While believing that the senior leadership does not have what it takes to resurrect the party, members at the same time are often heard repeating, "It's the Gandhi family that holds the party together". Kavita Chowdhury explains
'Modi's speech was like one of our sour food preparations; Rahul's was sweet.'
The leaders alleged that those who had no contribution in the freedom struggle wanted to spread fear 'in the name of nationalism', suppress the voice of people and were questioning the legacy of Congress.
Sharpening attack on erstwhile ally Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena on Sunday accused it of backstabbing late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray by snapping ties with his party over seat sharing in Maharashtra assembly polls.
The present generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family is often accused of dynasty rule but going by the record, other parties have also fielded their family members for the Lok Sabha polls in Vidarbha region. Youth leader and Congress general secretary, Mukul Wasnik, Washim Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Bhawana Gawali, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sudhakar Naik, Kamaltai Gavai, Chitlekha Bhosale are some of the prominent leaders whose family had represented the constituency
'Four years ago, when Gadkari was BJP president, Fadnavis was president of the state BJP, I had gone on a fast unto death demanding separate statehood for Vidarbha.' 'They had come to meet me and promised that once the party comes to power at the Centre and in the state, we will get separate statehood.' 'Four years have passed, but no change is seen on the ground.'
Sixteen Congress secretaries drafted a letter on September 2 to be sent to party general secretaries and Congress Working Committee members, criticising senior leaders (without names, of course!) for their comments, asking the old guard to introspect about what went wrong at the general election.
The state government is worried that the agitation may pose a serious threat to it, reports Sanjay Jog.
Seeking to woo the fishermen community in Maharashtra's tribal region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said those seeking an account of his work in 60 days never bothered about fishermen rotting in Pakistani jails and it was his government which took up the matter.
Despite the indisputable facts demonetisation and its pain is yet to have a quantifiable political backlash. But this is provided the government can limit the damage to the next one week.
Shah said the government was committed to ensure development in the country.
Amethi's member of Parliament failed to use his first formal television interview to reach out to the people in general and the electorate in particular ahead of the crucial elections in which the Congress has already been written off by opinion polls and surveys. He did little to change that impression by failing to exploit the platform provided to him.
New government will have to mobilise money to complete pending irrigation, infra projects
The Union home ministry has received a factual report from the Maharashtra government on the prevailing situation in the state in the wake of caste-based violence there, a ministry spokesperson said.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R S Reddy and M R Shah said if any State/Union Territory in exercise of their jurisdiction under the Disaster Management Act (DMA) has taken a decision that it is not possible to conduct the final year/terminal semester examination by September 30, then they can make an application to the UGC for extending the deadline.
Shah said the 'friendship' between Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal, and Congress' top leadership is 'time tested and deep'.
'Why isn't the BJP ready to give reservations to Muslims despite the high court telling it to do so?' 'A K Antony said the Congress lost the 2014 election because of Muslim appeasement. Antony should have gone to the jails of Maharashtra and found out how many Muslims were arrested during Congress rule. I don't know what kind of appeasement this is.' 'We reposed faith in so-called great secular leaders and they deceived us.'
As Maharashtra's main political players, the Congress-nationalist Congress Party alliance and Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine, brace for the Lok Sabha and subsequent state assembly polls this year, they would have to contend with a new opponent, the Aam Aadmi Party, which has decided to take the electoral plunge in a big way.
'Whether or not Chandrashekhar Azad succeeds or fails electorally, he has already made democratic politics more accountable to Dalits.'
Shiv Sena spokesman Rahul Narvekar, who recently withdrew his candidature from the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, today joined the Nationalist Congress Party and will contest the Lok Sabha polls on the party's ticket from the Maval constituency.
Modi, while speaking at a poll rally in Gujarat on Sunday, had sought to link the dinner meeting hosted by Aiyar for Pakistani dignitaries and attended by Manmohan Singh, among others, with the ongoing assembly polls and a conspiracy against the BJP.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
"People in India are showing their angst, their concerns, their worries about the future of India. Everybody wants development, what has Modi done? He has done his own development rather than development of the country," he added.
The 31-year-old will have to do the balancing act between his anti-BJP support base and work with the Khattar-led dispensation for smooth governance.
He accused the BJP of creating friction between communities and 'igniting' fire and ramped up his attack on the PM.
The Congress leader said though Modi had been in power for over a year now, prices of essentials have gone up instead of coming down.
Cutting across party lines, members in Lok Sabha highlighted the cases of atrocities being committed on Dalits in various parts of the country and demanded steps to prevent them.
'There are around 400 Lok Sabha constituencies where Dalits and Muslims combined constitute 30% of the electorate.' 'Also, 90% to 95% of Dalits and Muslims go out and vote.' 'So, if they are come together, they become significant electorally.'
'The Gujarat model which is being shown is not the right picture.' 'Farmers are not getting their dues, youth are unemployed and factories have shut shop.'
'They have a voracious appetite.' 'But there are many places where they go and they lose.'
'What shame is there in the government accepting a drought situation and taking appropriate measures to help people live?' a Marathwada farmer asks Neeta Kolhatkar.
Here's a list of the full first-time ministers in the second term of the Narendra Modi government.
Gadkari said that the MSME sector contributes significantly in pushing the country's economic growth and creating employment.
The PM also told his party's leaders that their responsibility has risen as public support has increased for the BJP.
As we wave goodbye to 2019, we look back at the highlights of the year, in the numbers that made it memorable.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging the "distressing rise" in incidents of Dalit atrocities.
Enthused by the strong showing in Delhi Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to concentrate on the ensuing Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra.
'People were very upset with the fake promises of the BJP in the 2012 assembly elections as well as general elections of 2014.' 'This vote is against the BJP, Narendra Modi and Anandiben Patel.' 'Modi is the prime minister but in his hometown the Congress is winning. We have has got positive votes.' As the Congress makes gains in the Gujarat civic elections, former state Congress president Arjun Modhwadia explains the reasons for the BJP' s poor show.
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