Rahul Gandhi being assigned a major role in connection with next Lok Sabha election has made the Opposition talk of Congress advancing the polls to cut losses, a contention vehemently denied by the party and the government.
At the meeting attended by 33 parties, the prime minister said suggestions from public representatives, especially from the Opposition, are valuable as they make the discussion rich.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's dramatic act of tearing up a paper with a list of election promises of political opponents at a poll rally drew a sarcastic reaction with the Samajwadi Party saying he may now jump from the stage to vent his anger.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh talks to Kavita Chowdhury about his role as AICC in-charge of Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the 2012 assembly polls.
Congress' star campaigner Rahul Gandhi on Saturday pointedly blamed both Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati for "gross neglect" of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. Sharat Pradhan reports.
Reacting to Yadav's statement that he wanted her to become the prime minister and that the SP had forged an alliance with the BSP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for this, Mayawati, in a tweet in Hindi, said, 'When the SP chief could not fulfil his own dream of becoming the chief minister (of Uttar Pradesh) even after securing the votes of Muslims and Yadavs and forming an alliance with several parties, how can he fulfil the dream of others to become the prime minister.'
Those whose cover has been reduced include Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, leaders Shivpal Yadav and Azam Khan, Dimple Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav, and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the party said Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi and National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, the "regular names that crop up during the presidential polls", don't have the personality or heft to make it a tightly-contested battle.
A remark made by a Samajwadi Party leader on the use of the Hindi word 'hamara' by Mamata Banerjee on Friday triggered speculation whether Mulayam Singh Yadav's party was still with Trinamool Congress in putting up A P J Abdul Kalam as a Presidential candidate.
"Nobody is sympathising with Atiq Ahmad because a criminal should be punished. But anyone who will see this video will question if we are a democracy. Every criminal has the right to be heard in court and be convicted there. But you can see they were killed in police custody in the open," he said.
BJP's central leadership has thrown its weight behind Yogi Adityanath, putting a stop to murmurs against the state government months ahead of the assembly polls.
Notwithstanding calls against any rapprochement with him, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday ruled out accepting the resignation of Amar Singh from key party posts and said differences will be sorted out soon.
'Our leader is Modi and everyone has been saying Modi hai to desh hai'
Two days after Amar Singh resigned from all Samajwadi Party posts, a senior leader of the party has questioned the timing of the decision and said making public about SP's functioning was 'most immoral.'
For the Congress to be taken seriously, it has to convince those around it that it could actually double its Lok Sabha seat share from the existing 52, and vote-share by a third more from the stagnating 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Samajwadi Party leader Tej Narayan Pandey on Sunday accused Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust of committing corruption in a land deal and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Monday slammed the Congress for fielding Raj Babbar against Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law in the Ferozabad Lok Sabha bypolls, but said he had nothing against Rahul Gandhi for campaigning for the party's candidate in the constituency.
A court in Varanasi on Monday convicted gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari in the murder of Congress leader Awadhesh Rai more than 30 years ago.
Opposition parties on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, saying the ruling party's 'washing machine' has resumed its operation to clean tainted leaders and it was an 'ED-facilitated power grab'.
Blaming the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party for neglecting the plight of Bundelkhand, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the Centre took the initiative and provided a Rs 8,000-crore package to the region despite it being the responsibility of the state government.
The 'AIADMK symbol issue' may be a fit case for the courts and the legislature to provide for a new law for application in similar fluid, dynamic political situations, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Before filing her nomination papers at the Collectorate Rae Bareli, the UPA chairperson held a roadshow and offered puja at the Congress central office.
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.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhikesh Yadav's decision to boycott the prestigious Harvard event followed a call that was made from Boston to his father and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
In a terse message to the ruling party, Priyanka in a Hindi tweet said, 'The goons of the BJP involved in 'cheerharan' of the democracy should hear that women will become pradhans, block pramukhs, MLAs, MPs and prime minister, and defeat the government, which gives patronage to those committing atrocities against women.'
Alleging that the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party have failed to live up to the expectations of the people, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said a change was needed by forming a government which works for all.
He came to power with a huge mandate in 2012, but Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has now forfeited the voters' trust.
"No government can be formed without Congress, which is a major and deeply-rooted party in the country. Congress is the main opposition party too. Others are regional parties," Raut said in Pune
Attacking the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party said on Tuesday that the Mayawati-led party was a "B-team" of Bharatiya Janata Party and the two parties were hand in glove with each other.
In an apparent rebuff to Amar Singh, Congress on Monday dismissed the sulking Samajwadi Party leader's claim suggesting that his 'DNA was Congress.'
The Samajwadi Party may be bitterly opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party but it is not happy over the rumblings within that party as it feels that disintegration of the main opposition party will not augur well for the country's polity.
The inauguration new parliament building will take place in two phases.
The meeting saw archrivals TMC and CPI-M coming together on a common platform against the government.
"It is all your imagination and guess work," a senior leader said when asked about reports of Sasikala taking over from Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
Two Union ministers and two senior Uttar Pradesh Congress legislators got together and roughed up a handful of Samajwadi Party activists who attempted to stage a black flag demonstration against Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on his arrival in Allahabad on Monday afternoon.
The Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's key confidants -- general secretaries Madhusudan Mistry, P C Joshi and Mohan Prakash -- were clearly among the most notable absentees. Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal reports
Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav behaved entirely in character when he broke ranks with the Congress and backed the Bharatiya Janata Party in the monsoon session, says Aditi Phadnis
Rajbir Singh, the son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, joined the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday. His decision comes just a day after his father quit the Bharatya Janata Party, giving a jolt to the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
