High drama played out at the nearly seven-hour Congress Working Committee meeting with sources saying that Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the letter writers and some leaders found it to be insinuating that it was written in cahoots with the BJP.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of the shock resignation of party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday and his letter to party president Sonia Gandhi in which he lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for 'demolishing the party's entire consultative mechanism'.
Asserting that the government has launched a "crusade" against corruption and black money by demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought opposition's cooperation while his rivals called the decision ill-prepared and hasty, causing "economic chaos".
'Several leaders leaving the party in quick succession tell us that something is very wrong with the oldest party'
Leaders from different parties on Friday paid tributes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother Hiraben.
Against the backdrop of recent attacks on Dalits, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday said freedom can never be for the few and asked Indians to aspire for a country where ideas are not "crushed violently" by the forces of hate and mediocrity.
After spending nearly 50 years in a colonial bungalow at 24, Akbar Road, the Congress moved into a new office on January 15. Rasheed Kidwai, who knows the history of the Congress better than the Congress, looks back at the people who breathed life into this address.
"I would not react on what is the popularity measure of any other leader (Narendra Modi), but I assure you whenever Congress does a rally whether by party President Sonia Gandhi, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, or the Prime Minister, we will not charge Rs 5," the Union Finance Minister said in Jaipur.
Gandhi met the president and handed over a memorandum signed by two crore farmers demanding a repeal of the laws, saying they will not benefit farmers or labourers.
Glimpses of the CWC meeting, which was meant to formulate a plan to revive the party from the death throes of electoral irrelevance, but...
The notices given by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy Leader of Congress in the House, Anand Sharma, seek to corner the government on the issue accusing it of "destabilising" a democratically-elected government in Uttarakhand.
Former Chief Justice of India Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was on Tuesday selected as the next Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.
The MLAs who have been expelled for six years are Sanjay Pratap Jayaswal (Basti district), Madhuri Verma (Bahraich), Vijay Dube (Kushinagar), Mohammed Muslim (Tiloi-Amethi), Dil Nawaz Khan (Bulandshahar) and Nawab Kasim Ali Khan (Rampur).
Notwithstanding Andhra Pradesh assembly's rejection of Telangana bill, a Group of Ministers on Tuesday cleared the draft legislation to be placed before the Union Cabinet on Thursday to pave the way for its tabling in Parliament.
With 19 border polling stations along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch, a contingency plan has been worked out to deal with cross-border shelling though chances are negligible given the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan that came into effect in February 2021, officials said.
The just-concluded meeting of the Group of Ministers has remained inconclusive and the same team would meet again on Wednesday. The contentious issue was the creation of a Rayal-Telangana and the GoM sought to know if this could be proposed despite it not being part of the Cabinet note.
Some senior Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor, met at their senior colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad's house in New Delhi on Monday evening after the Congress Working Committee debated their letter to the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi seeking urgent organisational reforms.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell nine short of a majority, while the Congress, JD-S stitch alliance to keep saffron party out.
The leaders of the two parties have held five rounds of talks since Wednesday to finalise the portfolio sharing arrangement between the partners.
A decision on the sensitive and much-delayed Telangana issue may soon come from the Centre, the Congress indicated on Monday.
The two Houses would now meet on December 27 as there would be no sitting on December 24 and December 26 in view of Christmas.
The winter session of Parliament normally starts from last week of November or first week of December.
Sources said the report of the law panel on simultaneous polls is not yet finalised. They said "some more things are required to be done", indicating that the law panel will be invited again by the high-level committee.
Rahul Gandhi, in turn, thanked all the leaders for reposing faith in him and said he would apply his mind on their request of becoming the Congress president, the sources said.
Participating in the discussion on the Motion on Thanks to President's Address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress member Ghulam Nabi Azad suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself should make the announcement on repeal of the laws. Modi was present in the House at the time.
Oppn stayed away from the House when the proceedings resumed at 3 pm after two adjournments during the day.
The government on Tuesday faced embarrassment in the Rajya Sabha when the opposition scuttled its move to withdraw three bills, including one on raising the FDI cap in insurance sector to 49 per cent, which are expected to be introduced in Lok Sabha for replacement of Ordinances.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Peoples Democratic Party seem set to form the new government in Jammu and Kashmir.
Modi said Vajpayee would remain an inspiration and said the outpouring of emotions following his death despite his being away from public life for over a decade due to illness, shows his greatness.
Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP accused National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah of leaving them "no option".
"PM Narendra Modi yesterday in his broadcast to the nation claimed that there is normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir and people are happy with the decision of abolition of article 370 and 35A.
Sixteen former ministers of the United Progressive Alliance government are staying unauthorised in government bungalows for over a month now and have been served eviction notices, the Lok Sabha was told on Wednesday.
The party also made it clear that no one will be permitted to undermine or weaken the party and its leadership. The CWC also resolved that inner-party issues cannot be deliberated through the media or in public fora and all such issues must be raised within the party 'in the interest of propriety and discipline'.
Beset by troubles on multiple fronts within, the Congress faces the danger of imploding with party veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal on Wednesday sharply questioning the decision-making process, saying there are 'no monopolies', and demanded convening an urgent meeting of the Congress Working Committee for a 'dialogue'.
The ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections as the coalition could not win even a single seat of the 6 in the state.
"Pakistan should stop ceasefire violations now and understand the reality that times have changed in India," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.
In a major boost to the Congress in Varanasi -- where it is fighting an uphill battle against Bharatiya Janata Party's Narendra Modi and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal -- Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal has announced its support for the Congress with an aim to defeat Narendra Modi.
Keeping in view the approaching Lok Sabha elections, the All Indian Congress Committee has appointed a battery of high-profile spokesmen for the Congress to showcase the achievements of the last 10 years of United Progressive Alliance government and publicise the various sectors where the UPA has performed. Renu Mittal reports
The prime minister tweeted: "Pained to know about the passing away of Mrs Suvra Mukherjee. My condolences to Rashtrapati ji & his family in this hour of grief."
The vehicles came under attack in the Savni area on the Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road around 3.30 pm.
