Sources close to the top BJP leadership tell me that Tharoor has already had secret meetings with the BJP's top brass and is waiting patiently to make his next move, reports Ramesh Menon.
A selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet early next week to finalise the name of the next chief election commissioner. The panel will recommend a name from among the candidates shortlisted by a search committee. The president will then appoint the next CEC based on the recommendation. The panel comprises the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister.
Blaming the Mayawati government for the backwardness and "barren villages" in Bundelkhand, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister never visited the region to see what drought and poverty is all about. "Mayawati never went to Bundelkhand to see what drought is all about there, and what poverty is," Rahul said while addressing a public meet in Tilhar area in Shahjahanpur, UP.
The yatra, which is scheduled to begin on January 14, will cover 6,713 kilometres and the participants will travel on buses and foot.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday evening to 'highlight the plight of farmers in Greater Noida.'
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, attacking him on issues like the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and the subsequent police firing on protesters.
Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu met party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday morning, and is learnt to have discussed his role in the revamp in the party's state unit ahead of assembly polls.
Sources said Rahul and the King share a "special relationship" and had promised to attend his wedding celebrations.
Robert Vadra indicated that he will also join politics and said there is an atmosphere of change in the country. His entire family is working diligently on this, he added.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will travel to Azamgarh and interact with students of the 134-year-old institution, the National Shibli College, one of the most respected educational institutions in the country.
'Karur could still impact Jana Nayagan's box-office success if Vijay and the TVK do not get their act together,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi appears to be really needling the opposition.
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.
Activists of Ulama Council on Wednesday staged demonstrations against the Batla shootout case in front of the Sibli College where Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is staying.
The crucial meetings come amid talks of the Congress leadership making efforts to bring all leaders together ahead of next year's Punjab Assembly polls and present a united face of the party.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday held Bharatiya Janata Party responsible for the defeat of Constitution Amendment Bill on Lokpal.
The Congress has proposed AAP should contest five seats while the Samajwadi Party and Left parties could contest one seat each.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who concluded his two-day tour of Karnataka on Saturday, took a dig at the state government before leaving for New Delhi.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
The Karur tragedy has exposed the huge gaps in Vijay's understanding of realpolitik, elections and political administration, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The war of words between Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has put the state's political cauldron on the boil.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's disguised entry to the troubled spot in Greater Noida, where local farmers are on a warpath against 'inadequate compensation' for their acquired land, has put the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh on the back-foot.
Activist Medha Patkar, who is part of Anna Hazare's core group, said in spite of talking about the broad issue, the Congress general secretary should have deliberated on the immediate issues raised by the Gandhian, whose fast for a strong Lokpal continued for the 11th day.
Braving heavy rains, farmers and Congress workers on Saturday gathered in Aligarh for the 'kisan mahapanchayat', marking the culmination of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's four-day foot march in Uttar Pradesh. Travelling in buses, trucks and tractor-trolleys, the villagers arrived from the wee hours at the sprawling Nomaish Ground, amid tight security.
Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi read out the Preamble to the Constitution of India as part of the 'Satyagraha of Unity' protest.
As a petition accusing Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi of having illegally confined a girl was dismissed by Supreme Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to send a Letters Rogatory to a foreign country seeking legal help suspecting a conspiracy to malign his image was hatched there.
The party plans to take out a march to the ED office on APJ Abdul Kalam Road in a show of support for Gandhi when he appears before the agency.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi left the Enforcement Directorate office after about four hours of questioning in the National Herald money-laundering case on Tuesday.
Several opposition MPs on Wednesday greeted their Bharatiya Janata Party counterparts in Parliament premises with the tricolour in one hand and a red rose in the other, as they urged the ruling party to ensure that the House functions and all issues, including the Adani matter, is discussed.
There is discontent among senior Congress leaders of the Uttar Pradesh over local leaders being kept away from Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's ambitious padytra that started from Bhatta village on Tuesday.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday returned to Raipur from Delhi, a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met him for the second time in a week in a bid to resolve the power tussle between him and state health minister T S Singh Deo.
"This river-like journey will persist and in this river you will not find any trace of hate or violence. There will only be love and brotherhood as this is India's history and DNA," Gandhi told the gathering.
Congress party's general secretary Rahul Gandhi kicked off his Discover India journey on Friday from tribal Nuapada district of Orissa, as part of the Congress strategy to reach out to the 'last man in society'. Sans any road show, the much-hyped four-day tour of Orissa began with a visit to a watershed programme at Nangalbod village where Rahul interacted with farmers, women and members of self help groups. Gandhi is scheduled to criss-cross 13 of the 30 districts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were among the top leaders who paid homage to former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his home in New Delhi on Friday.
With elections to 27 zilla parishads, 309 panchayat samitis and 10 municipal corporations to be held next month, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee has invited All India Congress Committee General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to address a public meeting in Mumbai.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called on All India Muslim Personal Law Board chief Maulana Rabe Nadwi, further indicating the party's intent to woo Muslims in view of the 2012 state assembly elections.
Opposition on Saturday sought to drive a wedge between the prime minister and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi saying the young leader's remarks on Anna Hazare's fast has "poured cold water" on the statesmanship of Manmohan Singh.
AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and the MNS for their tirade against people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The meeting started under the presidency of Mallikarjun Kharge but former presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were yet to arrive and are unlikely to attend the steering committee meeting.
Reacting sharply to the statement of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi that seven out of 10 youth in Punjab are drug addicts, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukbir Badal termed him a joker' on Friday.
