A delegation of Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi and All India Congress Committee general secretaries Jitendra Singh and Ajoy Kumar were stopped at Jorhat airport by the district administration on Wednesday when they were on way to Nagaland, where the Army gunned down 13 civilians in a botched anti-surgency operation.
The states were advised to conduct surveillance and report district-wise severe acute respiratory illness and influenza-like illness cases on a daily basis and also to send these for genome sequencing to the mapped INSACOG laboratories.
After the party's drubbing in the just-concluded assembly polls in five states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers.
As vice president and ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankar is inheriting a troubled legacy. Although the government faces no real numerical challenges in the Upper House, political and legal challenges are there aplenty.
Amid a series of deliberations over a strategy for upcoming general and assembly elections by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, a group of senior leaders of the Congress has given its recommendations to party president Sonia Gandhi and left it to her to take a call on them and initiate organisational changes.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was defeated by Aam Aadmi Party's first-timer and an eye surgeon from Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib seats, respectively.
Asked about the organisational changes made by Gandhi and the subsequent reported statements by some leaders who had written to her over party reforms, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he had not seen a single statement by any Congress leader on the issue and cannot comment on that.
Karnataka BJP MLA Arvind Bellad has said the body of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagouda, who was killed in shelling in Ukraine on March 1, would occupy space that could be utilised to evacuate 10 to 12 stranded people from the war-torn country.
Controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Mussewala, who joined the Congress sometime ago will contest from Mansa and actor Sonu Sood's sister Malvika Sood from Moga.
Party chief Rahul Gandhi formed a nine-member Core Group Committee, a 19-member Manifesto Committee and a committee comprising 19 top party leaders who will look after the publicity during the elections.
Just before the Congress Working Committee meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday, an internal dispute had emerged regarding "leadership" issues in the party.
Offering to trade second preference votes with the Congress, Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said his main agenda is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the contest for fourth seat, during the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.
Extending support to farmers who have been agitating against the new agricultural laws, the Wayanad MP told media persons, "I have brought farmers' message to Parliament. They (The government) are suppressing the voices of farmers and not letting a discussion take place in Parliament. They will have to repeal these black laws. The entire country knows these laws favour 2-3 big businessmen."
Bollywood got together on social media to celebrate the year's first festivals, Lohri, Pongal and Makar Sankranti. They wished their fans and posted celebratory pictures.
"It is 2017. I don't understand why these things are still taboo," says Randeep.
Give this film a miss, says Namrata Thakker!
'On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for COVID19 today,' he tweeted. 'I request the people who came in contact with me in the last week, to please self isolate and get tested for COVID-19,' Mukherjee said.
Union minister Anurag Thakur said that "one should take complete information and sometimes many issues come up that are far from truth..."
Attacking the Congress government, the BJP claimed there is no rule of law in Rajasthan and the incident has put a question mark on the law and order situation of the state.
The CBI on Tuesday filed its first charge sheet in the alleged leak of sensitive information on submarine retrofitting projects against six persons including two serving naval officers, officials said.
'Since the Covid virus has a tendency to mutate, we can continue to expect new variants of the virus to emerge and keep circulating and recirculating in the communities.'
The fourth day of questioning was deferred from June 17 to this day after Gandhi requested the agency for postponing the session as he wanted to be with his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in hospital, where she is admitted for post-Covid issues.
The new faces in the Channi ministry are Randeep Singh Nabha, Raj Kumar Verka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pargat Singh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli.
Nirupam had filed a defamation case against Rai after the former CAG in his book in 2014 made the allegation against him and repeated it in interviews to the media.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed a clear message has come from the House today that if people want relief from 'severe unemployment, extreme inflation, falling incomes and extreme poverty', then the Bharatiya Janata Party 'will have to be defeated' in the elections.
I remember a showbiz wedding during which guests had to sit through several painstakingly rehearsed but awkward dances performed by the bride's and groom's relatives. When Karan rolled his eyes, I smiled and said to him, 'You started it, now you suffer it.' An enchanting excerpt from Anupama Chopra's A Place In My Heart.
The Congress alleged that Delhi Police personnel forcibly entered its headquarters and beat up party workers and leaders on Wednesday, on a day the party staged vociferous protests against the questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate for the third consecutive day.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary D Raja said the top leadership will not attend the meeting called by the TMC chief.
Joginder Tuteja lists the biggest money-making movie murder mysteries.
The Congress has accused Twitter of acting against Gandhi's account under pressure from the government.
A day ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday wrote an open letter to Janata Dal-Secular MLAs requesting them to cast their 'conscience vote' in favour of his party's second candidate Mansoor Ali Khan, stating that his win will be a victory of 'secular ideology' followed by both parties.
Gandhi has been posing some tough questions to the government and seeking answers from the Prime Minister on the stand-off with China on the LAC in Ladakh and allegations of Chinese incursions into Indian territory.
He also said the Centre has not answered the questions raised by him in the Lok Sabha on the issues of farmers and said its reply was a 'joke'.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".
Several Congress leaders and social media users claimed that it was a 'teleprompter gaffe' as Prime Minister Modi had to pause and then restart his special address to the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda 2022 summit, but BJP leaders and many others pointed out that it was a technical glitch due to which the WEF people were not able to patch the PM and requested him to start again.
Accompanied by Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala and other leaders of the Grand Alliance, Yadav made a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, asking who gave permission to the Munger police to act like 'General Dyer'.
Social media influencer Dananeer Mobin's five-second video is trending right now.
The Congresshas announced a three-phased campaign, "Mehngai-mukt Bharat Abhiyaan".
"Sanjay Jain has been arrested by the Special Operations Group (SOG) team of Rajasthan Police, under sections 124A and 120B of Indian Penal Code (IPC)," Police said.
While agency sources informed that Gandhi recorded his statement and checked its transcript minutely, Congress leaders said the investigators took multiple breaks during his questioning
