"If anybody with a mass base joins the BJP or any political party, everybody welcomes him. Expressing trust in our ideology, if anybody joins us we will welcome him with open arms. This is a normal procedure," Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told reporters in New Delhi.
The assertion by the Congress came after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, citing concerns raised by three BJP MPs over the spread of coronavirus, urged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to consider suspending the Bharat Jodo Yatra if adherence to Covid protocols cannot be followed.
'But unlike Punjab, the rebels have an alternative -- the BJP'
Singh met Congress president Rahul Gandhi before joining the party.
What some of our leaders were up to on the weekend.
He said, a message should go across the country, not just in Rajasthan that 'this will not be tolerated'.
'The water crisis is so obvious that people see no point begging for it from politicians.'
Holding placards and banners that read "INDIA for Manipur" and "INDIA demands PM's statement on Manipur", the opposition parties raised slogans against the government in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament complex.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with several party leaders, embarked on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Kanyakumari on Thursday, marking the beginning of a challenging journey through which the party is seeking to reach out to people and rejuvenate its organisation.
A woman from Rajasthan's Dausa district, who was allegedly abducted and raped by an Indian Police Service officer, sat on a dharna in Jaipur along with her family members and Independent MP Kirori Lal Meena, on Tuesday, after she was not allowed to meet Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at his residence.
'It is we who elected both the literate M K Stalin and the illiterate Golma Devi, and it is we who must endure the consequences.'
The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of making efforts to topple the Gehlot government by indulging in horse-trading.
Before ending his life on Monday, Meena recorded a video alleging Joshi and a few other people had caused problems to him because of which he was forced to kill himself.
Senior party leaders R K Dhawan and V Narainswamy are members of the committee, which has All India Congress Committee general secretary Ashok Gehlot as convenor.
All eyes are on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as top leaders converged at her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi on Monday after a series of developments in the last 24 hours in Rajasthan, where a majority of the party MLAs have rebelled against Sachin Pilot and want Ashok Gehlot to continue as the chief minister.
Right-wing group Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena's president Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi was shot dead in the living room of his house in Jaipur on Tuesday by three armed men, one of whom was also killed in retaliatory firing, police said.
Giriraj Singh Malinga said he had alerted Gehlot ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls that a conspiracy was going on to topple his government.
Dr Archana Sharma committed suicide on Tuesday due to alleged harassment after police filed an FIR against her under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre had 'failed in every field' and claimed if the Congress wins in upcoming state elections, then the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will form a coalition government in 2024.
The Congress will hold a chintan shivir immediately after the Budget session of Parliament and the CWC will meet again before that, he told reporters
The devotees from Rajasthan and neighbouring states had been waiting at the temple premises in several queues to seek darshan on the occasion of 'Gyaras', an auspicious day as per Hindu calendar.
The Rajasthan police has got concrete evidence against eight accused named in the FIR registered after the abduction and murder of two Muslim men whose charred bodies were found in Haryana's Bhiwani, officials said on Wednesday.
The crisis in the Delhi unit of the Congress was solved after party president Sonia Gandhi met CM Sheila Dixit and DPCC chief Rambabu Sharma.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of the shock resignation of party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday and his letter to party president Sonia Gandhi in which he lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for 'demolishing the party's entire consultative mechanism'.
Sources said besides giving approval to the polls schedule, the members of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, could also express confidence in the leadership provided by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Sources said while the Congress units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will hold separate discussions on May 26 on their preparations and actions to be taken, the party will also hold strategy meets on Chhattisgarh on May 27.
While the armed forces won hearts, the Uttarakhand government and civil administration drew flak for the poor disaster management. N Sundaresha Subramanian gives an eyewitness account of the rescue effort.
'I know people will say I am raising this issue because I have lost. There have been a lot of complaints about the electronic voting machines. There is a view that the machines were defective. 'When advanced countries like Japan and the US have discarded the use of these machines and gone back to using ballot papers, the Election Commission should take a fresh look at this,' former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot tells Anita Katyal.
Villager are treating the project as a 'golden goose' and are demanding huge compensation for their land.
Only those vehicles which are used for essential services have been kept out of the order. State highway tolls will also be closed from Monday midnight.
The grand old party is looking to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while seeking to come to power in the other three states going to polls -- Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram.
All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi on Monday offered a chadar at the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti on the occasion of the 801st Urs.
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
Vasundhara Raje, who failed five years ago on account of infighting in the Bharatiya Janata party, reinvented herself and galvanised the cadre to spearhead her party's spectacular comeback to power in Rajasthan.
'On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for COVID19 today,' he tweeted. 'I request the people who came in contact with me in the last week, to please self isolate and get tested for COVID-19,' Mukherjee said.
Ten states and Union Territories had endorsed FDI in the sector by August 13.
Former judge of the Rajasthan high court Justice Sajjan Singh Kothari was on Monday sworn in as Lokayukta.
The state's former deputy chief minister has also demanded disbanding of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and its reconstitution, and a compensation for those affected by government job exam paper leak cases.
The ACB had issued notices to MLAs Bhanwarlal Sharma and Vishvendra Singh, who have been suspended from the party for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Ashok Gehlot-led government, to appear for investigation, but they failed to do so.
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