In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi he said that despite knowing him "for the better part of his 52 years in public life" and "that too at a deeply personal level", she never "understood" him or his "character".
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Maharashtra authorised All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi to choose a new leader to succeed Ashok Chavan who resigned as chief minister in the wake of Adarsh Housing Society scam.
In a counter offensive after 13 MLAs resigned on Saturday dealing a blow to the 13-month-old government, a delegation of Congress leaders met Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar and submitted the petition seeking, under the anti-defection law, disqualification of the rebel legislators in line with the decision taken at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday.
No untoward incident has been reported so far in the bandh called by the All Minority Organisations Coordination Committee, which includes the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) and the Jamiat-e-Ulema among others, that began at 5 am on Friday, a police officer said.
Congress Legislature Party leader and Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah said no one would leave the Congress and there was no disgruntlement either.
K Rosaiah, who resigned as the chief minister earlier in the day, had moved the resolution. Rosaiah's resolution had become imminent because of conflicting claims by different groups and regions that the new leader should by of their choice.
New Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul on Thursday proved his majority on the floor of the assembly with the support of 40 MLAs.
'Everything else is a sham.'
According to party sources, the Congress Legislature Party meeting lasted for about an hour and a half.
CLP saw early that the pollution caused by China's rush for industrial growth would lead inevitably to demands for cleaner electricity.
The MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli, Umesh Jadhav, and Nagendra -- did not ascribe any reason for not attending the opening day's session.
"Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the state," Singh wrote in his letter to Gandhi
The Himachal effect could be replicated in Narendra Modi-run Gujarat, where the PCC chief Bharat Solanki and CLP leader Arjun Modwadia could meet a similar fate, party sources said.
n fast-changing developments, Khaliko Pul, rebel-turned chief minister, who was unseated by the Supreme Court, returned to the party fold with 30 dissident MLAs.
Jaivardhan Singh, the United States-educated son of Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, and Bhuwaneshwar Singh, son-in-law of late leader Arjun Singh, figure in the second list of 82 party candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls announced by the All India Congress Committee on Tuesday night.
' These youngsters don't have patience, which is a key trait in politics'
The assembly session comes days after the top leadership of the Congress announced the return of Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs to the party-fold. Referring to Pilot's open rebellion while addressing the legislators, the CM asked them to 'forget what has happened'.
The projects coming up in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha will together add 16,000 MW capacity to country's power generation.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi will take the final call on Wednesday on who will be the chief minister.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Wednesday held consultations with senior party leaders, including A K Antony, as talks for an alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for the next Lok Sabha polls and formation of a coalition government in Jharkhand reached the final stage.
The Congress Working Committee finally accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.
Notwithstanding the focus on women, Rahul Gandhi's scheduled interaction with state Congress leaders in New Delhi on Friday and Saturday will virtually be an all-male affair.
The appointment was made by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who was authorized by a meeting of the Gujarat Congress Legislature Party in Gandhinagar on Tuesday to select the leader.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked party leaders from Gujarat to focus on issues to build pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government.
"Without the knowledge of the prime minister, is it possible to do this," Kumaraswamy asked, saying Modi should come clean on the issue.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress leaders after the meeting.
Rajya Sabha member Pravin Rashtrapal, who has been re-nominated by the Congress from Gujarat for the biennial elections to the Upper House, on Friday filed his nomination papers in Gandhinagar.
Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress jockey for power in Uttarakhand as the rival parties claimed on Thursday they will form the next government intensifying efforts to woo independents and Bahujan Samaj Party legislators to their side to muster the required majority
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday described as 'absurd and baseless' Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that central security forces for anti-Maoist operations were being misused by the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
The coming weeks will be a tightrope walk for Gehlot who has 100 loyalists MLAs waiting to be rewarded on one side and the dissidents who wanted to be rehabilitated on the other, observes Prakash Bhandari.
The chief whip, who moved the top court two days after the assembly speaker C P Joshi filed the appeal against the July 24 Rajasthan high court order, was very critical of the judicial intervention into the disqualification proceedings and said that the order 'was ex facie unconstitutional' and amounted to an intrusion into the domain of speaker's power under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Congress legislator, who is a COVID-19 patient, was the last one to cast his ballot wearing a PPE suit. He came to the assembly complex in an ambulance, the official said.
"K C Venugopal is a buffoon, I feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for my leader Sri Rahul Gandhi ji," Baig told reporters.
Lapang, facing revolt by at least 14 legislators, is expected to tender his resignation to Governor R S Mooshahary later on Monday after he returns from New Delhi along with 23 legislators.
Protesting against the attack on a Congress Legislature Party team in West Bengal, party activists clashed with the police in Kolkata and other towns across the state, leaving one person dead and several injured. Five Congress workers were injured in fresh violence in Mangolkot where a CLP team, led by Manas Bhunia, was attacked on Wednesday allegedly by supporters of the ruling Left Front. During the clash, Zia-Ur-Rahman Mullick, 40, died of a heart attack.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who took over the stewardship of the state amid a campaign by supporters by late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to give his son the top post, said on Saturday that a meeting of Congress Legislature Party would be held before year-end.
'These are lies that Priyanka Gandhi rung up Sachin Pilot.'
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has been suspended from the Congress for raising a banner of revolt against the Congress leadership after he was not given the state chief ministership.
A blame game has begun within the Congress, even as legislators of the newly formed Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) decided to stake their claims to form the government in Meghalaya. The Congress, which emerged as the single largest party, has fallen short by just six seats to cross the majority threshold in the 60-member Assembly.
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