'I am the senior most Congress party leader from Kerala, and I don't know why I am sidelined.'
A four-term Congresswoman, 2020 presidential candidate and NYT bestselling author, Gabbard is a veteran with three deployments to war zones in the Middle East and Africa. She recently moved from being a Democrat to a Republican member.
The Congress had convened a meeting of its Lok Sabha members to evolve the party's strategy in the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday.
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.
Rahul Gandhi said both Rae Bareli and Wayanad "will get two MPs".
Even partymen are skeptical of Rahul's chances of changing the party's fortunes in Uttar Pradesh.
After the 1962 War with China, there was a demand to forge greater defence cooperation between India and the West. One such voice was that of Sudhir Ghosh, a distinguished MP, to tie up strategic cooperation with the USA immediately after the Chinese attack on India, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
Factors such as anti-incumbency, voter fatigue, and dissatisfaction among the youth contributed mainly to the poor showing of Bharat Rashtra Samithi in the Telangana legislative assembly election on Sunday.
'The BJP lacks a credible mass leader who matches Mamata Banerjee's popularity.' 'Given the division of votes among Opposition parties, the West Bengal government's dole-giving strategy, and the consolidation of the poor, significant sections of scheduled caste groups and Muslim minorities behind the ruling party, it will be difficult to dislodge the Trinamool from power.'
In an apparent message to the G23, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said she is a full-time, hands-on party president and there is no need for leaders to speak to her through the media.
After the party's near washout in assembly polls, the demand for a overhaul is growing with spokesman Abhishek Singhvi arguing for younger state leaders.
Like the last time, Ghulam Nabi Azad is believed to have taken the lead in preparing and despatching the letter this time too.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
A fresh plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, claiming it was a "blatant intrusion" into the rights of a religious denomination to manage its own affairs in the matter of religion. The plea, filed by Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, argues that the amendments would distort the religious character of Waqfs and irreversibly damage the democratic process in their administration. Several other petitions have been filed in the apex court challenging the validity of the bill, including those by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, and AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan.
On its 177th anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra explores the history and relevance of The Communist Manifesto.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee, to be held on August 19, is scheduled to discuss price rise and drought. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already held intensive discussions with chief ministers from across India and senior ministers in his Cabinet on drought, price rise and the measures that need to be taken by the government to minimise the effects of drought.It was initially decided that the CWC would be held last week.
The appointees are expected to reflect Rahul Gandhi's vision of a new Congress with MP and Rahul's "bench mate" in the LS, KC Venugopal, expected to play an important role.
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.
The death toll in the overnight stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station climbed to 18 on Sunday, with a senior railway official saying the incident occurred after some passengers slipped and fell on others while coming down from a footover bridge.
Fadnavis further said it was too early to comment on a foreign or Bangladeshi link to the riots as the probe is underway.
The prolonged delay over electing J P Nadda's successor possibly stems from the RSS leadership wanting a person who is at least equidistant from the Sangh as well as the Modi/BJP edifice, observes BJP-RSS watcher Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The scenes at the party headquarters were indicative of the growing tumult in the Congress with the party deeply divided on the leadership issue.
24 hours before campaigning ends in Thiruvanathapuram, Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers Shashi Tharoor and his BJP rival Rajeev Chandrasekhar are busy getting their message across to voters.
Right to apprenticeship, legal guarantee for MSP, passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, a nation-wide caste census and scrapping of Agnipath scheme are among the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha polls manifesto released on Friday.
Sonia will likely be assisted by two vice presidents: Ashok Gehlot in charge of party affairs in north India with probably P Chidambaram doing likewise for south India.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded immediate arrest of industrialist Gautam Adani after the billionaire industrialist was charged in the United States for alleged bribery and fraud.
Kishore said the Congress and its supporters are bigger than any individual and Gandhi should not be stubborn that it must be him who will deliver for the party despite repeated failures.
Amarinder Singh on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls, claiming that the party was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as chief minister.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday to approve the exact schedule of dates for the election of the Congress president.
Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
Chowdhury stung Sibal for "giving sermons from AC rooms" and said disgruntled members may join other parties or float their own outfits.
'Priyanka did draw huge crowds and eventually all of those ended up voting for the Samajwadi Party.' 'The voters today are smart enough to vote for the party which they know is going to win or they know this party will come second, but no way will they vote for a party which will come third or fourth.'
On the 45th year of the imposition of Emergency in the country, Shah claimed leaders are feeling suffocated in the Congress and the party's disconnect with people keeps widening.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
Legislative Assembly election-bound Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand will be exempted from this exercise
Inaugurating the solidarity rally, Venugopal, a Rajya Sabha MP, strongly condemned the war unleashed by Israel in Gaza and their attacks against hospitals and refugee camps there.
The United States has deported a group of Indian migrants on a military transport aircraft, marking the first such deportation to India as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. The US embassy in New Delhi confirmed that Washington is tightening immigration laws and removing illegal migrants. The deportation comes as India and the US are finalizing details for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in February. India has indicated its willingness to work with the US on addressing illegal immigration, and has said it will take back all Indians who have overstayed or are in the US without documentation.
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
