As many as 95 MPs did not attend even a single meeting of the parliamentary standing committees that reviewed allocations for different ministries post-presentation of the Union Budget for the 2020-21 fiscal, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday. Giving an account of the meetings of these panels on the opening day of the Rajya Sabha after the recess, Naidu said, "Ninety-five members, accounting for 39 per cent of the total 244, did not attend any meeting on the demands for grants. Only 28 members had zero attendance last time."
In a balancing act, the Congress on Tuesday said it would welcome efforts for a negotiated settlement of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, but made it clear that the Allahabad high court verdict does not condone the demolition of the mosque.
'They are attacking my wife; they are attacking our 13-month-old daughter. They are saying that I do drugs.' 'I'm giving an open challenge to Mr Nawab Malik and Ms Sana Malik let's go to the labs and let's do the medical test of our family and your family.'
Arun Beereddy (37), a native of Telangana's Hyderabad, was arrested from Delhi. He handles the 'Spirit of Congress' account on X, the official said.
The controversy has sparked reactions across states. The famous Mankameshwar temple in Uttar Pradesh has now banned offerings of 'prasad' bought by devotees from outside and said they can offer homemade 'prasad' or fruits.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan who heads the group said he had submitted the report on the party's performance in Kerala, Assam and Puducherry and that the assessment for West Bengal was underway.
Will he, will he not? That is the question on every Congress leader's mind as Rahul Gandhi has still not indicated whether he is ready to take on the mantle of party president.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
The Congress on Sunday announced that elections for its president will be held on October 17 with the winner being declared two days later, asserting that it is the only party in the country which undertakes such a democratic exercise.
The leader, who has been sulking for some time now due to repeated denial of election tickets, said he would convene a meeting of his supporters next month to announce his decision on whether or not he will stay with the Congress.
'We are going to need more technical people in government.' 'You can't expect a generalist to understand the complicated world of financial engineering.' 'I regret to say that most of our politicians have no competence to deal with these things. Nor is there a willingness to learn.'
'Rahul Gandhi might not be holding any post as of now but everyone knows that he is the "captain of the ship'
The Lok Sabha witnessed a heated debate Friday on an Ethics Committee report recommending Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra's expulsion in the cash-for-query issue, with the Opposition demanding she be allowed to speak in the House, and the government contending her views were heard by the panel.
From the 'group of 23' leaders, who had written letter to Gandhi seeking Congress' overhaul, Azad and Sharma continue to be regular members of the CWC,
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday poised for a landslide victory in Gujarat to retain power for a record seventh straight term but was behind the Congress in Himachal Pradesh which could go with the trend of alternative governments in the hill state.
With no respite in sight, the All India Congress Committee is planning on calling a meeting of all leaders from Andhra Pradesh to discuss the proposal to set up a Rayal-Telangana state.
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Congress Working Committee is likely to take a final decision on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create a state of Telangana on Tuesday.
After a long gap, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on 4th June to discuss the 'current political and economic situation in the country'.
Kharge said that while there are very responsible people in the party who were doing their duty, some people had assumed that lack of responsibility will be ignored.
Sonia Gandhi has the record of holding the longest tenure as Congress chief.
The Congress on Wednesday said senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was consulted several times before finalising the names in the revamped Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party, rejecting reports that the former Union minister was not on board.
A three-member committee conducting inquiry into alleged manipulation of the blood samples of the juvenile driver involved in the Porsche car crash on Tuesday visited the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune, and also met the police officials who are probing the case.
After Congress president Sonia Gandhi met leaders of the G-23 grouping to resolve internal party issues, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday said "indulging the dissenters too much" will encourage more dissent.
After the party's drubbing in the just-concluded assembly polls in five states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien Thursday held West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury responsible for an alliance not working out between the two parties in West Bengal.
'Two years ago I told Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that we have traitors in the Congress.'
Gandhi, then a newly appointed Congress chief, had staked claim to form the government at the Centre after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 1999.
Congress's Assam president Ripun Bora resigned on Sunday after the party's defeat in the state elections.
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has issued a whip to all MLAs asking them to remain present for a key meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, while the rival group headed by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has also called a separate meeting of party legislators in Mumbai.
Sonia will nominate at least two Congress Working Committee members each for the nine states going to the polls next year to assist the AICC general secretaries in charge of the respective state, party sources said.
According to the sources, the CWC will discuss the current COVID-19 situation in the country and steps that need to be taken urgently to check the further spread of the virus.
The notification for the Congress president's election will be out on September 22 by when all the PCC delegates will be finalised and electoral roll published and the election, if required, will be held on October 17.
Government was watching Gandhiji's mood to know if he had cooled down. They found out from his letters and utterances that he was the same old firebrand and even more determined than before.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari attributed the party's poor performance in Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal to lack of support from the minority community, asserting that 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' was unnecessary and proposing instead 'Hum unke saath jo humare saath' (we are with those who are with us).
The leaders who Gandhi met included Deputy Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari. She is likely to meet some other leaders of the G-23 as well in the coming days.
It would be best that Rahul remains party chief, but at the same time, Rahul's own wishes must also be respected, Aiyar said.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced five guarantees for women, including annual direct cash transfers of Rs 1 lakh to one woman from each of the country's poorest families and 50 per cent quota in all new recruitments in central government jobs.
'When did Mr. Sibal fight an election to get into any position in the party'
The government wants to introduce a nationwide goods and services tax to revive its stalled reform programme.
