Abstention by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi also helped the government get its legislation through in the upper house where the ruling party does not enjoy a majority.
The Congress has sought action against Enforcement Directorate officials who 'selectively leaked' to some media houses information related to Rahul Gandhi's questioning, as the party also served a legal notice on three Union ministers over the issue.
Some analysts also pointed out that "outsourcing" political management to regional satraps such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana may have proven counterproductive and micromanagement by the Gandhi family was needed.
The party also announced that Kamal Nath will contest the bypoll for the Chhindwara assembly constituency.
The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders -- Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma -- joined them.
Some senior Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor, met at their senior colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad's house in New Delhi on Monday evening after the Congress Working Committee debated their letter to the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi seeking urgent organisational reforms.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera tweeted, "Shayad meri tapasya mein kuch kami reh gayi (Maybe my penance fell short)."
Leaders of several opposition parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Left assembled at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi on Tuesday and discussed various issues facing the country, amid intense speculation about the possibility of a third front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The party raised concern over the security of Electronic Voting Machines inside strong rooms and their handling during the counting process in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the alleged deletion of voters in Uttar Pradesh.
The meeting also includes some of Sonia Gandhi's close associates and is the first effort by the Congress leadership for a reproachment with those who raised questions over the leadership.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party stood united and together as a family and there are no dissensions pending after the announcement of elections to the party chief's post.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien said the situation in Bihar is one of the reasons behind the Parliament session being cut short by the government.
Nath, 72, will take the office of chief minister for the first time in a distinguished career in politics.
'From 10 am on Tuesday to 3 am this morning, we must have made not less than a thousand phone calls.' 'We kept fighting till the end and we did not leave the room till we got 113 certificates.' 'Two-three losses would have changed the game and the BJP wanted to become the largest party which they did not become.'
The joint committee of Parliament examining the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 has adopted its report on the bill with several opposition MPs, including those from the Congress, Ttrinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal, submitting their dissent notes.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram is Congress nominee from Maharashtra for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha while senior leaders Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh have been named from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka respectively.
'It was disappointing on two counts. One is on the leadership issue and second is how the Congress must win elections.'
In a public show of dissent, the 'G-23' leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal, who have been pressing for a leadership change and organisational overhaul in the Congress, gathered on one stage in Jammu on Saturday, saying the party is weakening and they have come together to strengthen it.
Senior Congress leaders Anand Sharma, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kapil Sibbal, Raj Babbar, Vivek Tankha, Ghulam Nabi Azad will address an event in Jammu on Saturday which Manish Tiwari is also expected to join.
The swearing-in ceremony, attended by Chouhan, was kept low-key in view of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Social distancing norms were followed at the ceremony.
Patole wrote that he was resigning as the chairman of the Kisan Congress and 'dismissing' the unit.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from coercive action to AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in alleged hate speech cases lodged against him in UP.
The motions were moved over misinformation on PM Modi's Lahore visit and the Bandung Conference.
While Dave was re-nominated for the Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh, Akbar, who represents Jharkhand in the Upper House, was fielded from the state.
The counsel appearing for the poll panel told a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde that Nath's petition has become infructuous as the campaigning has ended and the voting is on Tuesday.
Responses quickly poured in from all quarters of the Opposition hailing the Supreme Court verdict on Arunachal Pradesh.
The poll panel on Friday took note of alleged breach of 'ethical and dignified behaviour' and revoked the 'star campaigner' status of the Congress leader. While the political party pays for the expenditure of a star campaigner, the candidate pays for the expenditure of other campaigners.
The highlight of the five-hour meeting, which ended with a plan to hold a 'chintan shivir' at the earliest opportunity to chalk the Congress' future strategy, was a demand by Sonia Gandhi's loyalists that Rahul Gandhi should assume the party leadership again.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Saturday appeared before a court in Bhopal in connection with an alleged recruitment scam at the assembly secretariat which took place when he was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.
In the petition, there has been a challenge to the report and the recommendation of the Union Cabinet for promulgation of President's Rule in the state.
'(The) PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression. If the land was Chinese: Why were our soldiers killed? Where were they killed,' he asked on Twitter, tagging the prime minister's remark.
Some senior Congress leaders including Kapil Sibal have called for introspection after the party's dismal performance in the recently held Bihar assembly polls, after which the ruling National Democratic Alliance returned to power in the state despite the main member of the grand opposition alliance, Rashtriya Janata Dal, putting up a strong show and emerging as the single largest party.
The Chhattisgarh government has filed the original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution which empowers a state to move the Supreme Court directly in matters of dispute with the Centre or any other state. It is the first state to challenge the Act.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to inform it within a week the specific time frame by which it will "take over" entire investigation into the Vyapam scam cases so that the issue of monitoring can be decided.
The bench said, "It is not an issue which can be taken up through an election petition and therefore, requires to be heard."
The letter was not a challenge to leadership but a parchment of action to strengthen the party, Congress MP Vivek Tankha asserted, while former union minister Mukul Wasnik said those who saw the letter as an "offence" will also soon realise that the issues raised are worth consideration.
It also said that Goswami can later file anticipatory bail plea in connection with the FIRs after three weeks.
The Congress has launched an offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party government over the Rafale deal, alleging corruption and violation of rules by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded answers from him.
The crisis surfaced on Friday when the Rajasthan Police issued notices to Gehlot, Pilot and the government chief whip, seeking time from them to record their statements over an alleged bid to destabilise the state's Congress government.
A Jharkhand court framed charges against accused through a WhatsApp call.
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