The Congress on Tuesday remained undecided whether to go it alone in poll-bound Jharkhand or tie up with regional parties.
Keeping in mind the forecast for rain and overcast conditions, Pakistan team management is likely to field a pace-heavy bowling unit against Bangladesh in the first Test scheduled between August 21 and 25 at Rawalpindi.
As a divided Union Cabinet shunned the ordinance route on the food bill issue, Congress said no option is ruled out over the legislation, though it would "prefer" its passage by Parliament.
Congress party on Wednesday distanced itself from party leader Shakeel Ahmed's remarks -- that the blast near Bharatiya Janata Party's office in Bangalore will help the Opposition party politically -- and said it does not view the problem of terrorism in terms of political benefit or loss.
Dubbing the Bharatiya Janata Party ministry in Karnataka as the "most corrupt government in free India", the Congress on Wednesday demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and all ministers indicted by the Lokayukta in the illegal mining case. "Those holding constitutional positions should uphold high moral traditions. Yeddyurappa and all ministers involved in the nefarious activities should quit," party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters.
Rejecting Nitish Kumar's charge that Bihar was being discriminated against and ignored by the United Progressive Alliance government, Congress said nobody should play politics on the issue of special status to the state.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership of patronising illegal mining in Karnataka, the Congress on Thursday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. With the state Lokayukta report indicting the state government over the issue, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said, "Yeddyurappa must immediately resign from his post". "All these things are already in the public domain but now the Lokayukta has indicted the chief minister," he said.
The RTI also revealed that 18 other Maharashtra ministers are on the list of defaulters.
The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric-JVM) has refused to support Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections if both the parties failed to reach consensus on fielding a joint opposition candidate.
Prices of computers and charges for Internet connections may be reduced soon, Union Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, Shakeel Ahmed said on Tuesday.
Congress on Friday distanced itself from Union Minister Jairam Ramesh's remarks that Narendra Modi poses a challenge to the party saying it was his personal view.
After scotching speculation that Rahul Gandhi may be its prime ministerial candidate, the Congress on Wednesday remained non-committal on whether or not the young leader would don this role in the next Lok Sabha elections, saying no one knows what is in store in the future.
The Congress on Friday criticised L K Advani for describing Manmohan Singh as the "weakest" prime minister and said the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's Jan Chetna Yatra was "a ploy" to keep himself in "national politics and power".
Congress President Sonia Gandhi will not be attending the swearing-in of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as West Bengal Chief Minister in Kolkata on Friday.
Apparently under pressure from Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, Congress on Thursday asked its candidate Abdul Mannan to withdraw from the Rajya Sabha elections in West Bengal.
Minister of State for Home Affairs and Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said the general view in the Congress party is that BJP leader Sushma Swaraj should be tried for treason for alleging that the "Centre has role in the blasts in Karnataka and Ahmedabad".
Congress on Saturday doubted the veracity of a 'WikiLeaks' cable, which said that a section of the party leadership was seen playing religious politics after one of its leaders, A R Antulay, raised suspicion on the truth behind Anit-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare's killing during 26/11 attacks.
Main opposition in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal, on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of implementing a "secret agenda" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha by "cheating and befooling" Muslims in the state.
Aiming for their second Cricket World Cup title, Pakistan will be led by Babar Azam and are armed with a strong batting unit that includes Fakhar Zaman, Imam-Ul-Haq, Mohammed Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Salman Agha.
Striking a strident note, the Congress has renewed its attack on the Sangh Parivar asking the government to take strong and tough action against them, in the wake of a top Sangh functionary Swami Aseemanand admitting that he and his colleagues were involved in the Samjhauta Express blasts.
The Congress virtually gagged its Maharashtra leaders on the issue of the housing society scam, in which Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is under scanner.
The Congress indicated on Friday that it might seek President's Rule in Jharkhand if the "standstill" over government formation continued there without any solution.
The Congress on Friday downplayed the issue of the government tapping the phones of several politicians, including those in power, and said it is for the government to explain. However, the party admitted that illegal phone tapping was unjustified. "Illegal phone tapping is unjustified but in this case, it is for the government to explain whether phone tapping was done or not or whether it was legal or not," party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.
The Congress rejected as absurd the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand that Union Minister Shashi Tharoor be sacked over the IPL controversy and said it was up to the cricket board to decide on allegations of impropriety over his role in the Kochi IPL team.
Congress on Thursday dubbed as 'vulgar display of money' in politics the garlanding of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati with currency notes.
The Congress on Tuesday sought to downplay the tough stand adopted by the Nationalist Congress Party in the distribution of key portfolios in Maharashtra, saying there was no problem with its alliance partner.
The Congress dubbed the latest Twitter remark by Union Minister Shashi Tharoor as his "personal view". Tharoor had remarked on microblogsite 'Twitter' that people should work rather than enjoy a holiday on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
The Congress will not participate in the exit poll programmes scheduled to be telecast by several news channels on Monday evening.
There's a quiet before the storm within the ruling party. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com.
A clear indication to this effect was given by senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed, who is in charge of the party affairs in West Bengal. "We are preparing three lists -- for 64 seats, 90 seats and all 294 seats... As a political party must have candidates for all seats," Ahmed told reporters in Kolkata
The Congress on Thursday took a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for singing songs during a cultural evening after their national executive in Indore, saying they have "no serious job left". "They are doing it because they is no serious job left for them to do now. But there is nothing wrong if they are engaged in entertainment. For some time at least, they are not busy in dividing people in the name of religion," party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.
First Additional District and Sessions Court Judge V G Bopaiah passed the order when nine of the 16 were produced in the Hubli court. The nine who were produced before the judge were: Asadulla Abubaker, Shakeel Ahmed Mali, Allabakhsh Yadawad, Yaha Kammukutti, Syed Sadiq, Mohammad Yasin, Mohammad Ansar, Muroz alias Mulla and P A Shaduli.
Prachanda will hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, particularly reviewing the 1950 bilateral Trade and Transit Treaty, which the Nepalese leader wants to be replaced by a new one.
I''ve been watching Saud Shakeel in the last couple of games: Kuldeep Yadav
With most United Progressive Alliance constituents disfavouring early polls, Congress on Friday said it wants to take the Left allies along while pushing the Indo-US nuclear deal and that there would be "no loss of face" if the agreement fails.
"In a country of 800 million voters how can few lakh sample size surveys predict the result? Let's wait for May 16 (when votes will be counted)," Congress leader Digvijay Singh tweeted in the morning.
Playing down the fresh ultimatum from Communist Party of India-Marxist to end negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the Indo-US nuclear deal by this month-end or risk early polls, Congress on Monday noted that the talks could even be over by the year-end.
The Congress on Monday refused to read any political overtures in the meeting between its ally Nationalist Congress Party's chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in Mumbai, saying it was to ensure the conduct of a hassle-free IPL. Asked whether Pawar's meeting with Thackeray was a snub to the Congress, party spokesperson Abhishekh Manu Singhvi said, "Pawar has met Thackeray to prevent the politics of disruption in cricketing matters."
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