Voting began on Monday in the Congress presidential polls as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor face-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would accompany him to Wayanad.
The Congress party continues to be racked by arbitrary decision-making and the absence of accountability.
'It is still God's own country. Nobody needs to worry about coming here. Anybody can come to Kerala without worry because bad elements will be kicked out of the state mercilessly... These terrorists visited many places and not only Kerala,' says Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, reacting to the fears that Kerala has become a terror hub.
'Rahul Gandhi wants a group under the name 'new generation'. But look at the people who surround him.'
'The BJP always said Rahul Gandhi is an 'air-conditioned leader', but after this yatra he has proved them wrong.'
Gandhi attacked the BJP by alleging that the saffron party has proved that hatred can be used politically and to win polls, but cannot generate employment.
While its widely being publicised that Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan resigned from the council of ministers to work for the Congress party ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls, political observers point out that 'growing unhappiness' over her performance during her ministership could have possibly led to the move. Renu Mittal reports.
Days after facing party action for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday led a cleanliness campaign at Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram and said no political meaning should be read into it.
No one from the Gandhi family was present at the All India Congress Committee headquarters when the leaders filed their nominations for the election.
Incensed by his praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee decided to seek suitable action by high command against party MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday.
After Arunachal Pradesh slipped out of its control and Uttarakhand was placed under President's rule, the Congress president took matters into her own hands.
With the assembly poll results in three states being a disappointment for the Congress, some rumblings have begun among the constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) ahead of their meeting on December 6, with many leaders alleging that the grand old party ignored others, but was unable to win elections on its own.
The Congress chief, however, said he was not expecting any cooperation from the prime minister and the BJP-led central government for the development of Wayanad and Kerala.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the 3,570km-long foot-march, expressed grief over the death of Seva Dal general secretary Krishna Kumar Pandey.
While its performance in Bihar, has boosted fund collections, corporate contributors are still waiting to see its performances in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal before committing funds to the Congress.
Gandhi noted that lakhs of migrants continue to walk hundreds of kilometres to reach back their homes without food, water, medicines and cash. She also accused the central government and the Railways of completely ignoring the demands made by the Congress for ensuring the safe and free travel of migrant workers and labourers to their homes.
The CPI-M leader was fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, and also Malayalam. He was also well-versed in Hindu mythology, and often used those references in his speeches especially to attack the BJP.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices L N Rao and Dinesh Maheshwari said it was only going into the aspect of security of the two women -- Bindu and Kanakadurga, and would not like to entertain any other prayer made in the petition.
At its Jaipur meeting, the BJP will focus on this year's assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh while the Congress's Chintan Shivir in Udaipur will discuss how it can resurrect itself.
"If the Opposition gets into singing praises, then democracy will be destroyed," Sharma said.
An agitated Congress condemned the anti-party act of Thomas and said he will face stern action for violating the order of the high command.
There are also views within a section of the party that a turnaround in Uttar Pradesh is possible only if either of the Gandhis -- Priyanka or Rahul -- takes the lead in the state polls.
The Congress will reach out to civil society members and like-minded political groups for the 'Bharat Jodo' yatra from October 2 for rallying support to combat polarisation and protect Constitution, democracy and various institutions, senior party leaders said on Thursday.
The Congress chief admitted that his initial position on the Sabarimala issue was different than what it is today.
In a major exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress on Thursday night constituted screening committees for all states and union territories for early selection of candidates.
With the controversy over 'love and narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt refusing to die down, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday engaged in a fresh round of verbal sparring.
Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary late Saturday night, a BJP leader was hacked to death less than 12 hours later on Sunday morning and later, prohibitory order under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district, additional police force was deployed there and senior officers camped there to monitor the law and order situation.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
A defeat in Assam would be bad news for the Congress which is in power in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur.
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.
Voters are disillusioned with the two rival fronts in the state and there are no effective alternatives either. G Sreedathan explains
The BJP believes that the only party still capable of leading a credible challenge against it is the Congress. Please note how BJP campaigners in states where the Congress may count for a cipher or thereabouts, mostly attack the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
He also claimed that the people were asking are all the jobs under Kerala government reserved for cadres and the university jobs for powerful people in Thiruvananthapuram.
Mounting a frontal attack on the Narendra Modi government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said there has been an increase in communal violence in the country since it came to power and alleged this was part of a "deliberate" attempt to divide the people.
Kerala is one state where the Congress may do well in the general election and it where Rahul Gandhi has demonstrated why he is serious about rebuilding his party, says T V R Shenoy.
Senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, in the race for the post of Congress president, not only possess contrasting demeanour but have had an equally disparate political journey.
Sunni leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliar's controversial remarks against gender equality have triggered a strong reaction from parties.
Rahul Gandhi said both Rae Bareli and Wayanad "will get two MPs".
