'We will defeat her with the blessings of the people of Amethi, but we will always respect her as an opponent'
Unlike the LDF and NDA nominees who are at ground zero and campaigning hard every day, the Congress candidate's campaign is undertaken in absentia, dependent on an army of local and imported from the rest of Kerala Congresswomen and men.
'From the time Rahul Gandhi entered the scene, I started feeling dissatisfied. No true Congressman will be able to agree with the way Rahul Gandhi functioned. He has not attained enough maturity or wisdom.' 'You cannot compare Rahul Gandhi with Narendra Modi. When you take into consideration Modi's political experience and abilities, nobody can think of projecting Rahul Gandhi against him.' 'The main culprits behind such a humiliating defeat are Veerappa Moily and P Chidambaram. It was Moily who did the maximum damage to people and the party.' T H Mustafa, one of the first Congress leaders to criticise Rahul Gandhi, speaks out in this interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
With reports suggesting a rift between the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday dubbed the United Progressive Alliance as a "sinking ship" which is being deserted by its allies.
The government is ready for a debate in Parliament on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers from Covid-19, the Bharatiya Janata Party asserted on Wednesday and targeted Rahul Gandhi, saying he may be "unproductive politically" but should not hurt the legislature's productivity.
'Rahul is also coming there... from Amethi. We will meet there.'
The Congress expects Rahul Gandhi to take over as its chief this year, Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.
It's time Rahul Gandhi became attuned to the reality of the 21st century instead of recycling failed political jargon of the 20th century,' argues Virendra Kapoor.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Varun Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party candidate in Amethi Kumar Vishwas and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan were among the prominent candidates who filed nominations on the fourth day for the penultimate phase of Lok Sabha election covering 64 seats in seven states.
'As of today, I don't see how the Congress can continue its struggle against the BJP without Rahul. There has to be a fulcrum. There has to be a center for any movement to take place.'
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday slapped a fine of Rs 50 lakh on a former Samajwadi Party MLA for alleging that Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had gang raped a woman from Amethi along with.
Does India's first political family see some serious threat to its own bastions? The question was doing rounds in Uttar Pradesh, where lie Rae Bareli and Amethi -- the respective parliamentary constituencies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president son Rahul Gandhi. Sharat Pradhan reports.
Throughout her campaigning, Irani asserted that people of Amethi want change and development and will vote for Modi.
Whether Rahul likes it or not, he will be judged by what he does to put the party back on its feet, says Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
Congressmen are watching carefully how Rahul positions himself and manage the grand old party, reports Aditi Phadnis.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Stepping up his campaign against Rahul Gandhi in his home turf, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Monday visited a Dalit home where the Congress vice president had spent a night and claimed nothing has changed for the family.
Will Priyanka contest against Modi in Varanasi? Will Rahul also contest from Karnataka? Rasheed Kidwai -- Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party's biographer -- reveals what is churning in the Congress.
He also said he does not want any other member of the Gandhi family to succeed him, virtually ruling out Priyanka as well for the top party position.
In a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he was "playing drums" in Japan while people suffered from power crisis and soaring vegetable prices.
The party and its president, it seemed, were also unable to articulate their views effectively enough
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
The Congress chief met senior United Democratic Front leaders, including Ramesh Chennithala and P K Kunhalikutty.
Two state ministers have also come out in the open to demand a detailed assessment by the top leadership.
'Rahul has done nothing for us. Rajiv Gandhi was different. He was a great man.' In Amethi, each person knows at least five people who have spoken to him, sipped chai with him. It's a connect the Gandhis hope people won't forget when Amethi goes to the polls on May 7.
The PM, while addressing a rally in Wardha on April 1, had reportedly said, the opposition party was "scared" to field its leaders from constituencies where the majority dominates.
Priyanka also dismissed Bharatiya Janata Party leader and union minister Uma Bharati's controversial remarks that the country will see her the way it views a "thief's wife".
Venugopal is valued highly by Mrs Gandhi and Mr Gandhi. They consider him a loyalist, more to the point, one who can deliver.
In their election affidavits, Sonia Gandhi declared a 45 per cent drop in her income in 2017-18 compared to 2013-14, while Irani's income increased roughly an 80 per cent increase in her income in the same time span.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
National vice-president of All India Congress Committee Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday played his master stroke and told a huge gathering of tribals to join politics as he wants that India's prime minister, chief ministers, members of Parliament and legislators come out of tribal communities.
The Congress, which managed to get 105 of the 403 seats under the seat-sharing deal with the SP after hard negotiations, is in no mood to give up its claim over all the ten seats in Amethi-Rae Bareli.
Varun Gandhi contesting from the Bharatiya Janata Party and describing the seat as his late father Sanjay Gandhi's karambhoomi is seen as a comedy of errors by his opponent, Congress' Amita Singh, who asserts that while bringing in these emotions, he forgets that his father was a Congressman.
Corruption, Anna Hazare's campaign and lack of grassroot support have led to the party's downfall, say analysts. Faisal Kidwai reports from Lucknow
After taking a long break from grassroots politics, Priyanka Gandhi, the charismatic daughter of Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, is back into campaigning where her brother Rahul is busy moving heaven and earth to put the Congress back on its feet at next month's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
'They thought he can separate the Muslim votes and win, but the Kerala mind is completely different.' 'It is a secular mind because Hindus, Christians and Muslims live together.' 'We don't like somebody coming from outside, contesting in our state, winning and going and avoiding us.'
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
The 71-year-old MP may have time to pursue her other interests, but many believe that she will continue to play the role of a mentor.
The remarks by Gandhi came on a day when he told the Supreme Court that he stood by every word he had said about the RSS being behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.
Before filing her nomination papers at the Collectorate Rae Bareli, the UPA chairperson held a roadshow and offered puja at the Congress central office.
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