What some of our leaders were up to this week.
Some of the Congress's new-found enthusiasm for hitting the streets will show its result in the Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka elections. That is when we will know if the Congress will go to the regional parties or the parties will come to the Congress.
The Congress may proudly claim that the party has given the country its first woman speaker in Meira Kumar, but sources tell rediff.com that the Bihar MP was in fact a last-minute choice for the august office.
Call it the art of staying rooted yet bending with prevailing political winds. With Telangana going to the polls in December, and assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra and Odisha scheduled next year, what factors have influenced parties' recent moves?
'The karyakartas who wanted to contest were disappointed and it took some time to explain to them why we needed an alliance.'
With controversy over Telangana deepening, 16 Andhra Pradesh ministers from the region have sought an "urgent" audience with Congress President Sonia Gandhi saying any delay will be detrimental to the party and there was "no option" to a separate Telangana.
Protests against the decision to divide Andhra Pradesh rocked Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions for the second day on Thursday, with united Andhra supporters taking out rallies and preventing public transport buses from plying.
A ministerial panel looking into the reasons for the Congress' poor performance at the recent bypolls on Wednesday discussed ways to effectively publicise the welfare schemes being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government to reach out to the masses.
Out of the sitting MPs with serious criminal cases against them, nine face murder cases. The analysis revealed that five of these MPs belong to the BJP.
Come May 16, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will have more seats from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh than any formation mustered by the Congress, notes T V R Shenoy.
Primarily the discussion will be on Satyam matters and also on ensuing parliament and state Assembly polls.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
According to the report, there are 16 sitting MPs and MLAs who have declared cases related to rape under Indian Penal Code Section 376, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and can be extend to life imprisonment.
All eyes in Andhra Pradesh are on the by-elections to the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula assembly constituencies, from where Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother Vijayalaxmi will be contesting.
Vijay Sai Reddy, auditor for the YSR family and accused No 2 in YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy's disproportionate asset case, will have to go back to Chanchalguda Central Jail of Hyderabad, from where he was released on bail only a week ago.
Of the 16 assembly seats in Telangana, which went to the bypolls because of en masse resignation of the TRS members, TRS could retain only seven seats. Similarly of the four Lok Sabha seats, which TRS resigned from last year, the party could retain only two and other two were shared by the Congress and the TDP. The ruling Congress party wrested five and the TDP bagged four assembly seats earlier held by the TRS.
Those in the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress who can't see the full picture that is emerging expect the sky to fall on their head any moment now.
The launch of Jana Sena party by Union minister Chiranjeevi's brother and Telugu movie star Pawan Kalyan may alter political equations in Andhra Pradesh, more particularly in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, days ahead of elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly.
The incumbent ministers put in their papers at the meeting of the cabinet, which was their last, at the secretariat in Amaravati.
The Congress' top leadership decided to rally firmly behind the Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh as the party prepares to face the Telangana issue after an official committee submits its report on the statehood issue by this month-end.
The Congress' washout in the recent by-polls at the hands of rebel Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's fledgling party is understood to have been discussed at a meeting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had with his party chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.
Who will take over the mantle of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh? This is the big question in the event of the death of charismatic leader Dr Y S Rajashekhara Reddy.
Triggering a virtual rebellion against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, state Health Minister D L Ravindra Reddy on Thursday sent his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi "taking moral responsibility" for the party's poor show in the by-elections.
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. No other member of his cabinet took the oath as he will finalise his team after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi and other central ministers.
The Andhra Pradesh minister for information technology Komatireddy Venkatreddy told mediapersons in Hyderabad that he had not received the notice from the All India Congress Committee and will respond to it when he receives it.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday left for Delhi, where he is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and possibly discuss an expansion of his cabinet and Telangana, among other issues. There has been speculation that the chief minister would induct only two legislators of erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party into his cabinet. It is speculated that the cabinet re-jig may take place anytime between January 21 and 28.
The Congress Working Committee is likely to take a final decision on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a state of Telangana on Tuesday.
After Governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan emerged from a 45-minute meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a source indicated that they both had held key discussions on the current political situation in the state.
In the first signs of political trouble in Andhra Pradesh's ruling Congress party, the state minister for women and child welfare Konda Surekha tendered her resignation to the state governor ND Tiwari on Thursday evening.
Andhra Pradesh Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao resigned late on Tuesday night, a day after CBI named him as an accused in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy.
The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday dismissed the regular bail petition of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in connection with an alleged disproportionate assets case involving him. The AP high court had on December 24 dismissed the statutory bail plea of Jagan.
With several leaders from the Seema-Andhra region waiting to defeat the Telangana resolution in the assembly, the Congress is exploring the possibility of imposing the President's rule in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party feels it has more to lose if it gets into an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party in Seema-Andhra. Vicky Nanjappa reports
In UP and Bengal, it is willing to sacrifice its interests to stop the BJP and would work towards ensuring the BJP did not win incremental seats in Odisha and Telangana.
Hitting out at the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh for its poor response to providing relief to rain-hit farmers, former Congress Member of Parliament Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday said the government would have to bid goodbye to power in the state if it neglected farmers."At least now, this government should open its eyes and rectify its mistakes. If it fails to become farmer-friendly, then I warn that the time has arrived for this government to go," he said.
The tumult in the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh in the aftermath of the rout in the assembly bypolls continued on Friday, with some party leaders blaming Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for the poor showing.
22 images that captures glimpses of a most unusual Indian who led the nation for 10 years.
The Congress would also take inspiration from history as it was from Karnataka that an embattled Indira Gandhi had revived her dwindling political future by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Chikmagalur.
