Sonia Gandhi, her son, her daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and a relative relished Chole Bhature during a family lunch at the Kwality restaurant in New Delhi on Sunday, December 22, 2024.
No violation of rules or regulations were found in the transfer of land by businessman Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality to realty major DLF, the Haryana government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court in Chandigarh.
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra D Modi, senior Cabinet ministers, Congress and Opposition leaders paid their respects to former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who passed into the ages on Thursday night, at his residence in New Delhi on Friday.
DLF, the company under the cloud due to its not-so-transparent business relations with Robert Vadra, has come out with its defence. The four-page long defence is to help take the pressure off from Congress president Sonia Gandhi whose reputation is at stake.
Robert Vadra on Wednesday claimed that he has been stopped from going to Lucknow to meet his wife and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been detained in Sitapur while on her way to meet victims of violence in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Asked about the security breach at their residence, he said it was a "very big lapse", but he would like to emphasise more on the safety of women in the country.
Her immovable assets are worth over Rs 7.74 crore, which includes two inherited half shares of agricultural land in Mehrauli area of New Delhi and a half share in a farmhouse building located therein, all of which together are now worth over Rs 2.10 crore.
By pronouncing, without an enquiry, that Vadra is innocent, the Congress ministers can be held to be trying to influence the investigating agencies not to go into the matter because Robert Vadra is a privileged person related to Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and is above the law and any investigation, notes B Raman.
Lalit Modi posted on Twitter a couple of his pictures with Rahul Gandhi and Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Twitter.
INDIA bloc parties are set to raise issues such as the Pahalgam attack, US President Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire, and concerns over electoral roll revisions in Bihar during the Parliament's Monsoon session.
India Against Corruption on Friday came down heavily on Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Describing the clean chit given to Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra by Haryana government as a "self-certification", Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said there was no reason to believe in the findings of the probe by state authorities.
Speculation that whistleblower Indian Administrative Service officer Ashok Khemka may be shifted to the Centre by the Narendra Modi government on Tuesday prompted the Congress to remark that the "association of the Bharatiya Janata Party with many officers and officials is well-known".
Sections of the Congress party are of the view that the party would have kept itself out of any embarrassment had it not gone about defending Robert Vadra. Renu Mittal reports
The shares of DLF on Monday fell by over 5 per cent amid allegations of the company providing undue favours in its transactions with Robert Vadra -- although the charges have been vehemently denied by both the parties.
The Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday sought to dismiss the alleged nexus between realty giant DLF and Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra as 'false'. An affidavit filed by PMO Joint Secretary Dheeraj Gupta before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court termed as "false, vexatious and based on hearsay" the allegations about DLF having extended undue favours to Robert Vadra.
Rajeev Srinivasan wonders why the Nehru Dynasty's usual Teflon isn't working for Robert Vadra
This is for the first time that Vadra's associates have been linked to alleged commissions received in defence deals by the ED.
Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari has opposed the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea in a Delhi court seeking to declare him a "fugitive " in connection with a black money case. Bhandari claims his stay in the UK is legal as the London High Court denied his extradition to India. The court's decision was also cited by an English court in April to deny the Indian government's request to extradite another accused in a rice-buying scam. Bhandari's lawyer argued that the ED's application was "vague, misplaced and without jurisdiction " and that the value involved in the case was less than the required Rs 100 crore to declare someone a "fugitive. " The Delhi court has sought the ED's rebuttal to Bhandari's argument by May 3.
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress of repeatedly supplying "oxygen" to Pakistan, and slammed the opposition party for its leader Charanjit Singh Channi's remarks questioning the veracity of Balakot air strikes after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Congress is full of pro-Pakistan leaders who make statements against India's interests, and mocked the party for its letter that had advised its functionaries to toe the official line on the issue. Patra also criticized other Congress leaders for their comments on the Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks, accusing them of lowering the morale of the armed forces. He further slammed the Congress for claiming credit for the government's announcement of the caste census and said the party never carried out the exercise during its over 60-year stint in power.
'They want to keep the pot boiling all the time.' 'The BJP wants to set a political narrative that the Gandhis are doing wrong things.'
Robert Vadra dismissed as "utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory" allegations over his property dealings with DLF and said he was saddened by attempt of activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan to malign him and his family to "gain cheap publicity".
In controversial remarks, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday said terrorists have no caste or religion and questioned veracity of the claim that terrorists asked about faith of tourists before killing them in Kashmir's Pahalgam town last week.
Amid Gandhi family's attacks on Narendra Modi over the Gujarat model, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday hit back by bringing out a video and a booklet on alleged land deals of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law by terming it as 'Robert Vadra model of development'.
Communist Party if India leader A B Bardhan demanded a probe into business dealings between Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and DLF, saying there were contradictions between the financial statements declared by Vadra and the realty major.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Sunday suggested that there was evidence against the kin of former Prime Minster Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani of alleged corruption and wrong-doing but Congress will never use that to embarrass them.
Alleging that Robert Vadra used his 'connections' with the Gandhi family to accumulate wealth and commit other improprieties, Janata Party chief Subramaniam Swami on Tuesday questioned Arvind Kejriwal for restricting his expose to Vadra only and not attacking the Congress president on the issue.
Mihir S Sharma asks a few questions on l'affaire Vadra, and makes notes on who should answer them and why
The father-in-law of Priyanka Vadra died in New Delhi, his family said on Friday.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the controversial comments of some of its leaders on the Pahalgam terror attack, saying that only the recent CWC resolution and the views expressed by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and authorised AICC office-bearers represent its position. The opposition party's assertion comes in the wake of remarks by leaders like Vijay Wadettiwar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shashi Tharoor, Tariq Hameed Karra and Saifuddin Soz that have triggered a row, with the BJP alleging that some from the opposition party were speaking "Pakistan's language".
The Congress on Wednesday saw opposition hand behind Arvind Kejriwal's charges against Robert Vadra and alleged that whenever the party moved for economic reforms, its detractors brought "this type of negativity".
Vadra's interim protection from arrest was extended till April 1.
Congress on Friday backed to the hilt Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, in the wake of an allegation by civil society activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan that he was hugely favoured by realty major DLF.
While the AAP asked the Congress president's son-in-law to help in the success of the initiative aimed at bringing pollution under check, BJP said it was ironic and raised more questions.
Sticking to its demand for a probe into Arvind Kejriwal's allegations on Robert Vadra's dealings with DLF, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said those involved should put forward "concrete clarification" on the charges to put an end to the issue.
Official sources said the three-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary Krishna Mohan said that Khemka had acted beyond the authority vested in him by cancelling the mutation of three-acre of land to DLF following the deal with Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
As Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday raised a storm over Robert Vadra's land deals, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party, UPA's outside supporters, struck a different note wondering how Congress President Sonia Gandhi could be held responsible for the alleged wrongdoings of her son-in-law.
On May 24, the agency had requested the Delhi high court for custodial interrogation of Vadra for questioning him about the source of funds used for the purchase of a London-based property worth 1.9 million and ascertain the role of certain other people, who allegedly helped him launder money.
Congress leaders going all-out to defend Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law has left several red faced, with leaders privately speaking of unfair practices in the party, reports Renu Mittal.
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.