He halted for a while to let the ambulance pass.
On Thursday, April 7, 2022, the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die. MPs from the Treasury and Opposition benches met thereafter in the Speaker's chambers for an exercise in enforced bon homie.
The Congress's second AICC session in Gujarat post-Independence is being held on the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's party presidency and the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The party also made it clear that no one will be permitted to undermine or weaken the party and its leadership. The CWC also resolved that inner-party issues cannot be deliberated through the media or in public fora and all such issues must be raised within the party 'in the interest of propriety and discipline'.
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.
The head of the Congress's first family has never been an astute politician, points out Amulya Ganguli.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, calling it a direct assault on the values of the republic. The party accused the BJP of exploiting the tragedy to promote discord and polarization, while urging for unity and solidarity in the face of adversity. The CWC also demanded a comprehensive analysis of the intelligence failures and security lapses that led to the attack.
Sonia Gandhi has the record of holding the longest tenure as Congress chief.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said her "sympathies" were with the BJP as big leaders of the INDIA bloc who are known to be good speakers have made it to the House.
The Congress, which is not very keen on having an alliance with the TMC, called it 'an untrustworthy ally', which is trying to grow at its expense.
The scenes at the party headquarters were indicative of the growing tumult in the Congress with the party deeply divided on the leadership issue.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
Sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from Rae Bareli, but a final call is yet to be taken by the first family of the Congress.
The Congress party on Monday defended its decision not to accompany the family of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the immersion of his ashes in the Yamuna, stating it was to ensure their privacy. Congress leader Pawan Khera said senior leaders did not accompany the family to gather and immerse the ashes of Dr Singh "out of our deference to the privacy of the family."
The meeting comes ahead of the party's Punjab unit revamp and amid reports that Sidhu may get a key role in the organisation.
She noted that the democracy was at peril under the Modi government and alleged that it was misusing and abusing its mandate in the "most dangerous" fashion, the sources said.
During 2023-24, while the BJP received over Rs 723 crore worth of donations from Prudent Electoral Trust, it also got over Rs 127 crore from Triumph Electoral Trust and over Rs 17 lakh from Einzigartig Electoral Trust.
"Sonia Gandhi is currently travelling on a short international visit for personal reasons," the Congress party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.
What some of our leaders were up to this week.
Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, passed away in Lisbon at the age of 88 on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
He drew the roadmap of India's economic reform, unshackled it from the licence raj and pulled it back from the brink when even its gold reserve was pledged.
Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were disrupted on Monday as the treasury benches accused top Congress leaders of colluding with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country, triggering protests from opposition members.
During Emergency Indira Gandhi acquired absolute power. Lakhs of political opponents, students, activists were arrested.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
Azad said it was a good meeting with the Congress president with the discussion centred on how to prepare and fight unitedly the forthcoming assembly polls to take on rival parties.
He termed his grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi as "the love of my life and my second mother".
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
'I wish you personally all the very best as you embark on a new innings in your life,' Sonia Gandhi said.
The Congress president also announced that a compact task force will be set up to drive the process of internal reforms that are essential.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day after repeated disruptions amid uproarious scenes as members of treasury and opposition benches traded charges on the Soros and Adani issues.
Sonia was all smiles as the PM appeared to be raising a toast.
Aaditya Thackeray had a brief meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence in New Delhi.
'It can be said without hesitation that Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia Gandhi enjoy perfect relations of mother-daughter-son all together in the family.' 'But their worldview is different and their style of functioning is different and their favourites in the party are different people.'
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and several other famous faces were seen at polling booths, exercising their franchise in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra has triggered a row with his comments suggesting that non-Muslims were attacked in Pahalgam because terrorists feel Muslims are being "mistreated" in the country. The BJP has accused him of using the language of terrorists and demanded an apology. Vadra condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack but suggested that communal issues and a feeling of vulnerability among minorities are contributing to the violence. He said it is time to separate politics and religion and called for introspection by political parties. Vadra's remarks have been met with strong condemnation from the BJP, which accused him of playing politics on the issue and demanded a clarification from the Congress party. The BJP has also criticized Vadra for justifying the actions of terrorists.
'Has the BJP not announced its candidates in Raebareli?'
Today is also PM Lal Bahadur Shastri's birth anniversary.
Prasad hit out at the Opposition, alleging that it starts getting upset the moment it hears "Kumbh" or "Sanatan".
Kharge claimed that the Centre accepted "intelligence failure" in an all-party meeting and said it should be held accountable for "not reinforcing" security arrangements in Kashmir to protect people.
Initiating the debate from the opposition's side in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said, "I stand here in support of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam."
