The central election committee of the party met on Monday to finalize the list of candidates, but the exercise is being done in a vacuum since the party is still unclear of whether it is going ahead with any allies or not. The party is still negotiating with Babulal Marandi for seat sharing, with Ahmed Patel Sonia's political secretary, admitting that discussions are still on with him but so far there is not much headway.
About 75 percent of sitting Jharkhand legislators lost the assembly elections, while just 25 percent retained their seats.
'They want to snatch the land and give it to their friends'
The owner and manager of Rituraj Hotel in Kolkata have been arrested following a devastating fire that killed 14 people. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered surprise checks of all establishments in the city to ensure fire safety compliance, after the tragedy highlighted serious violations at the hotel. The hotel has been sealed and special committees will be formed to monitor and identify establishments flouting fire safety norms.
Several opposition MPs on Wednesday greeted their Bharatiya Janata Party counterparts in Parliament premises with the tricolour in one hand and a red rose in the other, as they urged the ruling party to ensure that the House functions and all issues, including the Adani matter, is discussed.
The Congress said it would look into the proposal for government formation in Jharkhand if the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and other secular parties came up with the issue, following the Bharatiya Janata Party's withdrawal of support to the Shibu Soren government.
The BJP government in Gujarat has formed a five-member committee, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, to assess the need for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state and to draft a bill for the same. The committee will submit its report within 45 days. The decision has sparked debate with the Opposition claiming it is an attempt to divert attention from pressing issues ahead of the upcoming local body polls, while the government insists the UCC will protect the rights of tribal communities. The committee will consult with religious leaders, including those from the Muslim community.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi on Monday night appointed Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president and legislator Pradeep Kumar Balmachu as the officiating speaker of the state Assembly.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Congress on Thursday said its president Sonia Gandhi had asked United Progressive Alliance allies in Jharkhand to decide on government formation and the chief ministerial candidate.
Former MP Dr Ajoy Kumar on Monday offered to resign from the post of president of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee and Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar quit their posts.
Senior Congress leader A K Antony, assisted by All India Congress Committee general secretary and former Union minister Mukul Wasnik mket party leaders from Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and held meetings daily and interacted with leaders individually
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
The opposition on Sunday asked the Centre to allow discussions in the Parliament on the United States prosecutors' bribery charges against the Adani Group even as Union minister Kiren Rijiju made it clear that the matters to be taken up in the two Houses will be decided by their authorised committees with the consent of the respective Chair.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Jammu and Srinagar on August 21 and 22 for key meetings in preparation for the upcoming assembly elections.
Arun Beereddy (37), a native of Telangana's Hyderabad, was arrested from Delhi. He handles the 'Spirit of Congress' account on X, the official said.
'The government does not want to be transparent or accountable. Therefore, they do not want to appoint information commissioners.'
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.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who were present at the meeting, asked party leaders to remain united and connected with the people, sources said.
'Gyanendra back on the throne would be bad news for the Nepali people. He may not have learnt from his experience, but we have.'
A girl who was set on fire by a person after she did not reciprocate his proposal in Jharkhand's Dumka district succumbed to her burn injuries on Sunday.
Opposition parties on Wednesday opposed the 'one nation, one election' proposal by calling it impractical and a 'cheap stunt' by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
As the raids were completed, the I-T team took two managers of the distillery located at Sutapada to an unknown location for interrogation, they said.
Legislative Assembly election-bound Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand will be exempted from this exercise
No one from the Gandhi family was present at the All India Congress Committee headquarters when the leaders filed their nominations for the election.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SV N Bhatti sought Tankha's response in four weeks on the plea of Chouhan and BJP state president VD Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh who have challenged the October 25 order of the Madhya Pradesh high court refusing to quash the defamation case.
"For me, they (Maoists) are no enemies at all. If they are under some wrong notions, we need to talk to them," Rao said in the Rajya Sabha, while participating in a debate on the Dantewada massacre.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has resigned as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, sources said on Saturday, a day after he filed his nomination papers for the All India Congress Committee president's election.
Shah also challenged the Congress to implement its Lok Sabha election promise of providing Rs 8500 monthly to women in states ruled by the party.
After six years of probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the closure report before a special court last week as it could not find enough evidence in the case to proceed with prosecution, the officials said.
Senior leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh are learnt to be the front-runners to take on the mantle of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
A week after assuming power in Karnataka, the Congress on Friday released the list of 24 legislators who will be sworn-in as ministers to fill up all the vacant ministerial positions.
A total of 20 forms were received during the nomination process. Four of them were rejected as signatures were repeated or did not match, he said.
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