As he faced flak, the senior Congress leader later said the incident was accidental, devoid of any mal-intent and that the woman was like his sister.
Congress MLA and former minister Komatireddy Venkata Reddy observing an indefinite fast in his native Nalgonda district in support of separate Telangana demand was forcibly shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday.
The current crisis began Friday night when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress leaders after the meeting.
Discussions on other issues are in progress, Pawar said after the meeting, held at the Nehru Centre in Worli.
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.
The 13 month-old Karnataka coalition government of JD-S and Congress slumped into crisis following the resignation of their 11 MLAs from the membership of the state assembly on Saturday.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi met Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot separately.
The RJD is yet to complete its seat-sharing talks with smaller allies and the Left parties.
In New Delhi, state Congress president Anil Kumar and party workers were detained by police at a petrol pump near Parmanand hospital.
A lacklustre show by the Congress in Bihar seems to have proved costly for the opposition grand alliance, as it dragged down the RJD too from government formation in the Hindi heartland state.
Two more Gujarat Congress members of Legislative Assembly on Monday resigned from the party and extended their support to the Bharatiya Janata Party, taking the number of Congress MLAs who have quit to join the saffron party in the last one month to five.
Many issues dog the Mahagathbandhan of the Congress, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the most prominent of which is seat sharing.
Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi confirmed that disqualification notices have been sent out Tuesday on the basis of the complaint made by the party. The dissidents have to reply by Friday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party may spoil a hat-trick of wins for the Congress from Sarguja's Sitapur assembly seat as the sentiment on the ground suggests that it could well be the anti-incumbency factor which rules the vote in Sitapur.
The group, led by Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, met Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar in the evening and gave him a letter, informing him about their breaking away from the party.
BSP legislators were earlier supporting the Ashok Gehlot government from outside and were in constant touch with the chief minister.
In a sharp defiance of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Congress MPs and legislators from the two hill districts of Assam -- Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao -- have taken an initiative to launch a forum to demand a separate state comprising two hill districts.
He flew down to Mumbai as a Congress troubleshooter with a mission to save the wobbly coalition government in Karnataka, but minister D K Shivakumar hardly found any support from the Maharashtra unit of his party in his task and was sent packing to his home state.
Kumaraswamy and the Congress had moved the Supreme Court on Friday, accusing the Governor of interfering with the assembly proceedings when the debate on the trust vote was underway and sought clarification on its July 17 order, which they said, caused hindrance in issuing whip to the legislators.
Thackeray also took a dig at governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over imposition of the President's Rule in the state.
'Parrikar died twice...once on March 17 physically while today it is the death of his political legacy'
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other senior party leaders, including All India Congress Committee general secretary Avinash Pande and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, also moved to Jaisalmer along with the MLAs in five chartered flights.
"Without the knowledge of the prime minister, is it possible to do this," Kumaraswamy asked, saying Modi should come clean on the issue.
Ahead of the assembly elections, the saffron allies may be ecstatic over the swelling, but it's a double-edged sword with many older leaders wondering what they have got after putting in years of hard work, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
With Scindia quitting the party, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh appeared headed for a collapse.
After snapping ties with the Congress in the run up to the October 15 Maharashtra polls, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has decided to support Congress rebel Vilas Patil Undalkar against former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from the Karad South assembly constituency.
The bandh called by YSR Congress on Friday to protest the unprecedented power cuts in Andhra Pradesh evoked lukewarm response as police cracked down on the party rank and file across the state.
The state has been in turmoil since the UDF ministry was downsized.
Speaker Ramesh Kumar said the motion of confidence would reach finality on Monday and it would not be prolonged further under any circumstances, to which the government agreed.
The victories with huge margins came as a Diwali gift and a shot in the arm for the nearly six-month-old alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls after facing frequent questions about its longevity.
Congress candidate C K Raul defeated Bharatiya Janata Party nominee and state minister Prabhat Sinh Chauhan in Godhra by 14,500 votes.
She will contest from the prestigious Greater Kailash constituency in South Delhi where Congress was defeated by AAP's Sourav Bhardwaj in the assembly polls in 2013.
The BJP requested Rahul Gandhi to admit Hariprasad to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bengaluru for treatment.
The leaders alleged that those who had no contribution in the freedom struggle wanted to spread fear 'in the name of nationalism', suppress the voice of people and were questioning the legacy of Congress.
Uttarakhand Speaker has issued notices to nine rebel Congress MLAs asking them why they should not be disqualified from the House for aligning with the opposition BJP.
Two days after the first list of candidates was announced, the Congress in Goa is facing rebellion within the party as the aspirants who were denied tickets have decided to part ways with the organisation.
Congress on Thursday dubbed as 'crocodile tears' rolling down the eyes of a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Lalita Yadav and Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Ishwardas Rohani in the House on Wednesday evening, over an alleged 'indecent' remark by a Congress member against her.Lalita, who is a MLA from Chhattarpur, had complained against the Congress member in the assembly and also in Rohani's chamber on Wednesday.
The fifteen constituencies that will go to polls are: Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chickballapura, K R Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagara, Hosakote, K R Pete and Hunsur.
Revanth, the Congress candidate for Kodangal constituency had called a protest rally and a bandh against Rao's scheduled meeting at Kosigi in the assembly segment on Tuesday evening.
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