Senior AICC member and former Union minister K V Thomas, who has been at loggerheads with the party's state leadership, on Wednesday said he would campaign for the ruling Left Democratic Front candidate Jo Joseph in the upcoming by-poll in the Thrikkakara Assembly constituency, but reiterated that he would not quit the Congress.
Amid reported discontent among some senior IPS officers over the appointment of Rakesh Maria as Mumbai Police Commissioner, Maharashtra government on Monday defended the move, saying there was nothing "unprecedented" about it.
'This move rendered the chiefs of important investigative agencies to the status of daily wage earners. It undermined the autonomy and independence of the agencies.'
Tharoor said the message is also that the Congress is the party that can unite India and if the public is sufficiently inspired by this message, it will indeed inaugurate the revival of the party.
A minister in Maharashtra has come under criticism after he was spotted with a revolver tucked under his belt at an event organised for children with speech and hearing impairment.
Under attack over Janardan Dwivedi's pitch against reservation on caste lines, the Congress and the government on Wednesday distanced themselves from the senior leader's remarks, saying it was his "personal" view and they support, adhere and subscribe to the existing policy.
'In some quarters it has been suggested that there will be an 'official candidate' backed by the leadership but on the contrary, it has been repeatedly stressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in my conversations with them over the last two weeks that the Nehru-Gandhi family welcomes these elections'
'I don't think the Bharatiya Janata Party can claim any USP which was it is a party with a difference.'
China last year pegged its defence budget at 1.45 trillion yuan, a 7.1 per cent increase. This year the defence spending is increased to 1.55 trillion yuan.
Modi targeted Congress's president-elect Rahul Gandhi, saying he was born with a "golden spoon" and has not seen poverty.
He added that it was 'ironical' for the Congress to talk about corruption when the party itself has been accused of being a part of several scams in the past.
By pronouncing, without an enquiry, that Vadra is innocent, the Congress ministers can be held to be trying to influence the investigating agencies not to go into the matter because Robert Vadra is a privileged person related to Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and is above the law and any investigation, notes B Raman.
Former cricketers VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh supported their team mate and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Gautam Gambhir.
The Congress government's move to celebrate the birth anniversary of the 18th century legendary king Tipu Sultan has stirred a controversy in Karnataka, with the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging that it was an attempt by the ruling party to strengthen its vote bank.
Slamming Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, former party member of Parliament Gufran Azam on Monday accused the Gandhi scion of destroying the grand old party.
Congress on Wednesday stepped up its attack on Union Minister Nihalchand Meghwal, seeking his removal, saying it is a "shame" that a person charged with rape continues to be in government even as BJP contended that he is being "falsely implicated".
A cautious Congress has decided to adopt a wait and watch policy with regard to its choice of alliance partner in Bihar in the light of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's conviction in the fodder scam on Monday. Anita Katyal reports.
The Opposition targeted Mann on Monday, alleging that he was deplaned from a Delhi-bound aircraft at the Frankfurt airport as he was drunk, a charge dismissed by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party as baseless.
"The intelligence community and the rest of the government are still looking at this. There's not been a definitive conclusion, so it's difficult for me to say, nor should I feel like I should have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication here," National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters at a daily White House news conference.
She said no government can declare anyone dead without proof and her government does not believe in the theory of 'missing, believed to be killed'.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel on Monday came out in strong defence of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar facing criticism for price rise and said all decisions on the issue were taken collectively.
The answer seems to be 'yes' since party veterans themselves are questioning the move in the backdrop of the April 24 Lok Sabha polls, even as their hopes of a possible tie-up with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam seem to have dashed with its chief M Karunanidhi virtually shutting the door despite extending an olive branch.
Activists of Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress today burnt an effigy of BJP MP and BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur for his alleged links with a Chandigarh-based bookie even as the state Congress Committee has urged the BCCI to take against him.
Taking strong exception to Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressing Rahul Gandhi as shehzada, the Congress on Saturday did some tough talking, threatening that its workers were capable of stopping such "undignified" language but were restrained due to their respect for laws and the Model Code.
With the Lok Sabha poll approaching fast, Congress is expected to come out with talking points for its spokespersons who are the party's primary interface with the media.
Defending the panel's recommendation to retain the law, which is at present under abeyance following directions of the Supreme Court issued in May last year, he said enough safeguards have been proposed to prevent its misuse.
Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav died in Medanta hospital of Gurugram on Monday. He was 82.
Sinha, a former finance minister, hogged the limelight and started trending high on social media on Wednesday morning, after he criticised his own government for sinking the economy, in an article he penned for The Indian Express.
A day after Bharatiya Janata Party released a video attacking Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav defended Vadra and accused the BJP of blowing the issue of the land deals out of proportion. He also slammed the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, saying Narendra Modi's name meant model of diving India.
Faced with criticism for her latest Budget not doing enough for the poor, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday mocked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 2013 comment of poverty being a state of mind, and asked if this is the poverty she was supposed to address.
The son-in-law of Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was among two advocates appointed as additional advocate general in the state on Monday, drawing sharp criticism from the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party.
Admitting its defeat, the Congress on Friday said it was "very disappointed" with the poll outcome but hit out at Narendra Modi for pursuing "politics of polarisation".
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana administered the oath of office of the President to her in the Central Hall of Parliament.
War veterans feel the accord serves the future security of America.
PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday stood by her father's controversial statement.
Permissive communalism, as represented by the Sachar Committee report, cannot become the basis to counter the threat of majoritarianism, says D L Sheth.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday asserted his rebellion was not an act of "betrayal", but a "revolt" and asked Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to kneel down at party founder Bal Thackeray's memorial and apologise for going against his ideals and aligning with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"Dear Naddaji, Stop losing cool and all sense of propriety. Please remember -- 10,000 security personnel were deployed for PM's rally. All arrangements were made in tandem with SPG and other agencies," Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.
Memon said that the opposition should introspect why Modi keeps getting such a "positive mandate" and dismissed suggestions of manipulation of EVMs, an oft-repeated complaint of the Congress and other political parties.
Amid attacks by the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said that the operation conducted by Indian Army on the terrorist hideouts in Myanmar.
