Speaking on the issue, political commentator and the author of 'Sonia A Biography', Rasheed Kidwai tells Rediff.com's Priyanka that the accusations don't reflect state craft and whether government funds were misused.
Rasheed Kidwai captures the moment in the Congress party's history when Sonia Gandhi, in May 1991, who had just lost her husband to a political assassination, refused the leadership of the party. An exclusive excerpt from Kidwai's book, 24 Akbar Road -- A Short History of the People Behind the Fall and Rise of the Congress, to mark the 15th anniversary of Sonia Gandhi taking over the Congress presidency today.
15 National Awards were won by five Malayalam films together.
'He is not acting solo.' 'The plot may have people within the Congress and outside.'
The first two special flights that will operate from Thursday to evacuate Indians stranded in the UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic
If you lived in India, you would think these Congress leaders live in some city called 'Bohemia'. For, Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar has a hearty meal for Rs 12, and Rasheed Masood lives just fine on Rs 5.
A serving army personnel was on Sunday arrested by Delhi Police from Siliguri in West Bengal in connection with the alleged ISI-linked espionage racket, taking to five the number of people taken into custody in the case.
Anjali Menon talks about her experience of directing her first film Manjadikuru.
For two years beginning 1961, the Congress party's headquarters in New Delhi played host to Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel laureate and leader of the non-violent movement for human rights and democracy in Myanmar (the erstwhile Burma), who is currently on a visit to India. Suu Kyi was barely 15 when she arrived at 24 Akbar Road with her mother, recounts Rasheed Kidwai
Former Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis has claimed that his relationship with former skipper Shahid Afridi has been spoiled after his scathing report on the country's dismal performance in the recently-concluded World T20 was leaked. "I have been very clear that report was not for the media, but for the cricket board. Unfortunately, the report was leaked and my relationship with Afridi has been spoilt," Younis was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. Waqar and Afridi's decision to step down from their respective position came days after their side's early exit from the T20 format's pinnacle event. Pakistan were crashed out of the prestigious tournament after suffering three successive defeats against arch-rivals India, New Zealand and Australia in the group stages. Talking about Afridi's drawbacks, the 44-year-old said that the main problem with the all-rounder was his inability to concentrate on a particular thing for long span of time. "Afridi's drawbacks as a captain are for everyone to see. He has got a temperament issue. He cannot sit for too long to highlight things, or absorb things and then go and implement them. I've said this in my report," said Younis.
Get yourlowdown on what's happening in Malayalam cinema.
When Nehru came in active contact with Gandhi 100 years ago, he was a Westernised rationalist while Gandhi was deeply soaked in the Indian ethos and spirituality, notes Rasheed Kidwai.
Rajesh Vivek passed away in Hyderabad after suffering a heart attack.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has turned down a "request" from the Pakistan government to limit his public appearances and activities after the US announced a $10-million bounty for him, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Former Union Minister Rasheed Masood was on Monday made special invitee to the Congress Working Committee with immediate effect. The announcement was made by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi.
His action was found to be illegal for the second time since November, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Friday.
A round-up of the fourth and final day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
Rasheed Kidwai, associate editor of The Telegraph newspaper who is the author of Sonia: A biography and 24 Akbar Road, made an exclusive appearance on Rediff Chat on Monday where he fielded wide-ranging questions about the Presidential poll. Here is the transcript from the chat..
Small gestures from Indira gave Sonia the confidence that she could be a daughter-in-law in the distinguished family.
Nithya Menen talks about the controversies surronding her ban in Malayalam films.
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.
In this interview with rediff.com's Sahim Salim, Kidwai talks about the book, the challenges he faced while researching for it and the state of the Congress party today. Talking about party general secretaries Rahul Gandhi and Digvijaya Singh's experiments in Uttar Pradesh, Kidwai says that it is interesting, but that Rahul has to reconcile with what the Central government is offering in terms of agricultural reforms, etc.
Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by.
Banned terror organisation Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) has said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has confirmed his presence at the January 29 Difa-e-Pakistan gathering.
India on Wednesday sent a high-level 12-member Parliamentary delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress chief Professor Saifuddin Soz to Pakistan to look for a political solution to the Kashmir tangle. This the first visit of an Indian delegation to Islamabad after United States' forces smoked out Osama bin Laden from his hideout in Pakistan's cantonment town of Abbottabad.
Alarmed by the latest census report confirming a steep fall in the male-female ratio in Uttar Pradesh a prominent maulana from a Lucknow's oldest Islamic seminary -- Darul Uloom Firangi Mahal -- on Wednesday issued a fatwa against abortion of the female child.
Get your lowdown on what's going on in the Malyalam film industry.
'Jaish e Mohammed has been allowed to resurge through supported terror actions in J&K in a deliberate tactic by Pakistan, if only to reduce the international pressure on the Lashkar e Taiba leadership after 26/11,' points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
It was a battle of wits between IBN-18 network editor-in-chief, Rajdeep Sardesai, and Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar.
Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF's grey list, Pakistan has imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts, a media report said.
Leading Islamic clerics in Lucknow on Monday hailed the elimination of Osama Bin Laden as a "major blow to terrorism" and a sigh of relief for billions of peace loving people.
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, naib imam of Idgah and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahli, the main pujari of the Ram Janambhoomi temple in Ayodhya, Acharya Satyendra Das Mahraj, and Mahant of Janki Ghat in Ayodhya, Janmey Sharan, have asked people respect the verdict of the court and maintain communal harmony
The film has been directed by Anjali Menon.
Two men belonging allegedly to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba were picked up from Thane district of Maharashtra, bordering Mumbai, the Anti Terrorist Squad said on Monday.
Khan's visit evoked considerable interest in Beijing as it comes in the wake of his past criticism of the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects and remarks by his ministers to cut down some of the projects over debt concern.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board will on Saturday take a final call on the vital question of taking the Ayodhya dispute to the Supreme Court.
Ashutosh Gowarikar's new film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se is about The Chittagong Uprising. Here's a look at ten truly memorable Hindi films about freedom fighters.
'The Congress today has lost contact with the Hindu clergy.' 'They go to to Hindu clergy only during the time of elections.'