 Members of Legislative Assembly of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, demanding the appointment of late AP Chief Minister Y S Rajshekhara Reddy's son Jaganmohan Reddy as the next CM, has come as a rude jolt to the Congress leadership, according to highly placed sources in the party.The party has realised that the entire power structure in a state should not be handed over to one individual or faction.
The 60-year-old Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief was arrested on July 15 for allegedly making unpalatable remarks against Mayawati.
The Congress celebrated its new found strength in Uttar Pradesh politics by putting up an impressive show at the Ravindralaya Auditorium complex in Lucknow on Saturday.The event to 'felicitate' the 21 newly elected Members of Parliament from the state also marked the revival of the party after a gap of nearly two decades.But the party's two most prominent and powerful MPs from the state -- Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi -- were conspicuous by their absence.
"By providing security to our leader, the state government that orchestrated the attack just wants to win the support of the people as it has come under attack from various sections," he added.
Additional District Judge Sudha Sharma passed the order and fixed July 29 as the next date of hearing.
The ruling BJP is confident of bettering its 2017 performance, especially with the new UP party chief, Bhupendra Chaudhary, at the helm of affairs, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sat on a hunger strike on Monday after being detained in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district while she was en route to Lakhimpur Kheri, her party said.
The decision was taken to foil the attempts made by Chief Minister Mayawati to further split the party.
As soon as the House met at 2 pm, papers were laid on the table and two resolutions adopted amid slogan shouting and protest by Congress members.
One-line resolutions from states authorising the Congress high command to decide candidates in elections could be a thing of the past with Rahul Gandhi set to tone up the functioning of the party.
'About 90 per cent of our netas have no loyalty and will go with the winner.'
Tiwari claimed Muslims had reposed their faith in Congress in civic elections as they had realised that only this party could keep communal forces at bay.
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.
'Every Congress leader in UP and the rest of India is calling me and thanking me that finally someone spoke about this JNU gang ruling the Congress party in UP.'
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."
Among the other promises made by the party are purchase of wheat and paddy at Rs 2,500 per quintal and Rs 400 per quintal for sugarcane.
Ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, two photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a stroll with his hand on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's shoulder has created quite a buzz.
A photograph of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat sitting with Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has set tongues wagging in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, with the Congress taunting that the S in SP means the Sangh.
After promising 40 per cent tickets to women in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announced on Thursday that all class 12 pass girls will be given a smartphone while all graduate girls will get an electric scooty if her party forms a government in the state.
Given the vital role played by cyberspace in new-age electioneering, the UP police have constituted a digital monitoring cell to curb objectionable and defamatory social media posts on the eve of the elections.
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.'
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.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
But the Congress said its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will attend the event.
People may belong to any caste and religion, they are not safe, the Congress leader alleged.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra left for Lakhimpur Kheri Wednesday evening from a PAC guest house in Sitapur where she was kept in detention since Monday morning.
Angry protesters allegedly forced the two vehicles to stop and set them on fire.
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