Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who arrived Bahraich on Thursday to meet the families of two farmers killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, said by allowing Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra to continue on the post, the Centre is giving the message that those in power can do anything.
The most number of crorepati candidates are fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (176), while the Congress has fielded 167 crorepati candidates.
'If it is a crime to take pictures with me, then I should also be punished as it does not suit the government to spoil the career of these hardworking and loyal policewomen,' Priyanka added.
On Monday, when Rahul Gandhi missed the party's 136th Foundation Day celebration event as he is travelling abroad to see his grandmother, and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi couldn't attend the event due Covid-19 pandemic, Priyanka Gandhi took charge.
'Congress MPs under the leadership of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will go to Hathras today afternoon to meet the grieving family of the 19-year old-daughter of Uttar Pradesh, who was brutally assaulted & murdered,' Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal tweeted.
Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.
Priyanka was accompanied by her daughter and Congress MLA Aradhana Misra.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla chided Congress member Deepender Hooda over certain remarks as Shashi Tharoor chanted 'Jai Hind, Jai Samvidhan' after taking oath as member of the House.
State Chief Minister Kamal Nath, former Union minister Suresh Pachouri and other party leaders accompanied her to the temple.
The Congress' new headquarters located at 9A, Kotla Road in New Delhi was inaugurated on Wednesday, as the grand old party turned a page in its history after operating from its iconic 24, Akbar Road premises for the last 47 years.
Robert Vadra indicated that he will also join politics and said there is an atmosphere of change in the country. His entire family is working diligently on this, he added.
The security cover of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has been upgraded from the 'Y' category to 'Z', official sources said on Thursday.
The Congress general secretary said that the country was in trouble and voices of dissent were emanating from different corners.
In a terse message to the ruling party, Priyanka in a Hindi tweet said, 'The goons of the BJP involved in 'cheerharan' of the democracy should hear that women will become pradhans, block pramukhs, MLAs, MPs and prime minister, and defeat the government, which gives patronage to those committing atrocities against women.'
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
'He is such a big defence expert that he alone decided that the Rafale aircraft will be manufactured by a company that has never built one ever'
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has strongly criticised Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane for calling Kerala a "mini Pakistan", saying the remark is "highly provocative and condemnable". Vijayan said Rane's comments expose the Sangh Parivar's approach towards Kerala, which he said involves alienating and spreading hate campaigns against the state. He also criticised the leadership of the ruling party for not reacting to Rane's "serious breach of oath". Vijayan called for all democratic and secular forces to unite against the Sangh Parivar's "hateful propaganda".
Rahul accompanied by Priyanka Vadra arrived in Shimla on Tuesday by road to see the latter's under-construction house at Chharabra, a local Congress leader said.
Several opposition MPs in India have criticized the government's handling of the deportation of Indian citizens from the United States, questioning the treatment they received. A US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar, India, on Wednesday, marking the first batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. The deportees reported being handcuffed throughout the journey, sparking protests from opposition leaders who staged a demonstration in Parliament wearing handcuffs. While the government maintains it will address the issue at a later time, opposition members condemned the treatment of the Indians and questioned the government's handling of the situation.
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's mortal remains were brought to the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday, where top party leaders paid their last respects. Singh, who headed the Congress-led UPA government and is considered the architect of India's economic reforms, died on Thursday at 92. A seven-day national mourning will be observed throughout the country in his honor.
"The President was getting very tired by the end... she could hardly speak, poor thing," Sonia Gandhi, the former Congress chief, was heard saying in clips in what appeared to be a reference to how long the address was.
Will 'Bhaiyyaji', as Priyanka is called in UP, contest against Modi?
Addressing a 'nukkad sabha' in favour of Congress nominee Rakesh Sachan in Fatehpur, the Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh said, "The issue of patriotism is raised whenever elections come, but the real questions on farmers, unemployed, women safety are left behind."
The Congress is yet to declare candidates on a majority seats as its Central Election Committee will meet on Sunday to finalise names for more seats.
Bangladesh's prime minister met Advaniji and Soniaji on her short visit to New Delhi.
The opposition on Saturday termed the absence of female journalists from a press conference of visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi "unacceptable" and an "insult to women", and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence in the face of such discrimination exposes the "emptiness" of his slogans on Nari Shakti.
On Tuesday, April 11, 2023, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi visited Wayanad.
The Congress top brass on Wednesday rushed former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and DK Shivakumar to Shimla to parley with members of the party which is facing loss of support and risks losing power in the state.
The Congress on Sunday wrote to the Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking an appointment with President Ram Nath Kovind for a 7-member party delegation led by Rahul Gandhi to meet him and present a detailed memorandum of facts in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident that claimed the lives of eight people earlier this month.
Tearing into the BJP and terming the ongoing elections as a fight of ideologies, she accused the party of destroying the democracy.
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.
All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah attended the ceremony held at the L B Stadium in Hyderabad.
Several opposition MPs on Wednesday greeted their Bharatiya Janata Party counterparts in Parliament premises with the tricolour in one hand and a red rose in the other, as they urged the ruling party to ensure that the House functions and all issues, including the Adani matter, is discussed.
The Congress has already announced 40 per cent reservation for women candidates in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls.
'Modi ji do hear out that this is the Indian youth, it will not be suppressed and you will have to listen to their voice sooner than later'
The Congress would go to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections without a chief minister face but will fight under the watch of general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whom the state party chief Ajay Kumar Lallu described as a 'storm' that will help sweep the polls.
Ruling out the possibility of contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said that she would actively campaign for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi, in Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies respectively. Priyanka visited Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies on a day-long tour on Tuesday, when she met party workers and discussed the LS polls.
'Overnight, with zero qualification whatsoever for the responsibility of prime ministership, Priyanka is being projected as an alternative to Narendra Damodardas Modi!' says Nazarwala who predicted Mayawati's win in the 2007 UP elections, forecast her rout in the 2012 polls, and called right the 2017 UP assembly election result.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with the five other Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh will visit violence-hit Sambhal on Wednesday, party's state unit chief Ajay Rai said.