The leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc are meeting on Monday morning ostensibly to redraw their strategies to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP both inside the Parliament and in the electoral arena.
BSP chief's hard blows meet with timid retort from India's Grand Old Party.
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.
Firing yet another salvo at RSS, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh alleged that all arrested "Hindu terrorists" had links with the Sangh.
'I have issued an order for the formation of an inquiry committee to probe into the land allotted to the National Herald in Press Complex Bhopal, where commercial buildings have come up by violating the rules,' Madhya Pradesh Urban Administration Minister Bhupendra Singh tweeted on Friday.
'BJP and RSS may have differences over minor issues but their hearts long for one common aim -- that of A Hindu Rashtra.' 'And this time to prove this point the RSS has prepared to help BJP win this election with all its might.'
This comes after Gandhi on Tuesday replied to the Lok Sabha Secretariat's notice to vacate his official bungalow, and said he will abide by the notice.
Supporters of the two leaders are competing in Hadoti to highlight their dominance, which is visible from the hoardings in the region. This has also led to blame games between leaders of the two factions.
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.
The Congress party's first list of 194 Lok Sabha candidates released on Saturday night has no major surprises. Anita Katyal reports
Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the "Group of 23" (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a "collective and inclusive leadership" in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
'The Election Commission cannot be regulated by the government.'
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.
'There may be some planted stories here or there, people trying to create manufactured controversies but the party is fully united. We will make sure the yatra is even more successful than it has been in other states'
In an exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Singh speaks about his candidature from Varanasi, the party's prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and how the Congress is likely to fare in Andhra Pradesh.
What some of our leaders were up to on the weekend.
As Narendra Modi hits the campaign trail in Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Digvijay Singh trained his guns on him, saying the BJP's prime ministerial candidate will not have an impact as he has no vision for the country and "only knows how to abuse".
Gehlot said he has the proof that horse trading was being committed to topple his government.
'You don't have any options within the BJP. You only have to follow the orders of the top leadership.'
All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi appears to be really needling the opposition.
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.
The Congress in Madhya Pradesh seems to be finding it tough to find women candidates for coming Lok Sabha elections even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party seems to be in a comfortable position on this. Both the parties had announced that they will name their nominees much before the polls and some discusssions have also been held on probable candidates but so far the names have not reached the respective central election committees.
In changes ahead of crucial Assembly elections, the Congress on Wednesday made Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi its state unit chief in the Left-ruled West Bengal and appointed two other union ministers as party heads in Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress refrained from commenting on any peace formula between Gehlot and Pilot.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
Congress had sacrificed its two leaders Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for it while the Vajpayee government had "compromised with terrorism", Madhya Pradesh chief minister said.
The Congress on Monday categorically denied media reports that party chief Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Vadra will campaign for the party in the 2014 general elections, and said this news has been floated to divert attention from the Madhya Pradesh temple tragedy.
The federal agency issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot (43) last week, asking him to appear before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road here under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The BJP also wrote to the EC, urging it to postpone the date of counting as Sunday is a sacred day for Christians, and the entire day is devoted to church services throughout the state.
The police have arrested nine persons in connection with the death of two tribal men who were allegedly assaulted by a group of people over suspicion of cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district, an official said on Wednesday.
With Scindia quitting the party, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh appeared headed for a collapse.
Madhavrao Scindia briefly left the Congress in 1996 and was later pacified to rejoin ranks
In its first list for the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP has focused on seats it lost in 2018 and some of them even in 2013, and has reposed faith in 14 candidates, including three former ministers, who lost last time.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had brought in the United States style 'primaries' with much fanfare to empower grassroot leaders to fight the Lok Sabha elections.
Some constituents of the alliance have raised concern that the panels, particularly the 14-member coordination committee, are at risk of becoming ineffective, as their decisions have so far not been acted upon.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
After publication and broadcast of the news, the district administration constituted a committee of revenue and health officials for an inquiry into the news report, the FIR said.
Singhdeo was the main architect of the Congress party's poll manifesto, which he said was made after feedback from about 80,000 people from across the state.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday expressed happiness that the Congress party has taken cognisance of the issues raised by him about welfare of youth and corruption under the previous Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan, and asserted the party will contest the assembly polls unitedly to secure a massive victory.
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