A host of Congress leaders, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, criticised the move to convene an all-party meeting in Delhi and at this juncture.
Gandhi said he has "received tremendous love and affection from people of Tamil Nadu and it is my duty to stand with people of Tamil Nadu and protect their history, their culture and their language."
Gehlot was made the chief minister of Rajasthan after the party formed government in the state.
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.
Other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram and K C Venugopal.
Buoyed by the recent victories in bypolls, Rahul was keen to revamp the state unit.
Supporters of the two leaders are competing in Hadoti to highlight their dominance, which is visible from the hoardings in the region. This has also led to blame games between leaders of the two factions.
Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar on Tuesday met party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi separately and discussed the modalities of government formation in the southern state.
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.
Seeking to reach out to the fishing community in poll-bound Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday interacted with the fishermen at Thangassery beach in the district.
Gehlot's meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi led to the buzz that the two may have discussed the possibility of him being the next party president.
Seventeen former leaders of the Democratic Azad Party (DAP), including ex-deputy chief minister Tara Chand and ex-Pradesh Congress Committee chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, on Friday returned to the Congress fold and were welcomed back by the party which said they were on a 'leave of two months'.
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
The Congress is sending Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, senior leaders Bhupinder Hooda and Rajeev Shukla to Himachal Pradesh on Thursday with the possibility of the party getting a majority in the hill state.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday made a pitch for unity among opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party can be defeated if all key leaders of these political outfits keep aside their ego and stick to their current stance of not keen on becoming the next prime minister.
The assembly election results are likely to put a lid on the impending battle the old guard and young Turks, strengthen the hands of the veterans, and force the younger leaders to negotiate a truce. Archis Mohan reports.
Gandhi also hailed as 'an important idea' the party's decisions to give more representation to the youth and empower them, and added that there should be a 'healthy mix of youngsters and seniors'.
The Congress on Wednesday released a list of 40 leaders who would be the party's star campaigners for the May 10 assembly elections.
Kharge said that while there are very responsible people in the party who were doing their duty, some people had assumed that lack of responsibility will be ignored.
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.
The Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday finalised a 14-member coordination-cum-election strategy committee comprising members of various parties, and it will function as the alliance's highest decision-making body and start work on seat-sharing immediately, sources said.
Setting the mood for the assembly elections in Karnataka due next year, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday exhorted party leaders in the state to work together, as he set an ambitious target to win a minimum of 150 seats.
Amid speculation over Congress leader Sachin Pilot's next move, sources close to him on Tuesday said he was firm on his demands, including action against alleged corruption during the previous Vasundhara Raje government, and was waiting for a definitive response from the party high command.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Amid a talk of leadership change in Chhattisgarh, a number of legislators from the state has arrived in the national capital in support of Baghel, who is also reaching Delhi.
Wearing black clothes, Congress leaders hit the streets on Friday to protest against price rise and unemployment with a host of them, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, being detained by police amid dramatic standoffs outside Parliament and the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi.
Gaurav Gogoi will head the screening committee for Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot included among the ex-officio members of the panel.
The Congress Legislature Party, which met at a private hotel in Bengaluru on Sunday evening, passed a unanimous resolution authorising the party chief to pick its leader.
The interim panel headed by him would take the place of the Congress Working Committee, the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed after Kharge's election is ratified at the party plenary.
A week after assuming power in Karnataka, the Congress on Friday released the list of 24 legislators who will be sworn-in as ministers to fill up all the vacant ministerial positions.
Rahul said it is clear that things are "not normal" in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress on Sunday announced that elections for its president will be held on October 17 with the winner being declared two days later, asserting that it is the only party in the country which undertakes such a democratic exercise.
Gandhi donned a black raincoat over a white T-shirt. The yatra was scheduled to start at 7 am but was delayed by an hour and fifteen minutes apparently due to the inclement weather.
The Congress would also take inspiration from history as it was from Karnataka that an embattled Indira Gandhi had revived her dwindling political future by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Chikmagalur.
Senior Congress leaders, MPs among 459 protesters detained
Speaking with reporters, Gandhi said, "This (school) is India's future. Hate and violence has destroyed it. Nobody has benefited from this. Violence and hate are enemies of development."
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
In Karnataka, the BJP lost the elections because of multiple poles of power, a problem the central leadership could not sort out in time. Could the same happen to the Congress in Rajasthan? asks Aditi Phadnis.
'It can be said without hesitation that Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi enjoy perfect relations of mother-daughter-son all together in the family.' 'But their worldview is different and their style of functioning is different and their favourites in the party are different people.'
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