The man who fired the first shot at Umesh Pal, a key witness in the killing of former Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Raju Pal, was gunned down in an encounter with Prayagraj police early Monday, officials said.
'I want Atiq Ahmed's empire to end, I don't want him to be alive'
"NDA is a beautiful rainbow of regional aspirations... So nation's development through the development of states... At a time when we are working for a developed India, NDA is taking the lead in showing the spirit of sabka prayas," he said.
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
Restoration of peace and the normal routine of daily life, compared to the past, stands out as its most significant achievement, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs, four years after the abrogation of Article 370.
Party sources are tight-lipped about the fate of Tyagi, who is a trusted aide of Kumar, the party's supreme leader, but has reportedly often left the latter embarrassed by going public on issues without waiting for a nod from the boss.
Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad on Wednesday claimed that he was being harassed in the Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat.
Sources said besides giving approval to the polls schedule, the members of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, could also express confidence in the leadership provided by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
"Nobody is sympathising with Atiq Ahmad because a criminal should be punished. But anyone who will see this video will question if we are a democracy. Every criminal has the right to be heard in court and be convicted there. But you can see they were killed in police custody in the open," he said.
The bus was carrying pilgrims from outside Jammu and Kashmir to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. Katra is the base camp for the pilgrims visiting the famous shrine atop Trikuta hills.
The SP also alleged that it was the BJP people who got Umesh Pal, a key witness in the 2005 killing of then BSP legislator Raju Pal, murdered.
A rotating chief ministership as a way to appease factions can work only if there is a credible guarantor, explains Aditi Phadnis.
For his participation in Netaji's INA, Major Ghulam Ahmed Qureshi was put into solitary confinement in the Red Fort, charged with rebellion against the Crown. Despite Nehru, Asaf Ali and a host of top lawyers defending them, Qureshi and his fellow officers were sentenced to death.
Sukanya Verma quizzes you to find out just how much you know about the movies.
Azad, who had served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Union minister under various prime ministers and the chief minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, refused to divulge any further details on the formation of his new party.
'Strange when people who don't have the capacity to fight a ward poll, were "chaprasis" of Congress leaders give "gyaan" about the party it's laughable'
The Congress' assertion came amid a slew of BJP barbs and criticism from former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad stating that the party should undertake "Congress jodo" before its "Bharat Jodo" march.
'Was the entire place properly sanitised by the police before he was brought out of the prison for this medical check-up?' 'Once he filed a plea in the Supreme Court stating there was a threat to his life, the UP police should have maintained stricter vigilance.'
'The past one year has been a whirlwind for me. Professionally, it couldn't get any better.' 'Sadly, it was also the year I lost my father.'
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the agenda of the new political outfit would be to struggle for the restoration of J and K's statehood and to fight for the job and land rights of people.
To chart the Congress's future course, its chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday formed three groups -- on political affairs for guidance on key issues, task force-2024 to implement the Udaipur 'Nav Sankalp' declaration, and another to coordinate the October 2 'harat Jodo Yatra.
The group is also reported to be seeking the ouster of some Rahul Gandhi loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and general secretary Ajay Maken.
Senior leader P Chidambaram whose Rajya Sabha tenure is ending from Maharashtra is under consideration from Tamil Nadu as the Congress is all set to get the support of alliance partner the DMK. The G-23 leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Vivek Tankha, are also said to be in contention.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
The two main factions in Karnataka's Congress party -- one led by Siddaramaiah and the other by D K Shivakumar -- are both contenders for the chief ministership. Both groups have fought hard to get their choice of MLAs the party ticket, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Ahmad and Ashraf were taken away from the spot as tension gripped the area after the sensational killing.
Present at the signing ceremony was the Taliban's rarely seen Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who lost out in a power struggle last year to be prime minister.
Leaders from different parties on Friday paid tributes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother Hiraben.
As of now, Azad couldn't be in the BJP leadership's calculus. The BJP has been trying to drill into the J&K electorate that this time around the UT would most certainly have a Hindu chief minister, explains Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The first phase of the infrastructure renovation and creation of some new ones has been recently completed on a stretch of 26 kilometres along the front in Jammu while another 33 kilometres in the same region is being carried out, official sources told PTI.
'Lataji, Ghalib, Beethoven and Shakespeare are far removed from the normal chain of human civilisation.' 'If they were just role models, how come no one was able to achieve an iota of their perfection?' 'They are a kind of intruders who come as reminders of the rule of mediocrity that prevails.'
Party president Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh and Charanjit Channi of Punjab attended the meeting.
'Good actors are supposed to be guys who wear kurta-pajama and look soft and nice.' 'People like me are not in that category.'
Sharma claimed he has received complaints that neither any virtual nor any physical meeting was held to finalise the electoral rolls, the sources said.
"Several (Congress) meetings happened, but not even a single suggestion was taken," Azad said.
A day after senior Congress leader Anand Sharma resigned from the chairmanship of the party's Steering Committee for Himachal Pradesh, interim party president Sonia Gandhi on Monday asked All India Congress Committee in charge of the Himachal Pradesh, Rajeev Shukla to pacify the issue.
An MP-MLA court in Prayagraj on Tuesday held gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case.
On August 10, he will inaugurate the headquarters of J&K unit of the Congress and address a meeting of parry workers and leaders in the union territory.
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.
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