The TMC also announced it would hold talks with other regional parties in their bid to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 elections but at the same time denied that it was planning a third front, separate from the Congress-led front.
'Congress will try to use Malerkotla to woo Muslim votes in UP. Muslims across the country have definitely taken note of this move in Punjab. But they vote only for a party that can defeat the BJP. The Congress doesn't seem to be capable of doing that'
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
APCC president Ripun Bora said following discussions with various parties, it has been decided that the Congress will join hands with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist and the Anchalik Gana Morcha.
Accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of having "reaped benefits" of communal polarisation in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Wednesday said the government should now focus on good governance and deliver on promises.
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday asked Rahul Gandhi to impress upon the Congress to "officially" announce that the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens will not be implemented in the states ruled by the party. Kishor, the vice president of Janata Dal-United, also thanked the former Congress president for joining the "citizens' movement" against CAA and NRC, a reference to Congress's sit-in protest at Raj Ghat on Monday.
The Congress and various opposition parties have demanded that NEET and JEE examinations be deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic and floods in parts of the country, even as the Union government has made it clear that they will be held as per schedule with due precautions.
The letter was not a challenge to leadership but a parchment of action to strengthen the party, Congress MP Vivek Tankha asserted, while former union minister Mukul Wasnik said those who saw the letter as an "offence" will also soon realise that the issues raised are worth consideration.
In New Delhi, state Congress president Anil Kumar and party workers were detained by police at a petrol pump near Parmanand hospital.
Some senior Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor, met at their senior colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad's house in New Delhi on Monday evening after the Congress Working Committee debated their letter to the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi seeking urgent organisational reforms.
AICC in-charge for Jharkhand, R P N Singh, said the party is happy for its best performance in the state since its creation in 2000.
Thackeray also took a dig at governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over imposition of the President's Rule in the state.
Chauhan, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, said political parties governed by dynasty, family and caste politics were defeated everywhere including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the general elections.
Nitish said there should not be any vendetta in politics.
The result was so disastrous for the Congress and NCP that they lost 41 seats out of 48 to the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
Sibal asked Modi to stop doing the politics of "illusion and delusion" and showing "red eyes" to China, and protect Indian territory.
The JMM-Cong-RJD alliance won 47 seats in 81-member assembly while the incumbent BJP managed to win only 25 seats. CM Das lost his seat to a party rebel despite giving the first full-term government to the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday launched a scathing attack on Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, accusing him of breaking ties with it to pursue his 'personal ambition' of becoming prime minister even as it asserted that its 'Vijay Rath' would roll in Bihar when Assembly polls are held there later this year.
Rao's visit is significant in the wake of Trinamool Congress' allegation that there were discrepancies in the district voters' list.
Fears of the Congress not having a credible face, after the death of its three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit last July, and ceding its vote bank to the Aam Aadmi Party came true with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party capturing the space once occupied by the grand old party.
The Congress and Left Front on Thursday finalised sharing of 193 seats of the total 294 in West Bengal assembly with the Left parties getting the lion's share of 101 seats.
The Jharkhand poll results also show that the caste equations against BJP are consolidating. Cong leaders feel that the BJP is not invincible and can be defeated if like-minded parties get together.
With jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad disqualified as Lok Sabha member, ally Lok Janshakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan met Rabri Devi in Patna on Tuesday and mooted an alliance of secular parties, including Congress.
Keeping up the party's attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today lambasted him for allegedly taking Congress help to stay on in power and betraying the mandate of the people.
Amid changed political equations after the Janata Dal-United walked out of the national Democratic Alliance, the Congress on Wednesday refrained from making any direct attack on the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar over the mid-day meal deaths of 22 school children and criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for "playing politics" over the issue.
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
A number of Congress leaders across the country have gone against the party's stand in Parliament on abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir by supporting the Centre's move and a bill to bifurcate the state. The Congress has strongly opposed the move and the bill to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said he agreed to attend the foundation-laying ceremony of the Aligarh Muslim University campus because it was he who had suggested Kishanganj as the venue.
As cracks appeared in NDA over Narendra Modi, Congress on Wednesday sought to drive a wedge in the Opposition alliance in the wake of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's call for a "secular" prime ministerial candidate in 2014 general elections.
He said he has always held the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family in high-esteem.
Congress on Tuesday taunted Narendra Modi over his "silence" on the conviction of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad in fodder scam case, claiming that the Gujarat chief minister is "not happy" since the order "suits" Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The ruling Congress received a jolt in the national capital on Thursday when it lost two assembly seats earlier held by it, as Bharatiya Janata Party wrested one while the Rashtriya Janata Dal opened its account in the city.In a jolt to the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, opposition RJD, Lok Janshakti Party and Congress bagged ten assembly seats while the Janata Dal-United and BJP won six seats in the by-elections in 18 constituencies.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today slammed the Congress saying it has put the issue of special category status for Bihar on the "back burner" under the influence of its "natural ally".
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her party leaders and the Centre of being directly responsible for the rise in Maoist menace in Bihar with their 'pro-Naxal statements'. "Naxals have become audacious in Bihar. The Centre, Sonia Gandhi and her party leaders are directly responsible for it. By their pro-Naxal statements, they have boosted the morale of Maoists," BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay charged at a press conference.
Zala, a close associate of Thakor, was the MLA from Bayad in Sabarkantha district.
Lok Janskati Party president Ramvilas Paswan on Friday said he fails to understand why Congress is "dithering" to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal-LJP alliance which is intact in spite of sentencing of Lalu Prasad.
As Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar frowned at the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party ion Monday took a dig at him, saying he was led up the "garden path" by the Congress on the issue of special status and hinted that this had led to its split with the BJP.
The 2014 Lok Sabha election saw the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi storm to power at the Centre with a "triple century", giving the National Democratic Alliance an unexpected 336 seats in the Lok Sabha .
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