The decision of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen to withdraw support from the Andhra Pradesh government has spurred hectic behind the scene activity in the ruling Congress party.
At a time when the party and the government are facing tough challenges at political and economic fronts, the Congress' day-long 'dialogue session' on Friday is likely to brainstorm on the strategy ahead and take a view on the issue of alliances in different states.
The election of Tytler as an AICC delegate drew strong reactions from Delhi's ruling AAP and the BJP, which said it exposed the opposition party's character of creating division and chaos in the country.
The war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over 'who is corrupt and who is not' is all set to increase by leaps and bounds in the days ahead, says Renu Mittal
Targeting All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said the Congress leader has no prospects of becoming prime minister of the country.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
In a statement, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also described the government's strategy in dealing with the Chinese in Ladakh as 'DDLJ- Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify' and Jaishankar's remarks an implied cheap shot at former party chief Rahul Gandhi.
Dikshit was elected at a meeting of 42 party legislators in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was attended among others by All India Congress Committee General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai, Minister of State for Finance P K Bansal and Delhi Pradesh Congres Committee chief Jai Prakash Aggarwal.
With ally Nationalist Congress Party surging ahead of Congress in the recent local body elections in Maharashtra, All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi's one-day visit to Mumbai on Friday is being viewed in party circles as a move to put the state unit into a pro-active mode and retrieve lost ground.
The opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra on Tuesday announced its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray securing a substantial portion with 21 seats, while the Congress will contest 17 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar 10 seats.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
Rahul Gandhi is not to be blamed if the Congress does not perform well in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, whose results will be out on Tuesday, party leaders said on Saturday. "A leader creates an atmosphere. To convert that atmosphere into votes and seats is the responsibility of candidates and the organisation," All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh said.
Calling the action of the ED as harassment, he questioned the timing of the summons when the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra was on and when the State Assembly session was underway.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi is said to be travelling abroad for a routine checkup in connection with her treatment.
However, the Congress asserted that its coalition government led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morchais "completely secure and stable'' and would complete its term.
It also requested the police that an 'urgent and immediate' first information report (FIR) be lodged against the former Bharatiya Janata Party chief and others for the 'offences'.
Political sources say Modi is 'keen' on getting the NCP (SP) over to the Mahayuti to counter Eknath Shinde's 'demands' and to act as a cushion against his present allies, Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu, 'in case their relationship became untenable'.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
Those responsible for protecting MPs have failed in their constitutional duties, said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The Congress on Monday supported Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's statements for a "reasoned debate" on the Lokpal Bill and that there is a "lot of scope for give and take" on the issue.
Senior Congress leader Motilal Vora on Monday hoisted the national flag at the party headquarters in New Delhi in the absence of Sonia Gandhi, who is recuperating in a hospital in the United States. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi, many senior Congress leaders and ministers were present on the occasion. Rahul Gandhi, who had accompanied his mother to the US, arrived in New Delhi on Sunday.
"Simpleton" Anna Hazare is being made a scapegoat to fulfil the political ambitions of some "very smart people" in his own team, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has alleged.
Rahul Gandhi's yatra was marked with high drama on Monday as he was denied permission to visit the Sri Sri Sankardeva Satra in Nagaon district and also from holding a meeting in the Morigaon district, triggering a strong reaction from the Congress leader who protested and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now 'decide who will visit a temple and when'.
The Congress on Friday criticised L K Advani for describing Manmohan Singh as the "weakest" prime minister and said the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's Jan Chetna Yatra was "a ploy" to keep himself in "national politics and power".
The Congress on Monday announced its alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would continue for Lok Sabha polls, setting at rest speculation about the future of the tie-up in the wake of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's overture to the lead United Progressive Alliance party.
Right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nation-wide caste census and scrapping of Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released on Friday.
Most senior leaders were not present at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on the day of the outcome of poll results in five states. The leaders present at the headquarters stayed glued to television sets throughout the day, analysing results
'If you want to have fair elections you should have an officer, who is appointed as per the rules laid down for such appointments, which is based on seniority.'
Former union parliamentary affairs minister Matang Singh has been re-inducted into the Congress with immediate effect, said All India Congress Committee General Secretary Singh on Saturday. However, Janardan Dwivedi, AICC media in-charge, has denied this claim.
The Congress leadership on Friday held separate meetings to review its performances in the assembly polls in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, and said its defeat in the two states at the hands of the BJP was unexpected.
Ramesh Chennithala appointed KPCC president.
Pilot, who is also the president of the state unit of the party, on Tuesday night claimed he has the support of 30 MLAs and the Gehlot government is now in minority.
Apart from being the CM twice earlier, he has won a series of Lok Sabha and assembly elections from the state and headed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee four times.
"Before the BJP came into existence, its forerunners Jan Sangh and RSS had opposed Babasaheb while the Constitution was being adopted," Prakash Ambedkar, who heads Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, told reporters in Pune.
Team Anna on Monday asked the Congress to make public expenses incurred for hiring choppers for the just-concluded assembly elections to five states, particularly for party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul. Anna Hazare and his close aide Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the expenses should be made public.
In a threatening tone, indicating that it had reached the end of its patience with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its aggressive style of politics, the Congress warned the top BJP leadership that if it did not change its style of politics and stop its 'personalised attacks' on Congress leaders, the party 'could retaliate and this could prove costly for the BJP.'
In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Singh speaks about his candidature from Varanasi, the party's prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and how the Congress is likely to fare in Andhra Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi, the All-India Congress Committee general-secretary and the man leading the revival of the party's youth wing, may have suffered a setback in the Bihar assembly elections. But his supporters are putting a distance between the Congress defeat and the 'Rahul effect'.
Rahul Gandhi on Thursdat claimed seven out of 10 youths in Punjab have a drug problem, triggering a controversy with ruling the Akali Dal asking how the Congress leader came to this "mathematical conclusion" on drug addiction in the state.
"I sometimes think of leaving it, but the chief minister's post doesn't leave me," Ashok Gehlot famously said earlier this year, in part as a signal to the Congress top brass not to pick someone else for the job if the party wins the assembly polls.