'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
While Tharoor declined to comment on whether he would throw his hat into the ring, he has written an article for the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi calling for a 'free and fair' election.
The mortal remains of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh were consigned to flames at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday amid the chanting of religious hymns. The funeral pyre was lit by his eldest daughter Upinder Singh.
After Congress' observer to the state K C Venugopal made the announcement at a media briefing in New Delhi.
On Wednesday, the Congress had announced that former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Pilot would be contesting the Rajasthan assembly elections.
The Congress won nearly half of the 2,105 wards in the contest in the first local elections held in the state after the party came to power in Rajasthan last December.
The meeting is expected to start at 11 am at the hotel on the city outskirts where Congress legislators in support of the Ashok Gehlot government are camping.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
The Congress units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where the party is in government on its own, have passed resolutions that Gandhi be made the party's president.
A meeting of the joint committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Friday witnessed fireworks with members vociferously opposing certain provisions of the draft legislation, leading to a brief walkout by opposition members.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday expressed happiness that the Congress party has taken cognisance of the issues raised by him about welfare of youth and corruption under the previous Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan, and asserted the party will contest the assembly polls unitedly to secure a massive victory.
The election management committee and the election manifesto committee were formed by the party's national president J P Nadda.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
The notification for the Congress president's election will be out on September 22 by when all the PCC delegates will be finalised and electoral roll published and the election, if required, will be held on October 17.
The visit comes amid the campaign for the November 25 assembly polls in Rajasthan, where the Congress hopes to return to power.
Pilot's demand to order a probe and take action in the alleged mining scam during the previous BJP government and other corruption allegations was supported by state cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
Gehlot, one of the proposers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class.
P B Chandra finds out if the 'Modi wave' is sweeping the desert state as party workers have been claiming since the Bharatiya Janata Party's thumping victory in the assembly polls last year.
Seat sharing and campaign is likely to be top of the agenda, they added.
'There is ample evidence to suggest that attacks on the PM's probity and his connections with business houses do not resonate with voters.'
Why weren't the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana -- all of which have borders with Karnataka -- not invited to Saturday's swearing-in ceremony, asks Shyam G Menon.
The Congress leadership is caught in a peculiar situation and wants to find a middle path to the issue, party sources said.
The Congress on Sunday suspended Rajasthan Member of Legislative Assembly Bhanwar Lal Sharma a day after he voiced his opinions against party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Despite a warning issued to him by the Congress, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot sat on a daylong fast at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur on Tuesday, demanding action in cases of alleged corruption related to the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state led by Vasundhara Raje.
It appears that the party has some kind of political death wish, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
To highlight alleged misgovernance by the present regime, its first nationwide campaign ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Congress rivals have put factionalism aside for now. The party is betting on a series of well-received welfare schemes to return to power
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Those responsible for protecting MPs have failed in their constitutional duties, said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
Marking a generational shift in state politics, Union Minister Sachin Pilot was on Monday appointed the Congress chief in Rajasthan where the party faced a rout in Assembly polls.
There are lessons for the Congress to learn from the Karnataka elections of how burying the hatchet among top leaders and not washing dirty linen in public can help, says Ramesh Menon.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's speech in Dholpur reflects that his leader is Vasundhara Raje and not Sonia Gandhi, Sachin Pilot said in a no holds barred attack against his party colleague on Tuesday.
Sources said while the Congress units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will hold separate discussions on May 26 on their preparations and actions to be taken, the party will also hold strategy meets on Chhattisgarh on May 27.
"Next challenge for us is to win elections, neither individuals nor statements matter, those are bygones," he said.
"He also gave verbal directions to make the necessary arrangements for the prevention of COVID-19 spread during the session," the spokesperson added.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
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