Union Minister Kumari Selja was named the Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha elections, putting an end to speculation that former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit could be brought to the Upper House from Haryana.
In a big organisational rejig, the BJP named Union minister G Kishan Reddy, Sunil Jakhar and Babulal Marandi as party presidents in Telangana, Punjab and Jharkhand respectively.
Whether the Congress takes a decision for or against a Telangana state, its strongest bastion Andhra Pradesh weakens. Sheela Bhatt looks at the tough choices before the party.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
In a major exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress on Thursday night constituted screening committees for all states and union territories for early selection of candidates.
United Muslim Action Committee, an umbrella of more than a dozen Muslim organisations of Andhra Pradesh, on Wednesday declared an all-out war against ruling Congress party, specially Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
Given the possibilities that next year's assembly elections could throw up, Stalin told the state assembly that an interim report had to be submitted by January 2026. The outcomes may well find its way into the DMK's poll manifesto, thus seeking to keep the electoral focus still on the BJP-ruled Centre and Prime Minister Modi, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Take the case of Sudarshan Reddy, irrigation minister in the Andhra Pradesh government. He hails from the Bodan constituency in Nizamabad district and was supposed to return to his home constituency on Saturday. However, he advised against it due to the protests outside his house.
Though the terms of reference of the committee to look into the creation of a Telangana state may come in the next few days, the Congress is worried about the 'political' price it may have to pay for moving too fast on the statehood issue.
The Congress is trying to devise a political strategy to capitalise on the ongoing agitation in Andhra Pradesh, for a separate Telengana state, and defuse the pressure on the state government regarding the issue.Congress president Sonia Gandhi reportedly spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the revival of the Committee on Telengana, which was constituted during the United Progressive Alliance's first term but was subsequently abandoned.
'The Congress's allies won't be left behind in looking out for their own interests. Some will demand a bigger share of the ministerial or electoral pie, others will simply jump ship,' says T V R Shenoy.
There is a likelihood of some delay regarding an announcement on Telangana with the Congress seeking to buy more time to resolve the vexed issue despite the January 28 deadline set by the Centre to decide the matter.
There is a proposal from the BJP camp that they would resort to a proportion-based increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for individual states, based on what they now have. On the face of it, this sounds like a fine argument that those demanding a 'freeze' now cannot oppose without reasons and justification, avers N Sathiya Moorthy.
Consolidating its position, the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested high-profile Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh from the Samajwadi Party and won three assembly seats, including that of Chief Minister Manik Saha, in Tripura in by-election results announced on Sunday.
Azharuddin, who had been banned from cricket in 2000 for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal that had rocked the game internationally, had met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Moily and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Srinivas last month and expressed his desire to join the party
Extending its winning run in the south, the Congress on Sunday won 64 assembly seats to form government in the Bharat Rashtra Samiti-dominated Telangana, with the southern solace coming in the midst of a saffron sweep of the Hindi heartland where the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested two states from the grand old party and retained one.
A decision on the sensitive and much-delayed Telangana issue may soon come from the Centre, the Congress indicated on Monday.
Dr K V P Ramachandra Rao, adviser to the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and the man believed to be behind the open campaign for making Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as Andhra Pradesh's next Chief Minister, on Tuesday said Congress President Sonia Gandhi has promised to look into the leadership issue.
Three ministers from Andhra-Rayalaseema regions submitted their resignations to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy late on Thursday night even as at least 15 others are understood to have backed out following a stern warning by the high command.
The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
'Each state is unique, but when it comes to finance, the fundamentals cannot be different.'
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy "three-days mission" to Delhi from Sunday is a politically sensitive one. His stay in Delhi for three days inidcates that he has serious business with the All India Congress Committee.
Slamming as "fascist" Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's pitch for a "Congress Mukt Bharat", Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday reached out to all non-BJP parties on the plank of secularism.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday put the reservation bill for Kannadigas in private firms on hold amid fierce criticism from business leaders and tech tycoons.
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.
Andhra Pradesh ministers hailing from Telangana, who have sent in their resignation letters to party chief Sonia Gandhi, will meet her in Delhi on Monday and seek a clear time-frame for the creation of a separate state. They have also sought an appointment from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, according to one of the 13 ministers. "We will meet Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, Defence Minister A K Antony and other senior All India Congress Committee leaders," he said.
Facing the heat from their constituents as well as fellow legislators, Andhra Pradesh ministers hailing from Telangana region on Thursday came forward to resign from their posts but Chief Minister K Rosaiah prevented them from doing so.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary and in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said that the United Progressive Alliance government. is considering the formation of the second States Reorganisation Commission to look into the demand for a separate Telangana state and Vidarbha state.
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.
A resolution to this effect was passed at the party's general body meeting in Hyderabad, party sources said.
A decision on the vexed issue of Telangana is expected before Monsoon session of Parliament which is likely to start after August 15.
Ahead of the crucial Congress Working Committee meeting likely to be held in New Delhi on July 28regarding the Telangana issue, MLAs from the Seema-Andhra region have stepped up pressure not to bifurcate the state.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
In the letter, they said as members of the committee, it is their moral and constitutional responsibility to discuss this matter with utmost urgency and the required sincerity.
Over the past week, Rahul Gandhi has replaced office-bearers in charge of party units in Gujarat and Karnataka and Goa, and brought in young leaders as secretaries. These changes are unlikely to be a one-time exercise and poll-bound states would get the primary attention.
After Arunachal Pradesh slipped out of its control and Uttarakhand was placed under President's rule, the Congress president took matters into her own hands.
Nearly half of the MPs elected in the 2019 general elections in India were first-timers.
'Some false information was carried to Delhi, these negative bits seemed to have played heavily.' Union Textiles Minister KS on why he opposes the Telangana decision.
