The Congress has finalised almost all the 174 seats it plans to contest in the October 13 Maharashtra polls but did not rule out exchange of few seats with the Nationalist Congress Party for the 288-member assembly.
Speaking to media after meeting party functionaries at Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee office in Mumbai, the former diplomat also said his aim was to make Congress stronger before the 2024 polls.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who were present at the meeting, asked party leaders to remain united and connected with the people, sources said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday poised for a landslide victory in Gujarat to retain power for a record seventh straight term but was behind the Congress in Himachal Pradesh which could go with the trend of alternative governments in the hill state.
Congress leaders will also visit the families of the over 700 farmers who died during the agitation and will organise candle marches and rallies to pray for the departed souls.
'There is a group who want to internally damage the Congress and they may be hand in glove with the BJP.'
The Congress accusing the Union minister of being involved in horse trading of Rajasthan MLAs.
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'.
With the Pradesh Congress committees passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi at the helm of All India Congress Committee, party General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said such measures have no binding effect.
The party delegation is on a two-day visit to Kashmir to attend a series of meetings on the current situation in the valley.
'I wholeheartedly condemn the statement made earlier today by Sri K R Ramesh Kumar. It is inexplicable how anyone can ever utter such words, they are indefensible. Rape is a heinous crime. Full stop,' she said on Twitter.
Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday joined her brother Rahul Gandhi during a meeting he was having with senior party leaders, sending a buzz in political circles.
Despite a warning issued to him by the Congress, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot sat on a daylong fast at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur on Tuesday, demanding action in cases of alleged corruption related to the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state led by Vasundhara Raje.
Speaking at the Congress manifesto launch programme, Gandhi said it is a much closer contest than what is propagated by the media, and expressed confidence in winning the polls.
The Congress on Wednesday dismissed as "totally baseless" and "mischievous" reports that it had offered a deal to government under which it was ready to support passage of GST bill in Parliament if it axed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the wake of the Lalitgate controversy.
Deshmukh, who is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region, replaces Govindrao Adik.
Amid a talk of leadership change in Chhattisgarh, a number of legislators from the state has arrived in the national capital in support of Baghel, who is also reaching Delhi.
At the same time, Digvijay Singh also wanted Andhra Congress leaders, including Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Kesava Rao, Sports Minister Satyanarayana Rao to show restraint.
The incident happened three months ago.
The Congress on Monday deferred the election to the post of party president till the COVID-19 situation improves and decided to set up a group to assess losses in the recent assembly polls, with party chief Sonia Gandhi saying it has to put its house in order by facing reality and drawing lessons from the 'serious setbacks'.
"You are seeing my face everywhere," the Congress leader added while addressing a press conference to release the party's 'youth manifesto' along with her brother and former president Rahul Gandhi.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed Tanwar as the IYC chief with immediate effect.
Jakhar, the former president of Punjab Congress, said the party had never named its CM face adding that it was only an exception that the Congress high command had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls.
If elected, he will be the second All India Congress Committee president from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa, and also a Dalit leader to hold the post after Jagjivan Ram.
Congress raised strong objection to presence of Modi's photograph in posters of oil companies put up to popularise cooking gas distribution initiative.
A meeting of the joint committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Friday witnessed fireworks with members vociferously opposing certain provisions of the draft legislation, leading to a brief walkout by opposition members.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created such an atmosphere in Kashmir that any Indian can hoist the national flag with pride at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Sunday and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to thank him for the change in the Valley.
The communal violence in Sambhal that claimed four lives and left over 20 people injured has now sparked a debate over a purported rivalry between the Turk and Pathan communities, with political and administrative figures weighing in on the cause of the unrest.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Dr K Keshav Rao has submitted his resignation to the party high command, after the Hyderabad police filed a case of murder against his son Venkat on Monday.
With the Rajasthan cabinet reshuffle scheduled for later in the day, Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday expressed his satisfaction over the move and stated that the inclusion of four Dalit ministers in the cabinet has sent out a positive message about the party and the state government.
Party sources in Delhi said Rahul Gandhi is keen to visit there on Wednesday, days after his sister and All India Congress Committee general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police while on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died and several injured Sunday in the bloodiest clash since the farmers' protest over the Centre's agri laws began last year.
Chairman of central election authority Madhusudan Mistri will be available in Congress headquarters in the national capital to take the nomination papers as returning officer of the election.
Tamil Nadu is set to protest against the National Education Policy (NEP) on February 18, with the ruling DMK and its allies announcing a demonstration. The state government has been at odds with the Centre over the implementation of the NEP and the three-language formula proposed in the policy. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan dismissed the state's opposition as "politics" and asserted that the Centre is committed to implementing the NEP across the country. The DMK, however, accused the Centre of encroaching on the state's rights and using the office of the Governor to push the NEP.
She also made a strong defence of Rahul Gandhi, who is on sabbatical for more than a month
An inchoate anger is brewing within the party against the central leadership after the poor show in the assembly polls.
With the Congress top brass in New Delhi likely to take a final call on Friday on the vexed Telangana issue, the development has sparked a flurry of activities in the Andhra Pradesh capital.
The Assam assembly will discontinue with the two-hour break provided on Fridays to facilitate Muslim legislators to offer 'namaaz', Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The rule will be implemented from the next session, an assembly official said.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday promised to restore the old pension scheme for government employees in Himachal Pradesh if the Congress was voted to power in the assembly elections.
Amid some Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) constituents switching sides to the National Democratic Alliance, Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday said the opposition alliance is 'strong' and the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting a 'frantic rejig' of the political landscape as it is worried over the collective strength of the coalition.
The mortal remains of Congress MP Rajeev Satav, who died after recovering from COVID-19, were consigned to flames with state honours at his native place Kalamnuri in Maharashtra's Hingoli district.
