The Congress on Monday disapproved of the arrest of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi on the charge of sedition, saying the action was a bit "over-stretched" and "not called for". At the same time, the All India Congress Committee advocated for "reasonable restrictions" on freedom of speech and called for respecting the national emblems.
This has come as a major boost to the Congress ahead of the assembly election in Haryana early next year.
A case of criminal conspiracy, corruption practices and undue influence on election has been registered on the complaint of two Congress MLAs, police said on Sunday.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh's statement that even the worst of criminals should be buried or cremated according to their faith has kicked up a storm in the Congress.
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.
Congress today received a shot in the arm in its bid to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh with a former Bahujan Samaj Party Rajya Sabha member joining it.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane's suspension from Congress has been revoked with immediate effect, All India Congress Committee General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi revealed on Monday.Rane had been suspended for lashing out at the Congress' top brass, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, after he lost the Maharashtra chief minister's post to Ashok Chavan.
'He messaged me on Friday at 8:52 AM and then at 2:47 PM I replied, 'Are you planning a switch?'. At 2:48 he sent a message, 'is speaking to you not possible?' I said I will call you and at 3:40, I spoke to him'
The visit comes amid the campaign for the November 25 assembly polls in Rajasthan, where the Congress hopes to return to power.
Bandopadhyay joined the party along with his followers at a function at Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata.
Congress's Lok Sabha members Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque said this list must be made available in order to verify who is entitled to nominate a candidate and who is entitled to vote.
Congress leaders at the All India Congress Committee presented Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram their most important wishlist for the coming budget, when he came calling at 24 Akbar Road on Thursday evening: 'Since they are now in the election year the Congress needs a people-friendly and a vote-friendly budget'.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Mukul Wasnik's face off with the Bihar Congress delegates has turned ugly with senior leaders alleging that Wasnik, reportedly, hit senior party worker Shashi Kant Tewari, an old timer of the party.
The Congress on Tuesday rejected the Central Information Commission order on bringing political parties under the Right to Information ambit, contending that such "adventurist" approach would harm democratic institutions.
Former minister Virbhadra Singh, who resigned from the Union Cabinet after charges were framed against him in a corruption case, has been made the chairman of the Congress' campaign committee for Himachal Pradesh, ahead of the assembly polls in the state. Singh, a five time chief minister, had earlier said that his resignation should not be seen as an admission of guilt as he was going to fight the case to its logical conclusion.
Riding high on the euphoria generated by recent visits of All India Congress Committee general Secretary Rahul Gandhi and a battery of its Union ministers, the Congress is going it all alone this assembly elections in Bihar, hoping for a better showing.
"Our target was the decimation of the Samajwadi Party and we have succeeded in it," Salman Khursheed said, congratulating Mayawati on her party's performance.
"We don't know whether it is elevation, promotion, demotion, deviation, dilution. We have no idea. We have no opinion. We are not concerned. It is their internal matter and good luck," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary told reporters at the All India Congress Committee briefing.
The Congress is quietly dropping an All India Congress Committee session planned in New Delhi on December 28, to kick off the year-long celebrations of the party completing 125 years.
The Congress on Thursday said the country will give a befitting reply to the tears of the wrestlers who sought justice from the BJP government.
With many claimants for the chief minister's post in Uttarakhand, the ball was on Saturday back in the court of All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi to take a call, as the party observers wrapped up their consultations with Congress and independent Members of Legislative Assembly on the leadership issue. Congress general secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chaudhary Birendra Singh, in-charge of the affairs in the state, held separate talks with each of the MLAs.
Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Saturday said the proposed rally of the opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Bhopal in October has been cancelled, a move which Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed was due to the 'public anger' over remarks made by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders against Sanatan Dharma.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley for his criticism of Press Council of India Chief Markandey Katju over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, calling it "unnecessary and outlandish".
Striking a different note from the government on last week's anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh that left 19 tribals killed, Congress on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state for the "botch-up", saying it has resulted in the loss of lives of innocent tribals and minors.
Ahead of assembly polls in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of merger with Congress, terming as "cheap publicity" statements in this regard made by that party.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday snubbed Kerala Chief Minister V S Achutanandan for his comment describing Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi as an 'Amul baby'.
'The BJP is using administrative machinery to fight elections'
'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is a 'booster dose' for the Congress and a 'decisive and transformational moment' for the politics of the country, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said in Guwahati on Friday.
The Congress on Friday brought back Abhishek Manu Singhvi, its former spokesman mired in a controversial CD row, as one of the leaders to put forward the party view in the electronic media
With the Bharatiya Janata Party losing Biju Janata Dal as an ally in Orissa, the Congress on Monday gloated over the plight of its principal challenger alleging National Democratic Alliance was "virtually non-existent" and there was "no serious challenge" to the United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.
Jairam Ramesh, who quit as a union minister earlier this week, was on Saturday appointed the Congress' campaign coordinator in the Lok Sabha elections.He will be setting up a 'war room' near the All India Congress Committee headquarters to coordinate the movement of Congress leaders on the campaign trail and meet the requirements of candidates. A Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, he is also a member of various AICC committees.
The Congress on Thursday said it will participate in the June 12 meeting of opposition parties in Patna but is yet to decide on who will attend the meeting.
The silence by Congress top brass at the All India Congress Committee session on Tuesday on scams involving party leaders fuelled a war of words with the Bharatiya Janata Party asking whether it was "completely neutral" to corruption and the Congress saying this issue does not have to be reminded by everyone.
Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda are the members of the pro-reform G23 group who wrote a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Tharoor's close aide Aalim Javeri collected the forms from the office of the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on the first day of the start of the nomination process, all but confirming an electoral face-off for the top party post with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Coming under attack after his reported statement that 'radicalised Hindu groups' posed a bigger threat than outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday diluted his comments by saying that terrorism and communalism of all types are a threat to India. "Rahul Gandhi's view is that terrorism and communalism of all types are a threat to India. We need to remain vigilant against acts of terrorism of all kinds no matter who commits them," said Congress.
He claimed even the media is debarred from entering the secretariat and reaching out to the chief minister and thus changes need to be made in the governance model in Odisha.
The party's top leadership, which is now looking for a replacement for Gandhi, will have a new team once the new Congress chief is appointed and some more resignations are likely to pour in till then.
Seemingly expressing his displeasure against ministers demanding three more deputy chief minister posts in Karnataka, state Congress president D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said the party would respond to them appropriately.
"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.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances