'The claim that Hindi unifies our country is absurd. That language is not the mother tongue of a majority of Indians. The move to inpose Hindi on them amounts to enslaving them. The Union Minister's statement is a war cry against the mother tongues of non-Hindi speaking people'
Kerala Minister Saji Cheriyan on Wednesday announced his resignation amidst mounting criticism from various quarters, including the Opposition, over his controversial remarks against the Constitution recently.
Group rivalry in the Kerala Congress unit has intensified further as the political mission of chief minister Oommen Chandy to induct Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ramesh Chennithala into the cabinet has failed.
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 discussions are mostly one-on-one, party insiders said on Thursday, a day of many meetings.
However, Head priest Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru told reporters at the temple that he had only consulted senior tantri Kandararu Mohanararu on the matter.
There is a proposal from the BJP camp that they would resort to a proportion-based increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for individual states, based on what they now have. On the face of it, this sounds like a fine argument that those demanding a 'freeze' now cannot oppose without reasons and justification, avers N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who has been under attack from the Communist Party of India - Marxist over the solar panel scam, on Friday met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and discussed the political developments in the state.
Former Kerala minister T H Mustafa was on Thursday suspended from the Congress for calling Rahul Gandhi a "joker" and saying that the party vice-president should be removed if he does not resign in the backdrop of the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.
'How and why did we lose so many seats in places where we were expected to win?'
'For the first time in this country, perhaps the first time anywhere, we are going to use backwardness index.' 'It is a fundamental shift in the discourse in the country's social justice.'
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.
If a 15 seconds-long mic problem merits a case being registered, then the police risk an avalanche of complaints of similar and greater gravity, seeking their intervention, notes Shyam G Menon.
Rahul Gandhi visits the Mata Kheer Bhawani temple and the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir.
'I am the senior most Congress party leader from Kerala, and I don't know why I am sidelined.'
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
Local residents have stressed that land acquisition for rehabilitation must be completed promptly, as it has been delayed after estate owners challenged it in the Kerala high court.
UDF, LDF raise voice against cow slaughter ban backed by BJP leadership.
Sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from Rae Bareli, but a final call is yet to be taken by the first family of the Congress.
Given the possibilities that next year's assembly elections could throw up, Stalin told the state assembly that an interim report had to be submitted by January 2026. The outcomes may well find its way into the DMK's poll manifesto, thus seeking to keep the electoral focus still on the BJP-ruled Centre and Prime Minister Modi, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor on Monday said he accepts the party's decision to remove him as party spokesperson for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but regretted that he did not get an opportunity to respond to the charges levelled against him by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Wayanad in Kerala on June 12, party sources said on Monday.
This is a brief background of the new Cabinet Ministers.
The Congress units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where the party is in government on its own, have passed resolutions that Gandhi be made the party's president.
After an initial close fight, AINRC managed to win only eight seats, including the Indira Nagar constituency by party founder and Chief Minister N Rangasamy.
A day after various exit polls predicted Opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front coming to power in Kerala, ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front leaders shrugged it off
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was hurt mildly on his forehead in stone throwing by Left Democratic Front workers protesting against the solar panel scam in Kannur on Sunday.
'When I said the Gandhi family had to step aside, it was because we have consistently seen that the public has not accepted them.'
With the Pradesh Congress committees passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi at the helm of All India Congress Committee, party General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said such measures have no binding effect.
Gehlot told Congress MLAs that they will be asked to come to New Delhi if he decides to file his nomination.
There are lessons for the Congress to learn from the Karnataka elections of how burying the hatchet among top leaders and not washing dirty linen in public can help, says Ramesh Menon.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Sunday said the law of the country would take its own course in fishermen killing case in which the crew of an Italian ship fired at and killed two Indians off Kollam coast in Kerala.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Singh, a former Punjab chief minister and a sitting MP, at the same time said that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi can step into Sonia's shoes if she feels that time has come for her to go and that she is "tired" of being at the helm of the party since 1997.
Amid intense speculation over whether he would contest the Lok Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he would abide by his party's decision on it.
In most places the rank and file of the party is taking out rallies in support of Tharoor, but the defence as a political party is limited to only a few words by PCC chief Ramesh Chennithala and Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee is keen to field senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Varanasi and will soon send a proposal in this regard to the top leadership, said newly appointed party's state president Ajay Rai on Sunday.
The priority in ticket distribution will be given to youth, women, and those with a clean image, he said.
