Hardening further its stand on 'Modigate', the Congress on Tuesday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored special investigation team probe into the "scandal".
Vaghani, a relatively young Patel face of the BJP, was earlier state unit's youth wing president.
Over the past week, Rahul Gandhi has replaced office-bearers in charge of party units in Gujarat and Karnataka and Goa, and brought in young leaders as secretaries. These changes are unlikely to be a one-time exercise and poll-bound states would get the primary attention.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav had thrown barbs at the prime minister over his having no family.
Kejriwal, on a four-day visit to Gujarat, is widely seen to be in the poll-bound state to woo the numerously strong Patel community to gain foothold in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home turf.
He secured required 44 votes after votes of two Congress MLAs who cross-voted for BJP were rejected by EC.
The Congress forget Modi has demigod status in Gujarat and there is no way he can be defeated in the state, argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Earlier, Modi was given a standing ovation at the meeting following the party's stupendous win in three assembly polls.
'Where is the remote control in the BJP? When I become president, the remote control will stay with me'
Modi also lauded party workers in the state, saying each of them is a champion
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
After the Gujarat and Himachal elections and the municipal polls in Mumbai and Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh will elect new assemblies next year leading up to the Lok Sabha election in April-May 2024, points out Virendra Kapoor.
'A Gujarat model won't work in every part of India. We have to look at each part as unique, with needs being different from one state to another and yet we must be able to empower them and give them the kind of future the youth aspire to... The BJP has not shown what they want to do. What is their vision for this country? What are the solutions for where we have gone wrong?' Congress MP Priya Dutt on why the Congress is facing its toughest election yet.
Among the 17 new AICC secretaries named so far, 10 are below 50 years of age, indicating the generational change in the 132-year-old Congress being brought in by 47-year-old Rahul, reports Amit Agnihotri.
It's just not a date. It's just not about selecting a candidate. It's not about helping some candidate win. It's about expressing emotion, after ten years, that could reach out in India and beyond it, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Ajit Pawar said CM Shinde is not capable of getting big projects to Maharashtra.
The Congress will conduct a caste census in Madhya Pradesh after winning the assembly polls and establish a university in the name of Sant Ravidas, said party president Mallikarjun Kharge, accusing the regime at the Centre of wishing to change the Constitution.
Simpler GST structure will be key poll plank, Congress sources tell Archis Mohan.
With time on his side, that Hardik Patel will one day occupy the top spot in Gujarat is a no-brainer. But the BJP doesn't like rabble-rousers.
The CWC passed two resolutions on the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement and re-dedicated itself to uphold and defend the idea of India as envisioned by the leaders of the freedom movement.
Influential Patidar leader Naresh Patel, who heads the Shree Khodaldham Temple Trust, on Wednesday claimed that though the older generation is against him joining politics, youth and women want him to take the route.
Stakes are high for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party against the backdrop of Patel quota agitation while Congress is pinning on hopes to make a comeback.
Party's state unit chiefs of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat were also detained along with the workers during the protests.
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who recently quit the Congress, on Tuesday confirmed that he will join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Modi, while speaking at a poll rally in Gujarat on Sunday, had sought to link the dinner meeting hosted by Aiyar for Pakistani dignitaries and attended by Manmohan Singh, among others, with the ongoing assembly polls and a conspiracy against the BJP.
Priyanka Gandhi was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.
'They are happy for the Hindu community as Ram Lalla is consecrated in Ayodhya.'
The Congress's new treasurer Ahmed Patel has been meeting industrialists and businessmen. He met one of the biggest industrialists of the country last week, but the assurance of any significant donation was half-hearted from the other end. Business houses aren't exactly queuing up to offer donations, reports Archis Mohan.
The Congress leader is one of the most powerful functionaries in the party, having the reputation of being a trouble-shooter and strategist.
The transformation of the Modi-Shah baiting Hardik Patel into saffron poster boy.
'By the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they moved back to the BJP almost totally and later their backing helped us win the local body elections.'
The Congress's master strategist is so incredibly popular and resourceful that even Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa regretted his arrest. That's the secret of D K Shivakumar's success, says Aditi Phadnis.
The IIM-B's 'Karnataka innovation report' has become the basis for the Congress party's election narrative, particularly to distinguish it from the 'Gujarat model of development', reports Archis Mohan.
The Congress resisted all temptation to comment on senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's decision to step down from key party posts on Monday, but there was a palpable sense of relief that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's elevation had not been a smooth affair and had, in fact, triggered a major storm in the opposition camp, feels Anita Katyal.
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday conceded the words he had chosen to trash the ordinance on convicted lawmakers might have been wrong but not his sentiment.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
As chief minister of Gujarat, he said he had offered to take the responsibility of reconstructing areas surrounding the temple when the tragedy had struck in 2013, killing thousands of people.
'During the Congress rule, the solicitor general had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court, stating that the government would side with the sentiments of the Hindu community if an evidence was found of a razed temple, where the mosque was built'
The talk of an anti-BJP front got revived after leaders of various parties and prominent individuals congregated at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's New Delhi residence last month.
