Aiyar's endorsement of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has ignited a political firestorm, drawing sharp rebukes from his own party.
If the INDIA bloc and NDA develop consensus then Shiv Sena-UBT will also be part of that process, Raut said.
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's mortal remains were brought to the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday, where top party leaders paid their last respects. Singh, who headed the Congress-led UPA government and is considered the architect of India's economic reforms, died on Thursday at 92. A seven-day national mourning will be observed throughout the country in his honor.
The opposition INDIA bloc leaders are expected to discuss their joint candidate for the post of vice-president at a meeting of floor leaders on Monday morning.
Kharge claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are "put on the lap" and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.
The present strength of the electoral college is 781 as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. This puts the majority mark at 391. The NDA has 425 MPs, while the opposition camp has the backing of 324.
The Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge, Tewari said.
The Indian government briefed an all-party meeting on Thursday on the success of "Operation Sindoor", the retaliatory airstrikes against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack. Top government functionaries and opposition leaders met for a second time in a fortnight amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by several prominent leaders from various political parties. The government highlighted the strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The report was tabled by Bharatiya Janata Party member Medha Vishram Kulkarni, a member of the panel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
Gehlot, one of the proposers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav will address joint rallies before the first Phase of voting and, after that, for the seats in the second Phase of voting, they added.
On Thursday, December 19, 2024, ruling NDA and Opposition INDIA MPs took out separate protest marches over the Ambedkar issue and came face to face at the Makar Dwar of Parliament house, leading to much jostling.
The opposition INDIA bloc has declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
The BJP keeps taking dips till it appears good on the camera, he said.
Gandhi alleged the increase in railway accidents in the last 10 years is a "direct result of the mismanagement and negligence of the Modi government, which has resulted in loss of lives and property of passengers on a daily basis".
The deputy chief minister, he told his voters that their desire (to see him as chief minister) will never be false, and asked them to wait with patience.
Rahul Gandhi said he never wanted to speak on the particular issue, but decided to do so after BJP's Surya questioned the patriotism of the Congress party. Singh maintained that the book had not been published.
The poll panel said it found Kharge's letter, placed in the public domain in the middle of the ongoing electoral process, 'highly undesirable' and designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday lauded the organisational power of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party as he shared Narendra Modi's old picture and said how a grassroots worker went on to become the chief minister and prime minister by sitting at the feet of their leaders.
According to the sources, the meeting will be held at 10 am on Thursday in the chamber of Rajya Sabha LoP.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated the government is open to discussing electoral reforms in the Rajya Sabha, urging the Opposition not to impose a timeline. Opposition parties staged a walkout after demanding an immediate discussion on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Consensus emerged on the appointment of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), while Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's name was proposed for the convener's post, pending approval of parties absent at the alliance meeting on Saturday, according to sources.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
'CM face ko lekar NDA mein koi confusion nahi hai, Nitish Kumar hi NDA ke CM face hai'.
Congress's presidential poll candidate Mallikarjun Kharge has stayed away from participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in his home state of Karnataka alongside Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as the party is keen on underlining the impartiality in the election to the top post, sources said on Monday.
The less charitable in the party say he owes his appointment Sonia Gandhi -- the family wanted someone who wouldn't talk back and would not exert himself too much, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for the ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years.
Unidentified persons also wrote 'agent of Trinamool Congress' on Kharge's posters and hoardings.
The Congress has consciously contested on a lesser number of seats in this Lok Sabha election as part of a strategy to keep the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) together and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said.
"No one is small or big and we have to all work like karyakartas (workers) to strengthen the organisation," Kharge said.
It looks like he struck an instant chord with the people, with the voters rewarding the Congress with a comfortable majority of 136 seats in the 224 member Karnataka Legislative Assembly for which elections were held on May 10, and the votes counted on Saturday.
In a fresh twist to the ongoing power struggle in Karnataka, caste groups backing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar on Thursday threw their weight behind them, with one warning Congress against unseating the incumbent CM while the other community strongly batted for Shivakumar's elevation.
Kharge claimed that the wording as well as the tone and tenor of the remarks made by the Home minister "are clearly satirical and made in a very bad taste".
Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a "poisonous snake", drawing strong rebuke from the Bharatiya Janata Party which said "hate is coming out" with such comments and sought an apology from the veteran leader.
Following the deaths of at least four people due to water contamination in Indore's Bhagirathpura area, the Madhya Pradesh government has taken action, including removing the municipal commissioner and suspending senior officials. The government has also submitted a status report to the High Court and is implementing measures to control the outbreak and provide assistance to affected families.
The ruling alliance and the Opposition are set to lock horns over the two issues steeped in national security and foreign policy imperatives.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said when the elections are over, people will only remember him as the PM who indulged in 'divisive and communal speeches filled with lies' to avoid an inevitable defeat.
Prasun Banerjee and Jawhar Sircar represented TMC in the meeting, which discussed the Opposition strategy on Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Parliament.
