The act of Congress MP from Vijaywada, L Rajagopal, of escaping from the police custody in Vijaywada to reach Hyderabad and get admitted in Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences has evoked strong condemnation and sharp criticism from all the quarters, including his own Congress party.
Facing flak over his pepper spray attack in Lok Sabha during introduction of the Telangana Bill, Seemandhra MP L Rajagopal on Friday regretted the act, but maintained that he had done it in self defence.
Speaker Meira Kumar has referred Congress member L Rajagopal's resignation from the Lok Sabha opposing a separate Telangana state to the Ethics Committee.
Lagadapati Rajagopal, now being referred to as the 'pepper spray member of Parliament', is holding talks with Andhra Pradesh's caretaker Chief Minister Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy about floating a new political party.
Nemom was one of the segments where the BJP had pinned its hope the most in the present election to open its account in the assembly.
Seema-Andhra Congress leader and MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Tuesday withdrew his plea before the Delhi high court in which he had sought a direction to the Lok Sabha Speaker to take a decision on his resignation which was submitted on August 2.
'Rahul Gandhi never gets firsthand information. He does not know what is good or bad going on in the party.'
Vicky Nanjappa speaks to suspended Congree MP from Seema-Andhra, Lagadapati Rajagopal, who created a major stir earlier on Thursday by using pepper spray inside the Parliament, continues to be cheered for in his constituency. The leader, however, says that the media is twisting the real facts regarding the incident, and hopes that Congress will stall the Telangana bill.
Telugu Desam Party legislator D Umamaheswar Rao, who is on an indefinite fast in support of a united Andhra Pradesh, was 'very weak' and unable to speak, his doctors said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Congress Member of Parliament Lagadapati Rajagopal also continued his fast against the creation of Telangana state in a city hospital. "Umamaheswar Rao is not able to speak. He is very weak but stable," doctors said.
It is a misconception that the Congress will gain politically if a separate Telangana is formed, feels Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal.
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
According to the confession statement of Radha Kishan Rao, 'Peddayana' was very angry for not completing the work as per his expectation.
A little over a year after it retained power in Kerala with a massive victory, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front suffered a huge setback on Friday in a bypoll held to Thrikkakara assembly constituency, with Congress candidate Uma Thomas winning with a historic margin of 25,016 votes, giving a boost to the morale of the party-led United Democratic Front in the southern state.
'A pro-Modi wave and anti-incumbency will be incomplete without strong candidates.'
The assembly bypolls in Bihar and Maharashtra, scheduled for November 3, are set to be the first electoral test of the popularity of the respective state governments after a change in the political alignment.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had moved the resolution at a special session on Thursday which was unanimously passed by the House with the ruling Left Democratic Front, Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front and the BJP supporting it.
Cracking the whip, the Congress on Tuesday expelled six Lok Sabha Members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh who had opposed the creation of Telangana and had given a notice of no-confidence motion against the government.
In a rare gesture, not only the legislators of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-headed Left Democratic Front and Congress-led United Democratic Front, but the lone Bharatiya Janata Party member in the 140-member state assembly, O Rajagopal, also supported the resolution against the Centre, saying 'it is the democratic spirit'.
In a boost to the United Democratic Front ahead of assembly polls in Kerala next year, the Congress candidate K S Sabarinadhan on Tuesday won the Aruvikkara assembly by-poll by a margin of 10,128 votes defeating his nearest rival M Vijayakumar of the Opposition Left Democratic Front.
Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Saturday took a swipe at Sonia Gandhi, saying she "ignored" the groundswell of support against division of Andhra Pradesh by not listening to the party leaders on the issue.
During his visit to Hyderabad on Sunday, August 21, 2022, Amit Shah met with a movie star and a movie mogul.
Under fire for his pepper spray attack in Lok Sabha during introduction of Telangana bill, Seemandhra MP L Rajagopal on Thursday defended his actions, saying he did it in self defence.
Rajendra Singh and P B Rajagopal, disgruntled members of Team Anna and former aides of activist Anna Hazare, tell Sahim Salim why they have walked out of the core committee
On Easter, April 9, 10,000 BJP workers are being assigned to visit the houses of 100,000 Christian families. Plans are afoot to visit the homes of Muslims on Eid.
'This is India. We have allowed ourselves to be dictated by the narrative that the BJP has set for itself.'
Congress is riven by four different approaches to an issue: the Sonia Gandhi way, the Rahul Gandhi method, Lok Sabha MPs' tactic, and Rajya Sabha MPs' style, reports R Rajagopalan.
Seemandhra Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Lagadapati Rajagopal on Tuesday moved Delhi high court seeking its direction to Speaker Meira Kumar to accept his resignation as member of the House, submitted two months ago.
Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar rejected the resignations submitted by 13 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, including ten from Congress and two of YSR Congress, against the decision on Telangana, holding these were "not voluntary or genuine". The YSR Congress MPs included party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
Congress members of Parliament from Seemandhra on Friday hit out at the party leadership for not allowing them to move a resolution at the AICC conclave against the Centre's decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.
Seemandhra Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who had created a ruckus by splashing pepper spray in Lok Sabha, on Tuesday resigned from Parliament.
While the United Progressive Alliance government is preparing to ignore the protests from anti-Telangana members of Parliament and push through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, the Congress' grim internal assessment is that the move may not pay the requisite electoral dividends which it had originally hoped for, says Anita Katyal
Taking his fight against division of Andhra Pradesh to the national capital, YSR Congress Party chief Jaganmohan Reddy on Monday staged a protest and courted arrest, while accusing the Congress of engineering the pepper spray episode in Parliament.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
The police are on the look out for Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who escaped from a city hospital where he was admitted after being brought from a hunger strike site over the Telangana issue.
Ten members of legislative assembly and council, who were with him, were also arrested by the police and sent to Falaknuma police station in the city. This is the second time in the day that Rajagopal has been arrested.
In a stunning electoral victory, the ruling Communist Party if India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), rode back to power in Kerala winning 99 of the 140 seats, bucking the over four decade long trend of Communists and Congress-led United Democratic Front coming to power alternatively.
With almost 300 seats to the Lok Sabha being dominated by regional outfits, the Congress has added to the list by giving space to more regional forces in the Seema-Andhra and Telangana regions, says Saroj Nagi.
Speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday accepted the resignation of expelled Congress Member of Parliament L Rajagopal, who had created a storm by using pepper spray in Lok Sabha to protest against the Telangana Bill.