Chidambaram also stressed that there were lessons to be learnt by the Congress from the Gujarat loss, saying there is no such thing as a "silent" campaign in a hard-fought election.
A 1978 batch IAS officer, Ranjan, who assumed office this evening, said he would try to ensure clean administration.
Sure enough, the two UP satraps would need to initiate steps to put their respective houses in order and to rejuvenate their badly disillusioned party ranks following the humiliating drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. However, whether the two regional titans would care to introspect about their own failings remains a million dollar question. Sharat Pradhan reports.
"I believe that the moral authority to govern vests with the PM. The overall state of the nation is reflective of the functioning of the PM and his administration. While Dr Singh was preoccupied with saving the coalition, which took a toll on governance, (Narendra) Modi seemed to have employed a rather autocratic style of governance during his first term, as seen by the bitter relationship among the government, the legislature and the judiciary.
Party spokesperson says it was weak organisation and local issues that did the NDA in
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan came under a scathing attack at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee headed by senior leader A K Antony, with some state leaders telling the high command that the party's fate would be no better in the assembly polls due by October.
Congress leader Manmohan Singh said modalities like seat sharing would be discussed later.
With the party recording its worst-ever electoral performance in Lok Sabha polls, a meeting of Congress Working Committee, its apex decision-making body, has been called on Monday to take stock of the strategy ahead.
Refusing to attach much importance to the series of defections plaguing the saffron camp in the last few months, Majumdar said those committed to the ideology and cause can never leave the party.
Slogans of 'Make Rahul Gandhi INC president' rent the air on Sunday as thousands of Congress supporters reached the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi to raise their voice against price rise and unemployment.
It is the last place where the dinosaurs who once dreamt of ruling the Earth can still be seen in their natural habitat, says T V R Shenoy.
Also, with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not in the running for the party president's post, a non-Gandhi would be at the helm after over 24 years following the polling on Monday and counting on Wednesday.
The party and its president, it seemed, were also unable to articulate their views effectively enough
'Since the rise of the Modi-Shah paradigm, the BJP has followed a simple formula.' 'Sweep the Hindi heartland and the two big Western states, and you can rule India with a majority by just adding some little bits on the platter from here and there,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
Ratcheting up pressure on farmers' issues, Rahul Gandhi's next stop will be Vidarbha in Maharashtra where he will hold a 15-km 'kisan padyatra' (footmarch) on Thursday as he criss-crosses the country to reach out to the farmers in distress in various states.
Following a debacle in the West Bengal assembly election, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said he does not want to contest any future election in an alliance which has the Indian Secular Front (ISF) as a partner.
The Congress party will have an elected president by June 2021, with the party's working committee on Friday approving holding the internal election after the assembly polls.
Shashi Tharoor also said that it was too premature to write the obituary for the Congress party and that as an organisation it had no time to sit and lick its wounds as it must immediately pick itself up for the upcoming state elections.
Ahead of the Congress Working Committee meeting on Monday, party leader Manish Tewari said the resignation of the party leadership after the poll debacle is not the way forward.
Will Priyanka Gandhi emerge as the surprise Congress candidate for the top job?
He also said he does not want any other member of the Gandhi family to succeed him, virtually ruling out Priyanka as well for the top party position.
Slogans of 'Rahul ji, we are with you' and 'Please do not resign' rang through the air.
Debacle in four states prompts party to step up efforts to fare well in general elections, reports Sanjay Jog.
Chowdhury stung Sibal for "giving sermons from AC rooms" and said disgruntled members may join other parties or float their own outfits.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
Rattled by the electoral debacle, the Congress is seriously considering replacing chief ministers of Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana in a major shake-up ahead of assembly elections.
Sonia hit out at the BJP, saying the ruling party's "divisive agenda" has become a regular feature of political discourse in all states and that history is being "mischievously distorted" to add fuel to its agenda.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today took "total responsibility" for complete rout of the National Conference-Congress coalition in Lok Sabha polls in the state, and said the result was a "rude awakening" for those who wanted to wish away the Modi factor.
He also sought to know if Modi, during his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, asked the latter about the 2017 Doklam standoff.
'Wait for more action the day after (the Friday meeting).'
One of the G-23 leaders also pointed out that "we are not political tourists" and said the party leadership has to be conscious of "rumour-mongers and naradmunis".
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which had always misguided the people, had swung the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As the debate over the issue of leadership raged, another group of leaders put their weight behind the Gandhi family on Sunday, calling for Sonia Gandhi to stay or Rahul Gandhi to take charge again.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
"Rahul Gandhi is de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure" and make the party battle ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said.
'When I said the Gandhi family had to step aside, it was because we have consistently seen that the public has not accepted them.'
Uttarakhand minister Amrita Rawat, wife of Satpal Maharaj who recently left Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, was on Monday sacked by Chief Minister Harish Rawat from the state cabinet and an Independent member of Legislative Assembly was sworn in as minister.
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