Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
After Raj Babbar's comment -- that a hearty meal in Mumbai can be bought for Rs 12 -- another Congress leader on Thursday claimed that just Rs 5 was sufficient for a meal in Delhi.
The Congress top brass has accepted Suresh Kalmadi's resignation as secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party with immediate effect. Kalmadi, the chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, has been in the eye of a storm following allegations of corruption in CWG-related projects.
Suspended Congress leader claims 100 letters to Sonia Gandhi over leadership change
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
Sources said the leadership of the government going forward, if Gehlot is elected as party chief, is likely to be on the meeting agenda.
"K Muraleedharan, who had been suspended from the party earlier, continues to indulge in anti-party activities. It has, therefore, been decided to expel him from the party for six years with immediate effect," an AICC statement said.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Gurudas Kamat on Saturday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged money deals worth crores of rupees between Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, her MP son Dushyant Singh and the tainted former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi.
Shah said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action, and made reporting of crimes even easier by recognising e-FIR, Zero FIR and electronic or digital evidence.
The Congress Legislature Party, which met at a private hotel in Bengaluru on Sunday evening, passed a unanimous resolution authorising the party chief to pick its leader.
Some constituents of the alliance have raised concern that the panels, particularly the 14-member coordination committee, are at risk of becoming ineffective, as their decisions have so far not been acted upon.
The party is very much united and working together, the AICC general secretary organisation said.
As trends indicated a comfortable win for the grand old party in Himachal Pradesh, Shukla said the party was happy that it is getting an opportunity to form the government in the state and asserted that the party will do everything to fulfill the 10 guarantees made to the people of the state and would provide better governance to people.
Even as the Congress tired to shield Rahul Gandhi's surprise sabbatical ahead of the crucial Budget session, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh questioned his timing openly.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other senior party leaders, including All India Congress Committee general secretary Avinash Pande and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, also moved to Jaisalmer along with the MLAs in five chartered flights.
Joining the BJP cannot have been an easy decision for former UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who grew up with secular values and appears to be a victim of the party's durbar politics. Amit Agnihotri reports.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
Kumari, who is an MLA from Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh, was given one-year imprisonment by a Chamba court in February this year but is currently on bail.
With an aim of expanding the party's base, Congress on Monday launched an online and application-based membership drive.
Four to five new faces from the Hindi belt as well as some other states could be inducted as All India Congress Committee spokespersons while the 36-member list of television panelists from Congress could witness a thorough rejig this month.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi has created a flutter by saying that the "party leadership should not only speak, but also have the courage to listen".
Will Sonia Gandhi finally take a decision she has put off for so long, asks Rajeev Sharma.
'The Congress today has lost contact with the Hindu clergy.' 'They go to to Hindu clergy only during the time of elections.'
According to several Congress functionaries, Suresh filed his papers as a "backup plan" in the event of the nomination of Shivakumar getting rejected.
'The continuous and mysterious praise of the BJP and the chief minister by AIUDF leadership and senior members have affected the public perception of the Congress party'
Salman Khurshid is a known detractor of Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh's son Jaivardhan formally joined Congress on Wednesday amid indications that he might contest upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections from Raghogarh constituency, which has been nurtured by his father over a period of time.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress legislature committee unanimously passed a resolution on Friday, requesting the Congress president Sonia Gandhi to choose the Congress Legislature Party leader. The resolution moved by Kadapa member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy was supported by 150 MLAs and 49 members of legislative council.
Azad and Gehlot have reached Bengaluru and have met chief minister Siddharamaiah and other party leaders.
Rahul Gandhi succeeds Sonia Gandhi, who led the party for the last 19 years.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is against an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party, was made chairman of the Congress election management committee on Friday, possibly raising questions over the tie-up in the Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Amid indications of growing bonhomie between Congress and the Janata Dal-United, which has broken its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, All India Congress Comittee general secretary Digvijaya Singh Tuesday said the decision on any tie-up between the two parties would be taken by the A K Antony committee.
Trouble is brewing in the Congress in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh with senior leader Virbhadra Singh offering to resign from party committees constituted for the state assembly elections later this year.
The Congress Working Committee meeting witnessed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar being targetted by senior Congress leaders on the issue of spiraling price rise. The three leaders who attacked Sharad Pawar but did not name him were former maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, All India Congress Committee general secretaries R K Dhawan and Satyavrat Chaturvedi.
Scindia also said that as far as talks for alliances are concerned, "like-minded parties should also think in a like-minded way".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is serving 'dhokla' to Chinese President Xi Jinping when incursions from that country continue, Congress leaders said on Thursday taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party and Modi.
The decision was announced by Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi at a press briefing.
Breaking away from tradition, several young Congress leaders are expected to speak at the AICC Chintan Shivir being held in Jaipur, reports Renu Mittal
The Congress is likely to hold its plenary session in Mumbai or in some other part of Maharashtra in December, indicate highly placed congress sources.
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