Sidhu backed his wife saying 'she would never lie', while the CM said she refused to contest from Amritsar.
Agnihotri will be in charge of Jal Shakti, transport, and language, arts and culture departments while Chief Minister Sukhu has kept with himself finance, general administration, home, planning, personnel and other portfolios which have not been allotted to any minister, the notification stated on Tuesday.
Deciding on the chief ministerial face who can bind the party going forward is the immediate challenge for the Congress.
The high command has made it clear that there shall be no change in guard in Karnataka and senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge would continue as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
Botsa Satyanaryana was the last state Congress president of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Last week he was suspended from the party for 'anti-party' activities.
Speaking to ANI, Pratibha Singh said, "After all the big responsibilities were given to me by Sonia Gandhi ji, she told me that she has elected me as the party's state president where I would have to visit in all 68 constituencies and also to make sure that the party wins in the state. I did that work with utmost sincerity and the result is in before all of us today."
'Punjab requires a CM who has solutions to Punjab's challenges, capacity to take tough decisions. Punjab needs serious people whose politics is not Social Engineering, Entertainment, Freebies and not regime favourites rejected by people in successive elections,' Tewari said on Twitter.
Some of them have also endorsed Sachin Pilot as chief minister. However, they added that whatever decision the party high command takes in this regard, they will accept it.
Sources in the Raje camp said she would be meeting the party high command on Thursday.
'They wanted to prove that the BJP was behind all this, which was not the case. Then Deputy CM Sachin Pilot even said that no one was listening to them even when they wanted to tell their side of the story, so they all got together and reached the party's high command'
What we have in the Congress is a useful glue to hold a non-cultural, unified Opposition together. That is the sacrifice the Congress must be willing to live with if showing the BJP the door is what the collective Opposition wants, observes Shyam G Menon.
Prajwal Revanna's former car driver Karthik and Bharatiya Janata Party leader G Devaraje Gowda accused each other of leaking the alleged sleaze videos of the Janata Dal-Secular Hassan MP which has caused a big embarrassment to the regional party.
A minister and three Congress leaders, considered close to Navjot Singh Sidhu, stepped down from their posts delivering a big blow to the Congress high command that was hoping of resolving the tussle between Sidhu and captain Amarinder Singh after Navjot was appointed as Punjab Congress president ahead of the Assembly elections early next year.
Several MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who was seen as the frontrunner for the post of Congress national president, had last week submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Pilot as the next chief minister.
'...the Congress tally in 2028 would further plummet under 50.' 'A fresh face as CM would further strengthen the BJP and weaken the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.'
With many of its plans to break the impasse over the Telangana issue coming unstuck, the Congress is now reportedly toying with the idea of moving a resolution on the statehood demand in the next session of Andhra Pradesh assembly.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
An agitated Congress condemned the anti-party act of Thomas and said he will face stern action for violating the order of the high command.
As the Congress prepares to replace Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Union Cabinet will study the home ministry's note on creating Telangana, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
The crucial meetings come amid talks of the Congress leadership making efforts to bring all leaders together ahead of next year's Punjab Assembly polls and present a united face of the party.
If Meena resigns, it is likely to put pressure on other ministers whose areas also saw poor performance in the general elections.
"Fresh elections to the assembly should be held to enable people to elect a popular government in the state in accordance with law," the memorandum to the Haryana governor read.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Monday named senior leader Mahua Maji as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand.
'Chavan's political clout began declining since his Lok Sabha defeat in 2019.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of 20 candidates for Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka has caused dissidence among leaders in the state with few claiming that they would switch over to Congress.
'Why choose people from outside the state?'
Dashing the last hopes of the Congress high command, Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday categorically ruled out even an electoral alliance with the party for the forthcoming polls to the Lok Sabha and the state assembly.
The Congress rebels are seeking to install a person of their choice as the new chief minister of the state.
Top Congress leadership on Tuesday discussed the issue of government formation in Telangana.
'The Congress's allies won't be left behind in looking out for their own interests. Some will demand a bigger share of the ministerial or electoral pie, others will simply jump ship,' says T V R Shenoy.
'We trust Congress President Sonia Gandhi's assurance that her party will not give up the coalition dharma,' the DMK said.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda has appointed Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party general secretary Vinod Tawde as central observers for the election of the leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly.
Congress leader and All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala said on Sunday that the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) has unanimously passed the resolution and the observers will seek the opinions of all MLAs and convey it to the party high command.
A Pilot camp MLA said that the former deputy chief minister is raising the issue of corruption in the public interest.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the political crisis in Maharashtra where more than a fortnight after the election results, the state still does not have a government in place.
Barely a week after Infosys co-founder and Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India Nandan Nilekani made known his intentions of fighting the elections he is facing opposition from within the Congress party.
The Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a "collective leadership"
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