Congress leaders going all-out to defend Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law has left several red faced, with leaders privately speaking of unfair practices in the party, reports Renu Mittal.
Robert Vadra's land deals in a village in Haryana have returned to haunt the Congress party, with whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka alleging that Vadra "falsified documents" for 3.53 acres of land in Gurgaon and "pocketed" a large premium on a commercial colony license.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
The curious dealings of Robert Vadra have become even more curious, with a bank mentioned in the balance sheet of one of his companies denying it ever undertook a transaction clearly stated in the firm's auditor's report.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed officials of Skylight Hospitality have visited ED numerous times and supplied them whatever documents required but they have not been able to find anything either against Vadra or his company or associates.
Sections of the Congress party are of the view that the party would have kept itself out of any embarrassment had it not gone about defending Robert Vadra. Renu Mittal reports
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.
"The Congress is "going to (fight) the election with unity" and it will win the polls," Sharma said after the meeting at Pilot's Civil Lines residence that lasted for nearly half an hour.
The shares of DLF on Monday fell by over 5 per cent amid allegations of the company providing undue favours in its transactions with Robert Vadra -- although the charges have been vehemently denied by both the parties.
"Undue favours" to builders, including Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality, by the Haryana government during the Congress regime has come under attack from the Comptroller and Auditor General.
However, the posters were reportedly put without sanction by a Congress worker and Gandhi loyalist.
Targeting the Congress over its party president M Mallikarjun Kharge's 'venomous snake' barb at him, Modi on Saturday said till now the party and its leaders had hurled different types of abuses at him 91 times.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
Nishi Tiwari trawled through 140-character outpourings to select the most mordant among the humorous comments flooding Twitter on Robert Vadra. Here's her list.
Electioneering ended in Madhya Pradesh at 6 pm except in Naxalites-hit districts of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, where campaigning drew to a close early at 3 pm.
Claiming the Congress leadership had ignored issues raised by him, Lok Sabha MP from Gurgoan Rao Inderjit Singh has trained his guns on Robert Vadra and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Anita Katyal reports.
The chief minister and his wife Kamlesh Thakur presented a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to chief secretary Prabodh Saxena at their official residence in Shimla.
The Prime Minister's Office has refused to part with records related to its affidavit filed in Allahabad high court in response to a writ petition seeking probe into allegations made against Robert Vadra on controversial land deals, saying these are "confidential".
The launch coincides with the birthday of Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The nomination is an indication that the veteran Congress leader is not sure of victory from Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency she has represented for five terms.
Fielding a strong joint opposition candidate from Varanasi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was among the proposals discussed at the fourth meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), sources said.
Insisting that all laws were followed in a "completely transparent manner", Vadra said, "Neither me nor anyone associated with me has anything to hide."
On balance, RG contesting from Raebareli instead of Amethi isn't the masterstroke the party's adherents are touting it to be, but neither is it the blunder the BJP and its tame media is framing it as, points out Prem Panicker.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday.
Caught in a controversy over allegations that he was favoured by realty major DLF, Robert Vadra has broken his silence saying he can "handle all the negativity" even as Congress and BJP sparred over the issue.
'Gruha Lakshmi Yojana' is an attempt of the Congress party to share the 'burden of the exorbitant' LPG prices and the 'costly daily expenses' that a woman has to bear, the party said.
'If we want real democracy, the economy itself will need to be democratised.'
The satyagraha will begin at 10 AM and end at 5 PM on Sunday.
If Tamil Nadu voters preferred the DMK combine, it owed to the Modi-Annamalai combo's ideological battle which often crossed the line of political decency and also challenged 'Tamil pride', argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Delhi Police has sought fresh directions from the Union Home Ministry after Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, turned down the Z category security provided to him. Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, was provided Z category security last year after Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil decided to provide security to the kith and kin of all VIPs.
The Congress on Wednesday rejected the demand for an inquiry into Robert Vadra's land dealings suggesting the action taken by Haryana Indian Admistrative Service officer Ashok Khemka on a land deal involving the son-in law of Sonia Gandhi was an afterthought.
The Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday sought to dismiss the alleged nexus between realty giant DLF and Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra as 'false'. An affidavit filed by PMO Joint Secretary Dheeraj Gupta before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court termed as "false, vexatious and based on hearsay" the allegations about DLF having extended undue favours to Robert Vadra.
Vadra has denied any wrongdoing even as Congress party called the action 'sheer political vendetta'.
The announcement from the Congress lawmaker brought fore cracks in the party, which on Tuesday lost the sole Rajya Sabha seat to the Bharatiya Janata Party and is apparently scrambling to keep its members together to prevent the fall of its government.
The first floor of 268, Sukhdev Vihar, a nondescript white and grey bungalow, houses the headquarters of at least three companies/businesses owned by Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Vadra, who had been renting the premises for seven-odd years, has recently bought the property.
They later walked hand in hand during the yatra in Uttar Pradesh, often waving to the ecstatic crowds who welcomed their leaders with enthusiasm.
Trouble is brewing for the Congress in Haryana with its Gurgaon Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Rao Inderjit Singh making a statement that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra must be punished if he is found guilty of 'sham land deals' in Haryana. Reenu Mittal reports
He said with a view to releasing a white paper on the state's finances, the cabinet has asked the officials to furnish information on the expenditure made by the previous government from 2014 to December 7, 2023 on all departments in the state government and the purposes for which the expenditure was incurred.
There has been no undervaluation of properties sold or bought by Robert Vadra or his companies in four Haryana districts, a probe ordered by whisteblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka is understood to have found amid a row over deals between Congress chief's son-in-law and DLF.
Two top Haryana officers on Thursday sparred over cancellation of Robert Vadra-DLF land deal, with the Town and Country Planning head T C Gupta claiming there were "factual inaccuracies" in the orders by Ashok Khemka who stood by his decision and said the aggrieved parties were free to move court.
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