Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended the swearing in ceremony, while former AICC President Sonia Gandhi was absent. Chief Ministers of Congress ruled states Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh) and several top party leaders were also in attendance.
'If the Congress gets to form the government in 2024, then Sonia Gandhi by virtue of being CPP chairperson will have the authority to decide who will be the prime minister and not Kharge.'
The Congress leadership is upset over Nath's remarks against many leaders of the INDIA bloc, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Janata Dal-United supremo Nitish Kumar, over seat sharing.
The Lok Sabha is set to witness a fierce debate on the no-confidence motion against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government on Tuesday with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, whose membership was restored following a Supreme Court direction, likely to be the lead speaker of the opposition bloc INDIA.
Both the BJP and the Congress have their share of challenges, with finding winning horses on top of this list.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday asserted that West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee should be allowed to lead the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
In a major setback to the opposition INDIA bloc, Banerjee announced that her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will lead a function in the Central Hall of Parliament on Tuesday to celebrate the country's rich parliamentary legacy and resolve to make India a developed nation by 2047.
The June 23 meeting of opposition parties, called by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, will see anti-BJP players chalk out a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls.
Gandhi's remarks come amid repeated attacks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the Congress manifesto bears a 'Muslim League imprint'.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as ministers along with them.
According to the TMC, the momentum built by the INDIA bloc over three successful meetings has dwindled in the last few months due to inactivity, with the Congress preoccupied with elections in three states.
Congress MPs staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament complex demanding an apology from the government for Irani's confrontation with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
'What matters is policies, not personalities like Priyanka, Rahul or Modi.'
"But the BJP wants it to be done after Lok Sabha elections. The tenure of this Lok Sabha will end on 16th June and SBI wants to share the data by 30th June," Kharge said.
Ending days of suspense, the Congress on Friday announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades, and Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, will fight from Amethi.
The Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of insulting Dr Manmohan Singh, the country's first Sikh prime minister, by carrying out his last rites at the Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated spot that could later become his memorial.
Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
A day after the opposition parties announced 'INDIA' as the name for their alliance, they finalised 'Jeetega Bharat' as the 26-member bloc's tagline, setting the tone for their 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign.
While the party announced 144 party candidates for Madhya Pradesh elections, it announced 30 candidates for the Chhattisgarh polls and another 55 for Telangana assembly polls slated next month.
Amid suspense over Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s prime ministerial face for the 2024 general elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the 1977 Lok Sabha polls were fought by the opposition without projecting Morarji Desai as the PM candidate.
Both the parties were not represented at the opposition meeting that decided on fielding Alva as their consensus candidate, but Pawar had said that he is in touch with both TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as AAP convener and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The BJP was unable to win any seat in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala besides Puducherry in 2011.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings, including with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.
The former Congress president alleged that PM Modi had a "monopoly over corruption".
However, members requested the government and the presiding officers of both the House to end the proceedings early citing the festive season and New Year celebrations ahead.
The leaders met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi in the presence of general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy.
The sources said the Congress is the binding force for the opposition bloc and the stronger the Congress emerges the better for the alliance.
Officials have said an absence of drainage system and safety measures, and use of basement for commercial activities in violation of norms led to the death of three civil services aspirants at the coaching centre.
With his three-week temporary bail for poll campaign ending, Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be back in Tihar Jail on Sunday as a court here put off till June 5 its order on his plea seeking interim bail on medical grounds.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance won all five seats, performing particularly well in Singhbhum, Rajmahal, and Dumka.
President Murmu reached the new Parliament building in a six-horse buggy accompanied by the Presidential Bodyguards riding horses.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-RSS of carrying out a "well-planned conspiracy" against national heroes and said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's ideology was contrary to the RSS' ideas. He defended the relationship between Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, saying they were "two sides of the same coin". He also criticized the BJP-RSS for their alleged attempts to appropriate the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
M Thambidurai of the All India Dravida Munetra Kazhagam is set to be elected unopposed as Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha after all major parties, including Congress, extended support to his andidature.
Mallikarjun Kharge has the stature, maturity and gravitas to lead a national party like the Congress with its rich history of struggle and myriad achievements, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
Their joining is likely to come as a big boost to the BJP in Haryana with a few months remaining for the polls.
Striking an emotional chord with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday said he considers himself their soldier in New Delhi, and added his doors are always open for party workers -- 'the lions of the Congress'.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told an all-party meeting that at least 100 terrorists were killed in the Indian strikes on terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir under 'Operation Sindoor'. Leaders from various parties showed maturity and extended all support to the government and armed forces.
The mortal remains of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh were consigned to flames at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday amid the chanting of religious hymns. The funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh.
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