The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP's Sanjaya Sinh.
All the three leaders expressed their best wishes to her, sources said.
This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
Kharge also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the people should not believe Modi's "guarantees".
Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Friday amid protests by opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party members over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remark on President Droupadi Murmu.
"Religious festivals seem to have become occasions to intimidate and bully others -- a far cry from when they were occasions for joy and celebration. Instead, there is intimidation and discrimination only on account of their religion, food, caste, gender or language," Gandhi said.
The Congress on Thursday raised the issue of Enforcement Directorate action and police gherao of its party office and the residences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, with Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge saying in the Rajya Sabha that he has been summoned by the ED at a time when Parliament is in session.
Initiating the debate from the opposition's side in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said, "I stand here in support of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam."
Gandhi was unusually more proactive and practically led the Opposition protest against the rise in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders during the Question Hour.
The NCW said it strongly condemns the defamatory remarks and requests strict action against Moitra.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said the Preamble to the Constitution is very well there in NCERT textbooks of Class VI as he refuted charges made in this regard by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday questioned Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper and summoned her for a second round of questioning in the case on July 25.
What some of our leaders were up to this week.
The decision on Rahul Gandhi's appointment as the Leader of Opposition was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
Sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from Rae Bareli, but a final call is yet to be taken by the first family of the Congress.
The Congress will hold a chintan shivir immediately after the Budget session of Parliament and the CWC will meet again before that, he told reporters
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Gandhi demanded immediate withdrawal of the objectionable question and a review into the 'gravest lapse'.
In the event that like in the 17th Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi again gets locked out of the House, the Congress needs a second-in-command who will keep the momentum going inside Parliament, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
A blame game began in the Congress on Tuesday as it failed in its bid to come back to power in Haryana after 10 years, with senior party leader Kumari Selja saying the party high command should assess all reasons that led to the disappointing result and identify the people responsible.
Navendu Mishra (Stockport) and Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) were among the other Labour MPs re-elected with convincing majorities.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice in the post-lunch period on Thursday as a war of words broke out between the treasury and opposition benches, triggered by Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi's spat with the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Mother and son refuse to go away despite indications blowing in the wind that their leadership is ringing the death knell of the party, observes Ramesh Menon.
As soon as the Question Hour ended, Congress' Leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that a discussion on the 'Indo-China border situation be held', saying late Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had allowed a discussion in Lok Sabha on the India-China war in 1962.
Modi said that Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha polls will be an "all-time low"
'Leave aside the negative fallouts of phraseology like 'urban Naxals' and 'terrorists', both the BJP and the Congress have to re-discover themselves in the context of the 2024 election results, including those of the upcoming ones for Maharashtra and Jharkhand,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised Rahul Gandhi as the leader of opposition on Wednesday, a day after the Congress communicated its decision to name him for the position to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
He had also said Gandhi's statement was far distanced from his reflections as delegitimising the judiciary is beyond his contemplation.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The action came after investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the home ministry in 2020.
Describing the meeting as 'positive', Banerjee said she discussed the political situation in the country as well as opposition unity with the Gandhis.
'Has the BJP not announced its candidates in Raebareli?'
Faisal Patel's tweet did not mention what kind of encouragement he was looking for, however, many believe it could be linked to his possible electoral debut.
"The agenda as published at the moment, is much ado about nothing - all this could have waited till Winter session in November. I am sure the legislative grenades are being kept up their sleeves to be unleashed at the last moment as usual. Parde ke peeche kuch aur hai!" he said.
A huge political row broke out after Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee derisively mimicked Dhankhar during the opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament on Tuesday against the suspension of MPs, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal, Kharge said he believes in collective leadership and if elected president, will consult party leaders Sonia Gandhi as well as Rahul Gandhi on organisational matters.
'In Parliament, he was the one person who stood for democracy and secularism even when the principal Opposition party was not very forthright in taking on the BJP and RSS.'
Gandhi claimed that authoritarian tendencies are becoming clearer, with the erosion of fundamental rights being accompanied by a narrow imposition of conformity and obedience from dutiful citizens. voters polarised for electoral gains
'Rahul is a seasoned player of politics and chess. He makes his moves after careful consideration.
Her move comes after doctors advised her to get away from the heavy pollution in the national capital in view of her chronic chest infection, party insiders said.
The Congress, which is not very keen on having an alliance with the TMC, called it 'an untrustworthy ally', which is trying to grow at its expense.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances