Sources said Tewari, who has publicly lauded the Agnipath scheme and termed it as a much-needed reform in the armed forces, has taken a stand contrary to that taken by his party.
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create "Hindu-Muslim disturbances" to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
Voting came to an end for the Karnataka assembly elections on Wednesday at 6 pm with data showing a voter turnout of 65.69 per cent an hour ago.
As the Kejriwal empire spreads, will he be able to keep the momentum going? And will it be at the cost of greater centralisation of authority in the party, asks Aditi Phadnis.
The party has not applied the "one-family, one-ticket" formula for the Karnataka polls which it followed in the Punjab polls held last year.
The Congress, out of power in UP for 27 years is making a big pitch to bounce back, on a cocktail of caste politics and promises of agriculture debt waiver worth Rs 49,000 crore and power rate reduction for farmers hit by high input costs and diminishing returns., reports Amit Agnihotri.
The meeting of the Congress Parliamentary strategy group was held at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress, notwithstanding its depleted bench strength, failed to corner the government on a range of crucial issues during the just-concluded Parliament session, says Kavita Chowdhury
As the party moves forward into the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it not only needs to strengthen the state units and reach out to the grassroots level, but also forge alliances with like-minded parties.
The widening differences between Punjab Congress leaders -- Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu intensified with their wives joining them in the conflict.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday thanked the people for helping the Aam Aadmi Party "breach the BJP's fortress" in Gujarat and asserted that the party would win the state the next time.
The BJP is focusing on 160 seats 'we have never won, seats where we have reasonable support, and those we lost narrowly.'
"You vote thinking that you are voting to make Arvind Kejriwal as the chief minister (of Punjab). Your vote is for Kejriwal," Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
In one state, the BJP sweeps in Modi's name -- and only because of Modi's name. In the other state, Modi's name did not work. Himachal underlines the limitations of Modi's magic, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Prashant Kishor, the man who led Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar to victory, has his task cut out for him as he tries to secure victory for the Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was 'putting pressure' on him to 'frame' the then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in an alleged fake encounter case in Gujarat when he was being questioned by the probe agency during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
Sidhu visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and offered prayers and stressed on 'opening of a new friendship chapter' and trade between the two countries, days after India early this week reopened the visa-free Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims.
Congress leaders and workers continued their protests in several states on Thursday against Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money-laundering case with many of them taken into preventive custody including former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury in Hyderabad after she allegedly grabbed the collar of a police official.
'If he loses Gujarat, then he has a major, major, problem coming up in 2024.'
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan came down heavily on Congress leaders for "persistently and willfully obstructing the House" and suspended them for 5 days. The members who have been punished include a president's son, ex-chief ministers' sons and an ex-CM's grandson. Rediff.com brings you the complete list.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala claimed that 78 party legislators had sought Singh's ouster in a letter to the central leadership and it was not party president Sonia Gandhi who made him quit.
In its third list of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Tuesday fielded 58 candidates, mostly tried and tested ones. While most sitting ministers, including Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Krishna Tirath (Northwest Delhi), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer) and Srikant Jena (Balasore) were retained, the surprise elements were state Youth Congress President Vishwajeet Kadam replacing tainted Suresh Kalmadi from Pune and cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan).
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The bone of contention is believed to have been the number of the seats the Congress wants to contest in the national capital.
'There is a need for a younger person at the top, but the old guard wants to grab the post themselves,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
'There are too many competent people better suited and poised to take on Modi. The Gandhis are not among them,' argues Harishchandra.
Even as Congress has announced plans to hold year-long celebrations to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to lay the foundation stone for the 'Ambedkar International Centre' in New Delhi, the legacy of the Dalit icon becoming the focus of a contest between the rival parties
Defending the panel's recommendation to retain the law, which is at present under abeyance following directions of the Supreme Court issued in May last year, he said enough safeguards have been proposed to prevent its misuse.
Pawar, who had surprised the BJP by forging an unlikely alliance of Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP to form government in Maharashtra after the 2019 assembly elections, has already appealed to opposition parties to keep aside differences and join hands to challenge the Modi juggernaut.
He arrived at the CBI headquarters early in the morning to face the investigation team. The questioning is likely to continue throughout the day with a lunch break, they said.
Aiming to breach the Bharatiya Janata Party's Gujarat bastion, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded its candidate to contest all 182 assembly seats and carried out a high decibel campaign in the run-up to the polls in Gujarat.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders -- Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma -- joined them.
Priyanka Gandhi was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Wednesday that his government's action against corruption has made some people angry but he will not turn back in this fight against graft and nepotism, however big an alliance his rivals form against him.
Sule, citing Railway Ministry documents, said the largest number of Shramik Special trains -- 1033 -- were operated from Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra (817) and Punjab (429).
Any defeat for the BJP now would imply that anti-incumbency against Modi has set in, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Addressing his rally at Valmiki Nagar, the former Congress president said he was pained to see that Prime Minister Modi's effigy was burnt in Punjab on the occasion of Dusshera, and added that it reflected the 'anger' of youths and farmers.
'Delhi 2015 is a warning of an intensifying nightmare in the offing.'
The resurgence that Congressmen feel is in fact more sentimental than substantive. The substantive reality is that the Congress is a party in terminal decline since 1989, says Shekhar Gupta.
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