What most people don't know is that the emotional flourishes and notes, the memories about Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi, the point about his mother Sonia coming into his room late on Saturday night and weeping, in the speech were added by his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
With the Congress presidential polls round the corner, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said decisions, including that of one-man, one-post, taken at the Chintan Shivir at Udaipur in Rajasthan earlier this year are expected to be followed.
In his concluding remarks at the 'Chintan Shivir' in Udaipur, Gandhi had said that it is only the Congress that can fight the BJP at the national level and regional outfits cannot fight this battle of ideology.
'Congress leaders don't believe in themselves and in the potential of the party.' 'Unless they have faith in themselves, only then will the public have faith in them.'
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday assumed charge as Congress vice president with an assertion that he wanted to do positive politics, as it will take the country forward. Rahul, who was elevated to the post at the party's Jaipur 'Chintan Shivir' last weekend, said the political environment and the type of discussions on it are "extremely acrimonious".
A melodramatic event marked Kalyan Singh's formal return to the BJP as he merged his Rashtriya Kranti Party with the BJP, Sharat Pradhan reports
Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Monday said the party's national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has agreed to campaign and spend time in the state, for the assembly elections next year.
After a free and frank exchange of views at his first three-day formal interaction with AICC office bearers, Rahul Gandhi will be holding similar exercises with state level leaders soon.
The Gandhi scion must focus on asserting his role as a leader of his party - and of the masses, says Shantanu Bhattacharji
In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, the party said that while on the one hand the Bharatiya Janata Party has already started preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is in dire straits.
According to the party leadership, it does not want to create a Punjab-like situation where it had been postponed till the last moment.
Congress Working Committee called the recent assembly election results of five states a "cause of serious concern" for the party.
Senior leader P Chidambaram whose Rajya Sabha tenure is ending from Maharashtra is under consideration from Tamil Nadu as the Congress is all set to get the support of alliance partner the DMK. The G-23 leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Vivek Tankha, are also said to be in contention.
Gehlot, one of the proposers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class.
In search of a 'mantra' for victory after a series of electoral losses, the Congress will hold a 'Chintan Shivir' in the second week of July. The 'introspection camp' will be timed so that it can take into account the report of the Antony committee, set up this week to suggest a winning strategy for the coming Assembly elections, as well as the Lok Sabha polls, party sources said. The decision to hold the 'Chintan Shivir' was taken at the Congress Working Committee meeting.
Tharoor also said the Congress must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party.
A purported video in which veteran Congress leader A K Antony's wife Elizabeth was seen justifying their elder son's recent entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party has gone viral on social media platforms, putting the Congress party in a fix in Kerala.
To highlight alleged misgovernance by the present regime, its first nationwide campaign ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.
It is widely believed that Gandhi has put his foot down to blunt the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation of "dynasty rule" in the Congress.
Rahul Gandhi is the future leader of the Congress but the question of their prime ministerial candidate will be decided at an appropriate time, party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said on Tuesday amid talk that the Congress vice president would be named as the face of their Lok Sabha poll campaign at the All India Congress Committee meeting next month.
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
Sidhu, who had been attacking the AAP-led government in the state over various issues including the law and order situation, said Punjab's resurrection was possible only with a collective effort.
'When I said the Gandhi family had to step aside, it was because we have consistently seen that the public has not accepted them.'
"I am contesting the organisational election. There is a saying 'Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge'. First, let these elections get over and let me become president, then we will see," Kharge said at a press conference held at Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bhopal.
Some analysts also pointed out that "outsourcing" political management to regional satraps such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana may have proven counterproductive and micromanagement by the Gandhi family was needed.
Sibal, whose exit from the Congress is another jolt for the electorally battered party, went to the Uttar Pradesh assembly premises to file his papers with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav and other senior leaders.
The plenary session in Chhattisgarh's Nava Raipur will start from February 24 and is expected to be attended by around 15,000 delegates.
The group is also reported to be seeking the ouster of some Rahul Gandhi loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and general secretary Ajay Maken.
As Mallikarjun Kharge won the Congress president poll, his electoral rival Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said the 'democratic contest' has galvanised vibrancy at all levels and has prompted a healthy and constructive discussion on change, which will serve the party in good stead in the future.
Gandhi also hailed as 'an important idea' the party's decisions to give more representation to the youth and empower them, and added that there should be a 'healthy mix of youngsters and seniors'.
'Nearly 13,000 individuals have been charged for sedition since 2010.' 'If the Supreme Court stay ever gets vacated, arrests will follow immediately.'
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
Sources said the leadership of the government going forward, if Gehlot is elected as party chief, is likely to be on the meeting agenda.
'We will do whatever is necessary when the day and moment arrives.' 'As a party which has ruled Maharashtra for most of its existence, we also have our base and turf to protect.'
The Congress' central election authority on Thursday issued a notification for the All India Congress Committee president polls, setting the ball rolling for electing the successor to the longest-serving party chief Sonia Gandhi.
It appears that the party has some kind of political death wish, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Sharma will have to report before the investigating officer at 11 am.
Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.
Several ministers, including Parsadi Lal Meena, B D Kalla, Mamta Bhupesh and some independents like Suresh Tak, are present at the hotel in the lake city.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal, Kharge said he believes in collective leadership and if elected president, will consult party leaders Sonia Gandhi as well as Rahul Gandhi on organisational matters.
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