Amid a series of deliberations over a strategy for upcoming general and assembly elections by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, a group of senior leaders of the Congress has given its recommendations to party president Sonia Gandhi and left it to her to take a call on them and initiate organisational changes.
The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup will be the biggest yet, with the increase to 20 teams from 16 opening up a wider pool of expatriate fans in the United States.
Why weren't the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana -- all of which have borders with Karnataka -- not invited to Saturday's swearing-in ceremony, asks Shyam G Menon.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international joint general secretary Surendra Jain on Tuesday warned All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his comment on the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to release Cheetahs in a Madhya Pradesh national park as a 'tactic to divert attention' from the grand old party's 'immensely successful' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
Rumblings in the Maha Vikas Aghadi camp came to the fore on Wednesday with Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole accusing ally Nationalist Congress Party of being a "backstabber", a day after the Sharad Pawar-led party joined hands with rival Bharatiya Janata Party in Gondia zilla parishad elections to keep the Congress from power.
Kumar on Tuesday resigned from the Congress after a 46-year association, saying he can best serve national causes outside the party fold.
RSS joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya, apparently referring to the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra, described it as a "political gimmick" that will not serve its stated purpose of uniting masses.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal at the latter's residence in New Delhi and extended 'complete support' to him in the Aam Aadmi Party government's ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services.
The Congress has decided to hunt for new allies while retaining the old ones in its bid to return to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections. The grand old party's strategy revolves around getting new alliance partners like the Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka, Trinamool Congress of Mamta Banerjee in West Bengal, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam led by actor- turned-politician Vijaykanth in Tamil Nadu, apart from the existing partners.
Sibal, a prominent Opposition voice and a former Congress leader, also said that instead of a common minimum programme, the Opposition parties should talk about a 'new vision for India'.
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
While a total of 377 reports on Congress appeared in the Delhi edition of four leading English newspapers -- Indian Express, Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party could get their affairs onto the front page only 138 times during the first six months of this year.
Sources said that despite senior leaders making serious attempts to convince him to rethink on his decision, Gandhi is said to be unfazed.
'She showed courage at every turn in her political career.'
Reacting to TMC's jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said "agents of BJP" should not advise the party how to fight against the saffron camp.
There's a quiet before the storm within the ruling party. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com.
In a stern message to Congress, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh said on Sunday that it had "no moral right" to comment on the bonhomie between his party and former BJP leader Kalyan Singh as the grand old party was in power at the Centre when Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992.
The BJP, whose campaign was focussed more on issues related to nationalism and Shaheen Bagh, failed to find support among voters.
The former Meghalaya chief minister, who recently switched over to the TMC along with 11 other Congress MLAs, told PTI in an interview that the political dynamics in the entire region is going to change with him quitting the grand old party.
In the coming days, unless Modi tones down the communal spiel, it will be clear that anxiety continues to drive his mind and clouds his judgment, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Grand Old Party must bring widespread reforms across all levels of the organisation to show it is no longer in a state of inertia and to present itself as a viable political alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress veteran Kapil Sibal said.
The youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam on Monday claimed its activists have filed more than 1,000 complaints against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at various police stations in the state over his tweets that left the Northeast out of India's geographical expanse while he talked about the country's unity.
Thiruvananthapuram-born Dr Zachariah P Zachariah, a prominent cardiologist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been exonerated of all charges in a long-standing US Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading case.
Rahul Gandhi has become a symbol of 'Bharat jodo' (unite India) and will be seen in a new avatar post the Congress' pan-India march, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said.
Under fire from different quarters over the tie-up with Kalyan Singh, the Samajwadi Party today accused certain Congress leaders of "fanning" the issue, but made it clear that it would not break the alliance with the grand old party.
'An entire operation was running systematically prior to the revoking of Article 370.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the opposition alliance INDIA as a collection of arrogant dynasties who will take India back by two centuries as he exuded confidence that people will bless the "garib ka beta" with a record-breaking mandate in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former Union home minister Chidambaram lashed out at the government over the alleged sluggish pace of inoculation against the viral disease and claimed that the country will not achieve 100-per cent first-dose vaccination by December 31.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said that party high command has not fulfilled promises made to him after he joined Congress in 2005.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is contesting 88 seats out of the total 89, tops this list among major political parties in the fray with 36 per cent of its candidates having criminal cases. Thirty per cent of its candidates are facing serious cases such as murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, among others, the ADR said in its report. The number of candidates having criminal cases fielded by the AAP is 32.
All the candidates checked in the resort on Tuesday evening with their luggage, indicating that the government formation may be a long haul.
Party leaders said the entire campaign methodology would be chosen much in advance so that there is sufficient time for the messages to make an impression to the voters. It is learnt that the campaign would be both in the print and the electronic media apart from other forms of visual publicity like outdoor campaigning.
Old-timers seem not impressed with the idea of dropping from the RJD poster its jailed supremo who is acknowledged, across party lines, as the biggest crowd puller ever seen in Bihar's poitical arena.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided it would not adopt the path of appeasement and vote bank politics.
The grand old party faces the onerous task of rebuilding its moribund organisation, which is struggling to overcome a leadership crisis and regain credibility with the voters.
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Tipra Motha has decided to go solo and hopes to sweep the 20 tribal-dominated seats that hold the key to power in the northeastern state that has a 60-member assembly.
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