Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil's nephew and his wife died in an apparent accidental shooting and subsequent suicide at their residence in Ahmedabad. Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Gohil, who is also one of the party's national spokespersons and a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, made the disclosure on his official twitter handle. 'Due to personal reasons, I have requested our party high command to allocate me lighter work for next few months and to relieve me ASAP as #Bihar in charge,' Gohil tweeted, tagging his party, its units in Bihar, Gujarat and Delhi besides a number of colleagues.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat was unable to end its 18-year jinx in Visavadar as it lost the bypolls to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party despite a strong campaign.
Aam Aadmi Party's Gopal Italia on Monday won from Gujarat's Visavadar assembly constituency and his party also retained Punjab's Ludhiana West seat while the Congress-led United Democratic Front wrested Nilambur from the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala, according to results of assembly bypolls in four states.
The accident, which comes days after similar incidents in Delhi and Jabalpur, gave the opposition Congress an opportunity to target the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Wagh Bakri Tea Group executive director Parag Desai died at a hospital in Ahmedabad while being treated for severe brain injuries suffered after a fall, a senior company official said on Monday. Desai, 50, suffered severe brain haemorrhage after falling on a hard surface while going for a walk outside his residence on the evening of October 15, the official said. "Desai fell and suffered a brain haemorrhage, and fainted.
The Upper House was earlier adjourned twice in the afternoon session when it took up the discussion on the Budget after Prime Minister Narendra Modi finished his speech on the motion of thanks on the President's address and the motion was passed.
Accusing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of wasting public money on party functions and building votebanks, state Congress on Friday criticised him saying, "Ten years of misrule have been completed in Gujarat."
Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to Bharatiya Janata Party winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat unopposed, resurfaced on Saturday after 20 days and alleged it was the grand old party that had betrayed him first in 2017.
Taking a dig at Narendra Modi, the Congress on Friday said that instead of trying to cash in on activist Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, the Gujarat chief minister should first appoint a Lokpal in the state. Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said, "It is an irony that Modi is talking about the campaign by Hazare when he has not appointed a Lokayukta in Gujarat". Gohil was referring to the statements made by Modi while addressing a public rally in Assam.
Former Congress leader Narhari Amin, who recently crossed over to the Bharatiya Janata Party, has alleged that senior leaders of the faction-ridden Opposition party in Gujarat subverted ticket distribution process for elections, which prompted party cadres to defect.
Gujarat Congress on Friday made scores of electoral promises targeting 75 per cent of the electorate which includes the OBC, SC-ST, minority, differently-abled and dalit voters.
The Gujarat government on Monday alleged that Congress is spreading lies on the issue of construction of gates of Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam.
In the season of trading allegations between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat, the opposition party has now turned to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi government's blue chip company Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation alleging huge irregularities to benefit a company engaged in pipeline manufacturing in Kutch.
The appointment was made by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who was authorized by a meeting of the Gujarat Congress Legislature Party in Gandhinagar on Tuesday to select the leader.
Modi will have greater satisfaction to see that Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel's Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency is also going the Bharatiya Janata Party's way.
With assembly polls in Gujarat scheduled next year, the Congress on Friday opened a new front against Chief Minister Narendra Modi by petitioning President Pratibha Patil for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged corruption of Rs 1 lakh crore during his tenure.
Rajya Sabha member Pravin Rashtrapal, who has been re-nominated by the Congress from Gujarat for the biennial elections to the Upper House, on Friday filed his nomination papers in Gandhinagar.
Nineteen members of Legislative Assembly of opposition Congress in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Thursday gave a notice for a no confidence motion against Speaker Ganpat Vasava following a ruling against Opposition Leader Shaktisinh Gohil.
Hitting out at the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday, the Gujarat Congress demanded that the controversial deal between Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation's Pipavav Power Company and Swan Energy Ltd be scrapped since it 'smacked of unprecedented corruption and nepotism'.
Gujarat Congress president Siddarth Patel and state assembly leader Shaktisinh Gohil on Wednesday led a delegation of party Members of Legislative Assembly and state leaders to President Pratibha Patil to seek her 'constitutional intervention' in the state to restore democracy, peace and law and order.
In reply to Modi's letter to citizens on Tuesday, leader of the Opposition in the assembly and Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil has written an open letter to Modi.
Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge has given his resignation to party chief Sonia Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha as he is contesting the election for the post of party president.
The new regional headquarter of the Indian Navy to be set up in Gujarat will help protect the porous 1660 km long coastline in Gujarat, said Gujarat leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil.
The Congress had on Saturday shifted its 14 MLAs to Jaipur fearing horse-trading by the ruling BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.
Several people clicked snapshots of the leader having his meal from a distance that the SPG -- which looks after Gandhi's security -- permitted.
Sinha said the announcement would be made on the auspicious occasion of 'Navratra'.
The Congress on Tuesday stepped up its attack on the government over the Pegasus snooping controversy and demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
While 30 of them were suspended for the remainder of the Winter Session, three were suspended pending the report of the Privileges Committee.
The Congress MPs have given adjournment notices in both houses of Parliament to discuss the border situation with China.
According to a Rajya Sabha bulletin, nine of the MPs are from the Congress and three from the AAP.
Tharoor said people have incurred losses after their money which was invested in LIC, SBI was put by the government "in its friend's account".
Within minutes of Gohil's announcement of the Congress' action, Der called a press conference at his residence, saying he was not aware when he was suspended by the party and announced he will join the BJP at its state headquarters 'Kamalam' in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
Mumbai-based social activist Teesta Setalvad on Monday appeared before a sessions court in Ahmedabad in a case where she is accused of fabricating evidence to frame "innocent" people and defame Gujarat in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
Soon after Hardik Patel quit the Congress on Wednesday, the opposition party alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party has 'lured' the Patidar leader by promising to get cases against him withdrawn and has 'scripted' his resignation letter.
Sources said Tewari, who has publicly lauded the Agnipath scheme and termed it as a much-needed reform in the armed forces, has taken a stand contrary to that taken by his party.
The Congress on Thursday declared 12 candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, including party general secretary K C Venugopal, Deepender Hooda and senior Supreme Court advocate K T S Tulsi.
Vaghani, a relatively young Patel face of the BJP, was earlier state unit's youth wing president.
Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that the United Progressive Alliance government left everything empty, Congress on Monday claimed "bad days have begun for the countrymen", citing a socio-economic survey of Gujarat.