'The message has gone loud and clear (among the people of Assam) that the BJP is only interested in polarising (the country) and they are basically interested in (capturing votes in) the Hindi heartland and they don't bother much about rest of India.'
The demand for making Kadappa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy the state chief minister in place of his late father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took an ugly turn with his supporters in the name of Jagan Yuva Sena allegedly tearing down a huge banner carrying the pictures of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former minister Renuka Choudhary in the Khammam district Congress committee office.
He laid stress on workers' connection with the ground and cited his own example when he was party in-charge for various assembly elections in the past.
"The new class of 70 crore people, who are above the poverty line but below the level of middle class, has been created in the last ten years and it includes security guards, taxi drivers etc," Gandhi said at a rally in Deoli area of Tonk district.
The letter was not a challenge to leadership but a parchment of action to strengthen the party, Congress MP Vivek Tankha asserted, while former union minister Mukul Wasnik said those who saw the letter as an "offence" will also soon realise that the issues raised are worth consideration.
A Samajwadi Party MLA and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader too joined Mayawati's party, BSP General Secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui told a press conference in Lucknow.
Scindia's departure from the Congress also raises question marks about delayed decision-making and status quo in the Congress.
His comments a day after a ruling Congress MLA demanded that Siddaramaiah be made the chief minister again.
Sachin Pilot on how he expects to help the Congress regain lost ground.
The Congress under a 'no surrender' policy evolved by Rahul Gandhi has decided to play tough in all the states where the party is negotiating with prospective and even existing alliance partners. The aim is to bag the largest number of seats possible.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday reviewed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir where violence is continuing over the Amarnath land row.
The cause of the accident was the narrow bridge near the canal.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi on Wednesday welcomed the bandh relaxation in the Darjeeling Hills by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, but said that Gorkhaland was an impossibility.
Congress leader V Narayanasamy on Monday called on Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and formally staked claim to form government in the Union Territory.
Seeking to buck the trend of recent Parliamentary election in which BJP decimated them, Janata Dal-United, RJD and Congress announced an alliance among the three for bypoll in 10 Assembly seats in Bihar, considered as semi-final before the crucial state poll next year.
The Rail Budget is full of hollow promises, the Congress leader said.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Maharashtra counterpart Prithviraj Chavan held talks with Congress central leadership in New Delhi amid indications that decision on replacement of chief ministers will be made soon starting with Assam.
Rattled by the electoral debacle, the Congress is seriously considering replacing chief ministers of Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana in a major shake-up ahead of assembly elections.
With the Congress leadership reportedly inching towards a favourable decision on Telangana statehood demand, a party member of Legislative Assembly and several YSR Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions on Thursday said they have "resigned" in support of united Andhra Pradesh.
Surjewala said the party's 10-day agitation was formalised at a meeting in which Rahul Gandhi participated in, but neither he nor Sonia Gandhi would be participating in the state and district level programmes.
At a press conference after a meeting of the party's senior leaders, K C Venugopal said the Congress will also launch a massive signature campaign in which it aims to collect two crore signatures from farmers and the poor people against farm bills.
The Himachal effect could be replicated in Narendra Modi-run Gujarat, where the PCC chief Bharat Solanki and CLP leader Arjun Modwadia could meet a similar fate, party sources said.
Yet another Congress leader has attacked party Vice President Rahul Gandhi saying he has neither direction nor any policy and called him an 'MD of a team of jokers'.
Congress chief had accepted the resignation of Punjab PCC chief Shamsher Singh Dullo, but had asked him to continue on the post till the appointment of the next PCC president.
In a major breakthrough, Odisha Police have arrested two suspected Maoists who were accused of being involved in the May 25 deadly attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh.
"If the Opposition gets into singing praises, then democracy will be destroyed," Sharma said.
The committee comprises all the top leaders including Union ministers and AICC general secretaries from states.
The number of disgruntled leaders in the party is swelling.
The chief minister and PCC chief have had differences.
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.
Congress expels writer for Sonia remarks
As the debate over the issue of leadership raged, another group of leaders put their weight behind the Gandhi family on Sunday, calling for Sonia Gandhi to stay or Rahul Gandhi to take charge again.
The Congress on Sunday suspended Rajasthan Member of Legislative Assembly Bhanwar Lal Sharma a day after he voiced his opinions against party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Ramesh said Congress has taken "the right steps" vis--vis Uttar Pradesh elections.
Hundreds of Congress workers on Tuesday demonstrated outside the party president Sonia Gandhi's residence as news came of her reluctance to accept the prime minister's office.
Saket was among the nine members of Legislative Assembly who rebelled against the Harish Rawat government.
