The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours and was held at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.
With the date for the Goa assembly poll results nearing, the Congress has said it is open to a post-poll alliance with parties other than the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the next government, if it does not get a majority on its own.
After he failed to appear before the Enforcement Directorate, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned for the fourth time in less than three months by the agency for questioning on January 18 in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, official sources said on Saturday.
"We are confident that the people of Goa have given us a clear, simple majority. I am more confident today than I was, say last week, because I have spoken to every candidate," Chidambaram told NDTV.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday appointed election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories in view of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
'Across the political spectrum, especially from the side of the NDA itself, there is complete disillusionment (with the way the BJP is treating its allies).' 'This leaves a very bad taste in the mouth.'
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
The culling of key state leaders and bureaucrats has given rise to distrust and uneasiness in Pramod Sawant's style of functioning, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
The discussions on the new Goa CM came to a halt after Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar wanted to be the chief minister.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
Sawant told reporters in Panaji that the Goa Police have done a "tremendously good investigation" into the case and have also got some clues.
He was a leader who enjoyed acceptance from all sections of the BJP and beyond.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said talks are on with "like-minded parties' to jointly oust the Bharatiya Janata Party from power in next month's assembly elections in the coastal state.
'We don't want hardcores like Pramod Muthalik in Goa. We vehemently oppose people who share Muthalik's tendencies. We don't need cultural watchdogs in Goa.' BJP MLA Vishnu Wagh lashes out at Goa's anti-bikini minister Sudin Dhavalikar in this exclusive interview to Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com
'BJP central observers have come to Goa and are scheming to merge smaller parties within their party to run the government.'
"The Congress party complains a bit too much. It accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'stealing' the mandate in Goa. It unsuccessfully petitioned before the Supreme Court. It attempted to raise issues in the Lok Sabha," he said in a Facebook post.
"I was not happy in Congress. The Congress state leadership has failed completely," Madkaikar said.
The Delhi BJP, however, rubbished the allegation and challenged AAP to name the MLAs and the people who contacted them with the offer.
The election of BJP's Rajendra Arlekar, from Vasco and Dayanand Mandrekar from Siolim in the May 2002 election was set aside by a single-judge bench.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the assembly polls next year, asserted that the Trinamool Congress' entry into Goa "appears to be an imposition from the top that is based in West Bengal" and said he does not know the Mamata Banerjee-led party's motive in trying to start a unit in Goa by "encouraging defections" from other parties.
Parrikar will stay at his private residence in Panaji,
"By next week, the government will work out the exact arrangement through which the work burden on Parrikar could be reduced," he said.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
Several exit polls on Monday forecast a clear majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab with some of them giving an edge to the saffron party in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Left with just three MLAs, the Congress does not have the required one tenth of the legislative strength in the 40-member House to claim the Cabinet minister-level post.
Amid cross-voting, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on Tuesday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, defeating ruling Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi, officials said.
Former Goa Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane, who had defied the party whip to vote against the trust motion of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar last month, on Thursday formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As per the power-sharing arrangement, Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar will be the deputy chief ministers.
Both Sawant and Rane are being seen as top contenders for the post of chief minister in the state.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress by asking it to safeguard its newly elected Karnataka MLAs from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party as was allegedly done by the saffron party in Goa amidst the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Giving a new poll slogan of 'Khel Zatlo' in Goa, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said an anti-BJP alliance has already taken shape in the coastal state under the banner of her party TMC and now it is for the Congress to decide whether it wants to join the grouping ahead of elections to take on the saffron outfit.
Elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly are due in two months. Recent visits by Banerjee, Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi heated up things in the otherwise "susegad" atmosphere in the small state.
The brother of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sonali Phogat has filed a formal complaint with the Goa Police, claiming that she was murdered by two of her associates.
State Congress chief Girish Chodankar told reporters that AAP leaders were 'already in talks with Congress leaders'.
The restaurant, 'Curlies', located on Goa's famous Anjuna beach, was in news recently after Phogat was found partying at the outlet hours before her death.
Parrikar was first elected to the Goa assembly in 1994. He served as he leader of the opposition from June to November 1999.
'They just want to show that the Congress is in disarray.'
'Parrikar died twice...once on March 17 physically while today it is the death of his political legacy'
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