Kharge said this during an interaction with party delegates at Congress office in Srinagar, where he sought their support for the All India Congress Committee presidential election.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced five guarantees for women, including annual direct cash transfers of Rs 1 lakh to one woman from each of the country's poorest families and 50 per cent quota in all new recruitments in central government jobs.
Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, had joined the Congress on January 4 in Delhi in the presence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.
As part of the efforts to bring several opposition parties together on a common platform to defeat the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Pawar met Kharge on Thursday evening.
The last electoral contest for the top post of the party took place in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi.
BJP leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal too got EC notice for his "vishkanya" remark against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
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.
The Indian government has announced it will allocate space for a memorial to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following a request from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The announcement comes after the Congress party criticized the government for not finding a location for Singh's cremation and memorial, calling it a deliberate insult. Singh, who served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92.
Floor leaders of the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance met on Monday ahead of the start of Parliament's winter session and decided to raise the issue of alleged corruption in the Adani Group and demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the matter.11111111111111111111111111
Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi.
Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed he was 'insulted' as his mic was turned off while he was speaking in the House the previous day.
Nearly Rs 258 crore was incurred on 38 foreign visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi between May 2022 and December 2024, according to data shared by the government.
There has been speculation within state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the CM change later this year, citing the power-sharing agreement involving incumbent Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday expressed apprehension that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections would be the last opportunity for the people to save democracy, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi might prefer dictatorship in case his party wins the upcoming polls.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have decided to raise the NEET issue in both houses of Parliament on Friday and members will give notices in this regard, sources have said.
Tharoor called Kharge, 80, a "candidate of continuity", an apparent reference to the impression that the Karnataka leader is the choice of the Gandhis.
'Entire process of meeting individual legislators of Congress party has been completed with great bohemia.'
Former MLA Harshwardhan Sapkal has been appointed as the new president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), tasked with reviving the party in the state after its crushing defeat in the last year's assembly polls. Sapkal, a veteran politician, replaces Nana Patole, who held the position since 2021. The Congress aims to rebuild its base and prepare for upcoming local body polls, including those in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nagpur. The party will also need to work with its allies, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), to strengthen the opposition against the ruling BJP-led alliance.
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
Pointing out the instance of Kharge entering the Well of the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Dhankhar said, "It was extremely painful to notice that even the Leader of the Opposition walked into the Well of the House and that was a disgrace to parliamentary conduct and proprietary."
The interim panel headed by him would take the place of the Congress Working Committee, the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed after Kharge's election is ratified at the party plenary.
Thapar had strong reservations about Project Cheetah, India's initiative to reintroduce African cheetahs into the wild. He argued that India does not have the necessary habitat or prey base to support free-ranging cheetahs and that the authorities lacked experience in managing spotted felines in the wild.
Rajya Sabha witnessed heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge made remarks on the manner in which political parties select women candidates from weaker sections and raised the issue of 'delayed' GST payments to non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states.
Kharge alleged that Dhankhar is working as a government spokesperson and acting like a school headmaster, often sermonising experienced opposition leaders and preventing them from speaking in the House.
If elected, he will be the second All India Congress Committee president from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa, and also a Dalit leader to hold the post after Jagjivan Ram.
Mallikarjun Kharge was on Wednesday elected the Congress president after defeating Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, the sixth in the party's 137-year-old history.
As many as 12 MLAs of the Congress have threatened to boycott the upcoming state assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced with new faces.
The complaint has been filed by Vineet Jindal, a Supreme Court advocate.
An Army vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge near SK Payen in the north Kashmir district, they said.
The Congress' top leadership will deliberate on the Lok Sabha election results and chalk out its future strategy at a crucial meeting of the party's working committee on Saturday.
Ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced seven guarantees, including the promises of a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) and a caste survey, if voted to power.
Just eight months after its good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) seems to be running out of steam with internal bickering and conflicting ambitions resulting in diminishing electoral returns that have once again put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the driver's seat in national politics.
The Congress party has inaugurated its new headquarters, Indira Gandhi Bhawan, located at 9A, Kotla Road in Delhi. The new building, which was constructed during Sonia Gandhi's tenure as Congress chief, features modern facilities and reflects the party's forward-looking vision. The party will not vacate its current headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, which has been its home since 1978, and will continue to house some of its cells.
Nadda replaces Union minister Piyush Goyal, who recently won the Lok Sabha election and took oath on Monday as a member of the Lower House of Parliament.
Kharge, who was elected Congress president recently, arrived in Himachal Pradesh Tuesday evening and addressed his first public meeting in Banuti in support of party candidate from the Shimla Rural assembly constituency Vikramaditya Singh.
Tharoor said that he could not meet some delegates as their contact details were "missing" from the list that was provided to him.
After joining the Congress, Rahul Kaswan said he felt his "voice was not being heard" in the party.
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar on Tuesday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi separately and discussed the modalities of government formation in the southern state.
A corrigendum to the joint parliamentary committee report on the Waqf Amendment Bill, 2024, was tabled in the Rajya Sabha after Opposition MPs alleged that dissent notes were redacted from the report. BJP MP Medha Vishram Kulkarni tabled the corrigendum, which included the un-redacted dissent notes. The Opposition MPs, led by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, had earlier accused the government of misleading the House by deleting the dissent notes. The government, however, denied the allegations. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar thanked the government for the corrigendum, saying it showed that parliamentary institutions are blossoming. Opposition MPs, however, said it was done under their pressure.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances