It comes a day after party chief Sonia Gandhi proposed, at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the formation of a group to assess the party's losses in Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Puducherry.
Rahul is contesting from the seat in Kerala in addition to his traditional stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
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".
Sources said Sonia Gandhi referred to Azad and others twice during her brief address and the issues raised by them.
The meeting of the Congress' top decision-making body has been convened after demands from some quarters within the party to discuss important issues, including some defections in the recent past.
All 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.
Senior party leaders stressed that no one except the Gandhi family can hold the party together, the party will disintegrate and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should be given command after 2024.
Speaking with reporters, Gandhi said, "This (school) is India's future. Hate and violence has destroyed it. Nobody has benefited from this. Violence and hate are enemies of development."
The Congress party needs a safe pair of hands in the form of Kharge, Tewari said.
The discussions are mostly one-on-one, party insiders said on Thursday, a day of many meetings.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram suffered a fracture in his left rib after he was pushed away by Delhi Police during the party's protest in support of Rahul Gandhi who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the National Herald case, said the party on Monday.
While over 80 MLAs, including some of the independents, have reached a hotel in Udaipur, Soldier Welfare Minister Rajendra Gudha, SC Commission Chairman and MLA Khiladi Bairwa and MLA Girraj Singh Malinga expressed their displeasure in Jaipur.
'There is no hard evidence, but our MLAs have been getting calls from industrialists and mining mafia in the state to quit the Congress and join the BJP.'
To chart the Congress's future course, its chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday formed three groups -- on political affairs for guidance on key issues, task force-2024 to implement the Udaipur 'Nav Sankalp' declaration, and another to coordinate the October 2 'harat Jodo Yatra.
The ED said Das stated that his first statement given to the agency on November 3 last year in which he cited Baghel's name was "true and correct".
The work on seat sharing with other allies will begin from Thursday, he told reporters.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
With the deepening political crisis in Rajasthan over the appointment of Ashok Gehlot's successor, Congress Working Committee members have demanded from Sonia Gandhi to pull the state chief minister out of the race for the party chief and select another candidate for the top post, sources said on Monday.
Former Union minister K V Thangkabalu, a senior Congress leader from Tamil Nadu, has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would accompany him to Wayanad.
At the same time, Sonia Gandhi does not want to hold the post due to health reasons and Rahul wants a non-Gandhi should hold the post in place of Sonia.
According to information received from sources, there will be a meeting at 5 pm through video conferencing but its agenda is not clear.
Narayanasamy had served as the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office in the second United Progressive Alliance government, after being minister of state, Parliamentary Affairs, in the first UPA government.
A day after a stormy Congress Working Committee meeting, Sibal made the remarks in a cryptic tweet.
The 'Group of 23' leaders who participated included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, besides Sibal who hosted the post-birthday dinner for them.
The meeting of Congress's highest decision-making body is expected to be at a very 'high voltage' as Sonia's resignation will not be accepted by the CWC members.
An overwhelming number of new appointees across the party's organisational structure -- from the highest decision-making body CWC (Congress Working Committee) to the special committee formed to assist interim party chief Sonia Gandhi -- are known as Rahul Gandhi's confidantes.
With its back against the wall, the Congress party has channelised its resources to a strategically picked 32 constituencies in the national capital, though it is contesting on all 70 seats. The party, which was almost decimated in the 2013 Assembly election, thinks the worst is over. The Congress hopes to bag at least 12 seats, where it believes it is in a strong position.
Party president Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh and Charanjit Channi of Punjab attended the meeting.
His son Sunil lighted the pyre and a police contingent gave the departed leader a gun salute.
Keeping in view the approaching Lok Sabha elections, the All Indian Congress Committee has appointed a battery of high-profile spokesmen for the Congress to showcase the achievements of the last 10 years of United Progressive Alliance government and publicise the various sectors where the UPA has performed. Renu Mittal reports
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked party leaders from Gujarat to focus on issues to build pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied allegations it was trying to wean away MLAs from other parties.
Parliament's Budget session has been a washout since the beginning of its second part on March 13, with the BJP demanding an apology from Gandhi.
The Congress on Thursday objected to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar deleting some portions of Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's speech from official records, saying he used no unparliamentary words and some of the expressions he employed were earlier used even by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Congress along with Communist Party of India-Marxist and Janata Dal-United accused Irani of "willfully misleading" Parliament.
Rajendra Gudha, Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Meena, (Bahujan Samaj Party turned Congress MLAs), Girraj Singh Malinga and Khiladi Lal Bairwa met Gehlot, the sources said.
Amid a series of deliberations over a strategy for upcoming general and assembly elections by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, a group of senior leaders of the Congress has given its recommendations to party president Sonia Gandhi and left it to her to take a call on them and initiate organisational changes.
