The Congress vice president has taken up the daunting task of bringing in a sea change in the working of the party, but also faces opposition from some old guards and regional satraps, notes Anita Katyal.
Also, with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not in the running for the party president's post, a non-Gandhi would be at the helm after over 24 years following the polling on Monday and counting on Wednesday.
'Nearly 10 million people will benefit from the increase in the rebate limit for those earning up to Rs 12 lakh.' 'We expect all that money will come back into the economy in either savings, consumption, or investments.'
No one from the Gandhi family was present at the All India Congress Committee headquarters when the leaders filed their nominations for the election.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dubbed the electoral bonds as the 'world's biggest extortion scheme' and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the 'champion of corruption'.
Miffed over the Congress central leadership nominating poet-politician Imran Pratapgarhi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, as its candidate from Maharashtra for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, party functionary Ashish Deshmukh on Tuesday resigned from the post of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary.
Amid the ongoing tussle between Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and party veteran Balasaheb Thorat in the wake of recent legislative council elections, both the leaders came face to face at the party's state executive committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, with both of them later claiming that everything was fine between them.
However, he claimed that this was a fight to save the party and its ideology and to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister once again.
"The film has been made to insult the entire Sikh community. We will not let the movie release in Mohali or anywhere in Punjab. The SGPC is united in this matter," said Rajinder Singh Tohra, a member of the SGPC.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
Asked about the organisational changes made by Gandhi and the subsequent reported statements by some leaders who had written to her over party reforms, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he had not seen a single statement by any Congress leader on the issue and cannot comment on that.
In a letter to Kharge, Khan said he will not campaign for party candidates for the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha polls and is also resigning from the state Congress campaign committee.
United States President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the nomination of popular Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth, 44, as his defence secretary.
Pandey's retirement comes days before the Election Commission is to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls.
Counting of votes began on Wednesday in the Congress presidential polls in which senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor faced-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
Devendra Fadnavis will lead the new Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. The Mahayuti coalition won the recent assembly elections by a landslide, securing 230 out of 288 seats.
The first list has 10 Patel or Patidar faces, 11 tribals, 10 OBCs and five SCs.
Over 2.5 million voters will decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray for 26 Jammu and Kashmir assembly seats in the second phase of the election to be held in the Union territory on Wednesday.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
In the coming assembly election, negotiations over seat-sharing will be as important as actual outreach to voters.
Amid speculation about the number of MLAs supporting him and senior party colleague Siddaramaiah for the post of Karnataka chief minister, state Congress president D K Shivakumar on Monday said his strength is 135, as under his presidency, the party won the said number of seats in the assembly polls.
The communal violence in Sambhal that claimed four lives and left over 20 people injured has now sparked a debate over a purported rivalry between the Turk and Pathan communities, with political and administrative figures weighing in on the cause of the unrest.
Fearing defeat in the upcoming high-pressure polls, state Congress chiefs are reluctant to fight from their constituencies, eye a shift. Anita Katyal reports
'We are seeing an era where only what Modi wishes is going to happen.' 'A clear message has now been sent to others that if this fate could befall on Nitin Gadkari, then just think what could happen to lesser mortals.'
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
Ramesh, however, said it was too early to talk about all this right now as the Congress' first priority was the upcoming elections in Karnataka and the string of state polls this year.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
Karra, who became the J&K Congress chief last Friday replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call is already there for all secular parties who are opposed to the "hegemonic attitude" of the BJP to unite.
On the eve of the Haryana assembly poll results, the issue of chief minister-ship has taken centre stage in the Congress with all eyes on its high command's next move as the party expects to regain power after 10 years in the state.
'This is the victory of the people of Gujarat who want real development, not the hype of development.'
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
One of the high-profile contests in the high-stakes Bengal polls is likely to be a direct fight between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former confidant and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat.
The last electoral contest for the top post of the party took place in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi.
While Hardik Patel will contest from Viramgam, Rivaba Jadeja has been fielded from Jamnagar North.
This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
Khera told reporters in Hyderabad that the views of the newly-elected MLAs have been elicited and the central leadership is seized of the matter.
There was speculation that he might meet the party's All India Congress Committee in-charge of Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and other senior leaders, but sources close to Pilot said no meetings were fixed.
The Congress on Thursday accused the central government of evading a debate on India-China border face-off and asked why the Modi government has been running away from the issue.
Chairman of central election authority Madhusudan Mistri will be available in Congress headquarters in the national capital to take the nomination papers as returning officer of the election.
Congress's Lok Sabha members Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque said this list must be made available in order to verify who is entitled to nominate a candidate and who is entitled to vote.
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