"This also shows that the ruling dispensation's exasperation (baukhlahat) and desperation (hataasha). But the people of the country are smart enough and they (the BJP) will be held to account (hisab kar diya jaaega) at the appropriate time", said the close aide of the Bihar CM, who had quit the NDA last year and has since become a strong votary of opposition unity.
The Congress steering committee on Friday approved several amendments to the party constitution, one of which is to give permanent membership to former prime ministers and former party presidents in the all-powerful working committee.
The Congress High Command needs to take some urgent steps to quell dissidence within ruling Congress in Arunachal Pradesh, where public campaign against the incumbent Chief Minister Jarbom Gamlin has triggered street clashes and created law and order problem besides creating tension between different tribes.
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.
Top Congress leadership led by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held marathon discussions with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot joined them later in the evening.
Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi was given charge of youth affairs and the National Students Union of India, the Congress students body.
Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have taken All India Congress Committee general secretaries and state in-charges to task for failing to implement the Sonia Gandhi-driven Burari agenda on corruption. He was also unhappy about their failure to spread awareness about the Centre's flagship programmes in states ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party and to implement the Congress president's five-point action programme, outlined in her speech at the party plenary in Burari.
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'.
"Even Shashi Tharoor had said it is a friendly match and after elections Congress will be the winner," Gehlot said.
Nomination forms for the post of Congress president poll have been collected by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Pawan Bansal, but Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not done so yet, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Tuesday.
'Strange when people who don't have the capacity to fight a ward poll, were "chaprasis" of Congress leaders give "gyaan" about the party it's laughable'
The Congress' assertion came amid a slew of BJP barbs and criticism from former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad stating that the party should undertake "Congress jodo" before its "Bharat Jodo" march.
Gandhi said the prime minister did not answer the questions he had posed to him.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi left the Enforcement Directorate office after about four hours of questioning in the National Herald money-laundering case on Tuesday.
Multiple challenges, particularly with regard to cabinet formation, stare at Siddaramaiah as he takes over as the new chief minister of Karnataka, nudging out party colleague and state Congress president D K Shivakumar -- who will now be his deputy.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
The Delhi Police said that it has imposed section 144 CrPC preventing the assembly of more than four people in the area asking them not to violate the law.
Bihar Congress chief Chowdhary Mahboob Alam Kaiser expelled B N Sharma, Abdul Fatah, S K Tiwari, Shakeel Alam and R N Chowdhary from the primary membership of the party for six years, party spokesperson Prem Chandra Mishra told PTI.
Karnataka Congress working president Satish Jarkiholi, who is in the eye of a political storm for his statement on the origins of the word 'Hindu' and its "dirty meaning", on Wednesday withdrew the remark and expressed "regret" if it has hurt anyone's sentiments.
Das, a law graduate, was in politics from his college days and was elected as the Students' Union president at Gangadhar Meher College at Sambalpur, one of the oldest colleges in western Odisha.
The group is also reported to be seeking the ouster of some Rahul Gandhi loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and general secretary Ajay Maken.
Shah is a fatherly figure and a big issue has been made out of service to him, Bandi Sanjay Kumar said.
Congress is gearing itself up for the All India Congress Committee plenary session to be held on the outskirts of Delhi on December 18,19 and 20.
On the third day after Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Wayanad seat, Youth Congress was organising a night march.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP will hold their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as ministers along with them.
Khera said when a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) could be set up by former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 'what is the problem of Narendra Gautamdas, sorry....Narendra Damodardas Modi'.
The unlikely power sharing agreement between the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress had fizzled out in June following large-scale dissidence in the Sena ranks.
Upset over an open rebellion in Rajasthan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday sought a written report on it from party observers Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken as the chances of Ashok Gehlot becoming the party chief receded and other names cropped up for the post.
Pilot's demand to order a probe and take action in the alleged mining scam during the previous BJP government and other corruption allegations was supported by state cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas.
'When I started this, I just took it as an ordinary yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Slowly we understood that this yatra has a voice and feelings'
Congress President Kharge likened Modi to a venomous snake on Thursday at a public meeting, which had triggered a row, prompting the BJP to seek an apology from Kharge. Kharge later sought to clarify his remarks were not aimed at the PM but instead at his party, the BJP.
He also asserted that everything has gone smoothly for the party in the assembly polls and the government will be formed soon.
Amid the ongoing tussle between Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and party veteran Balasaheb Thorat in the wake of recent legislative council elections, both the leaders came face to face at the party's state executive committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, with both of them later claiming that everything was fine between them.
Many in the party feel it has played a critical role in boosting the Congress' electoral fortunes in the state and its impact is there for everyone to see.
Barring a brief lull in 2008 triggered by her standoff with Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the issue of family entitlement in ticket distribution, the suave and soft-spoken Alva's career has largely been a dream run.
It was a reality check for Rahul Gandhi on the state of affairs in the Congress in his first formal interaction with party leaders as vice president which saw lot of fireworks, blame game and complaints of oneupmanship.
The leaders who Gandhi met included Deputy Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari. She is likely to meet some other leaders of the G-23 as well in the coming days.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's speech in Dholpur reflects that his leader is Vasundhara Raje and not Sonia Gandhi, Sachin Pilot said in a no holds barred attack against his party colleague on Tuesday.
According to several Congress functionaries, Suresh filed his papers as a "backup plan" in the event of the nomination of Shivakumar getting rejected.
