By choosing not to declare her son Rahul Gandhi as the party's prime ministerial candidate, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has averted a Modi versus Rahul battle and effectively insulated her family against a backlash over a possible defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
Barely two months before the Lok Sabha election, Gandhi will be filing her nomination papers in Jaipur on Wednesday. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to accompany her.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership, delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of leaders leave it.
The situation in the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be grim with 21 leaders (9 Members of Legislative Assembly and 12 Members of Parliament) expressing their open support to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in case he decides to quit the party. But what has taken everyone by surprise is the open praise lavished upon Congress president Sonia Gandhi by Yeddyurappa.
The nomination is an indication that the veteran Congress leader is not sure of victory from Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency she has represented for five terms.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was discharged from the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi on Monday evening and was advised rest at home, the party said.
The meeting came a day after Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh met the Congress chief for a tie-up in Uttar Pradesh.
The original Mrs Gandhi -- Indira -- had delivered a second successive election victory for the Congress in 1971 but before that she had to win a war. The reigning Mrs Gandhi -- Sonia -- has also led the Congress to consecutive poll successes (in 2004 and 2009) but she hasn't had to go so far as to fight an external war, though there have been many domestic battles, writes Kidwai, whose second book on Sonia Gandhi, 24 Akbar Road, is soon to be released by Hachette Books
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was taken ill during a roadshow in Varanasi and forced to return to the national capital, was "stable".
The BJP accused Congress leaders of colluding with foreign forces to destabilize India and demanded Sonia Gandhi to disclose her role in a George Soros Foundation-funded organization's activities. The ruling party also attacked Rahul Gandhi, calling him a "pawn" for his protests against the Adani issue.
Her move comes after doctors advised her to get away from the heavy pollution in the national capital in view of her chronic chest infection, party insiders said.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, attacking him on issues like the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and the subsequent police firing on protesters.
Hours after he and his supporters were dramatically evicted from the Ramleela maidan in New Delhi by the police, Baba Ramdev spewed venom on Congress President Sonia Gandhi and claims that there had been an attempt to eliminate him. Sheela Bhatt reports on his press conference
"We met Gandhi and sought her intervention on the Maharashtra government's decision to ban dance bars," Bharatiya Bar Girls Union chief Varsha Kale said.
She is reportedly suffering a stomach ache, a source close to Gandhi said.
Her medical condition was stable and she has been advised rest.
Manmohan Singh and almost all his Cabinet colleagues were among those who drove to her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi to wish her.
In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said divisive ideologies anchored in hate and prejudice were making every effort to weaken the strong foundation of India.
Filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra talks about his biopic on Sonia Gandhi and other forthcoming movies.
The 75-year-old Congress president, who was supposed to depose before the agency on Thursday, wrote a letter seeking more time on the grounds that the doctors had 'strictly advised her to rest at home following her hospitalisation on account of Covid and lung infection'.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi turned 62 on Tuesday, but it was a subdued affair as she did not celebrate her birthday as a mark of tribute to the victims of the recent Mumbai terror strikes.The party had last week said that Gandhi will not celebrate her 62nd birthday and also asked party workers not to visit her today.However, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi were among the first to visit Gandhi to wish her.
The Congress Working Committee finally accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation during its second meeting of the day.
Film actor Sanjay Dutt, a 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict out on bail, on Monday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who underwent surgery in the United States recently for an unspecified ailment, is "much better". This was stated by Rahul Gandhi, who returned to New Delhi on Sunday after attending to his mother. "She is much better," Rahul told reporters. Sonia had left earlier in August for the US, where she underwent surgery.
The Congress is holding a 3-day conclave in Shimla as part of preparations for the November assembly polls and next year's general election.
It is unusual for Congress chief ministers to say no to Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, but some of them have gathered the courage to oppose Gandhi's dream project.
She was admitted to the private facility in New Delhi at 7 pm for 'routine tests and investigations', the hospital said in a health bulletin.
Temple sources said this was her second visit to Tirumala. She had earlier visited the temple on January 28, 1999.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on Sunday, told journalists that the two parties had a strong bond. Prasad's meeting with Gandhi in New Delhi fuelled speculation that he met the Congress chief in the wake of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's reported plan to seek a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the alleged job scam during his tenure.
Inclement weather forced cancellation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's scheduled rally at Moga today in the run up to the elections to the 117-member state assembly on January 30. Gandhi was scheduled to address rallies at Moga and Kapurthala on Thursday. Earlier, a Congress spokesman had stated that Gandhi's rally at Kapurthala had also been cancelled, but later said that due to improvement in weather, the party has decided to hold the Kapurthala rally.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the escalating conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran, particularly regarding the alleged assassination of the Iranian Supreme Leader. Gandhi emphasised the need for India to uphold international law and advocate for peaceful resolution.
Senior party leaders Manmohan Singh and Natwar Singh were also present during the 45-minute meeting.
In her message on the occasion of the 73rd Independence Day, she appealed to all to reinvigorate the principles of compassion, coexistence and inclusive development as the indelible features of polity, society and economy.
Former Union Minister close associate of the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telegu desam Supremo N T Rama Rao, Parvathaneni Upendra, passed away at a hospital in Hyderabad on Monday. Upendra, who was on dialysis after a kidney ailment, died of renal failure.
'Temperamentally, they are quite alike.' 'Ahmed Patel avoided the limelight and was not a power seeker.' 'The Gandhis too are not power wielders, but trustees of power.'
She described the actor as 'one of the titans of Indian cinema and a great artiste.'
Observing that a "new situation" has emerged in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday described the recent unrest in the state as "painful" and appealed to all "dissatisfied" sections to give peace a chance so that their future could be built.
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