Once considered the unlikely heir to the political legacy of the Gandhi family, Sonia has earned the distinction of being the longest serving president of India's grand old party.
Congress Working Committee called the recent assembly election results of five states a "cause of serious concern" for the party.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday underwent surgery in a United States hospital for an undisclosed ailment which will keep her out of India for a month. The Congress party's announcement in New Delhi that its 64-year-old leader has been diagnosed for surgery and that general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony, her political aide Ahmed Patel and general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi will run the affairs of the party caught the country by total surprise
Sources said the Congress Parliamentary Party authorised Gandhi to pick the party's leader in Lok Sabha.
Addressing a rally Garhmukteshwar in UP's Ghaziabad district, Singh said he regretted making adverse remarks against the Congress president and the Amethi MP when he was with the Samajwadi Party.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to depose before it on July 21 for questioning in the National Herald newspaper-linked money-laundering case, officials said on Monday.
She called upon them to forcefully fight against the challenges posed by the present dispensation
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was taken ill during a roadshow in Varanasi and forced to return to the national capital, was "stable".
'The prime minister didn't come to Parliament.' 'But the BJP MP is charging that you wanted to assault the prime minister.' 'Only a person who has the intellect and ideology of the BJP can come up with such bizarre charges.'
Top Congress leaders attacked the BJP and election commissioners at a rally in Delhi, alleging election irregularities and demanding action against those involved in 'vote chori'.
Trying to strike an emotional chord with the voters, Sonia asked the people to consider Rahul Gandhi too as their own.
Initially, she was summoned by the agency on Monday but it was deferred by a day.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi's reaction to President Droupadi Murmu's address to the Joint session of the Parliament on Friday stoked a controversy.
The plane made an emergency landing at the Bhopal airport, Bhopal police commissioner Harinarayan Chari Mishra told PTI.
Gandhi cited the example of Maharashtra assembly elections, claiming there was an addition of 65 lakh voters to the voter list in two hours, "which was impossible."
'It seems to me that bringing Rahul in now would be like throwing petrol on the flames consuming Congress,' says Aakar Patel.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it held a formal meeting with a Chinese delegation openly, given the "improved" relations between New Delhi and Beijing, unlike the Congress which, it alleged, "secretly" signed a memorandum of understanding with the neighbouring country's ruling party.
According to reports, Gandhi will address two public meetings at Mokokchung and Dimapur districts.
This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
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Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate took a swipe at Sonia Gandhi for her televised appeal, saying it reflected her realisation that her son Rahul had not delivered on the election front.
Rahul Gandhi claimed a leader from Maharashtra cried in front of his mother Sonia Gandhi, saying he felt ashamed that he could not "fight this power any more and didn't want to go to jail".
The Congress will launch a nationwide campaign against the repeal of the United Progressive Alliance-era rural employment legislation Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on January 5, similar to the pushback against the three farm laws which eventually forced the Narendra Modi government to rollback its decision, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Amid criticism that the Congress had given a walkover to Irani in Amethi, sources said, the party in its wisdom believed that Rae Bareli's historical, emotional and electoral importance for the Gandhi family was higher than that of Amethi.
Sonia will likely be assisted by two vice presidents: Ashok Gehlot in charge of party affairs in north India with probably P Chidambaram doing likewise for south India.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was never shown any government files, her political secretary Ahmed Patel said while terming as "baseless" the charges made against her in a book written by Prime Minister's former media advisor Sanjaya Baru.
BJP MP Kangana Ranaut praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha, stating he has 'hacked the hearts of the people' and criticized the opposition for disruptions and EVM tampering allegations.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday urged all political parties, including the Congress, to unite against anti-India forces, and raise their voice if they find their leaders working against the country's interest.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of failing to uphold the 'one man, one vote' principle, citing irregularities in voter lists. He claims the issue is widespread and systematic, with the opposition protesting the Election Commission's voter roll revision in Bihar.
The last time a non-Gandhi was in the fray from the constituency was in 1998, when Satish Sharma, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, contested the polls but lost to the BJP's Sanjaya Sinh.
Several BJP voters say the Ram temple sentiment may give the ruling party a fillip but are also aware of the herculean task at hand and concede that it is a daunting electoral contest for Dinesh Singh, who lost to Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"Rae Bareli and Amethi were the 'karma bhoomi' of Feroze Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. It is also the 'karma bhoomi' of mine and Rahul. Rae Bareli and Amethi are like my home. I want to ask, can anyone prevent me from coming to my home? No one can," she said in a brief interaction with reporters near the railway station in Lalganj, about 20 km away.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla criticized former Congress president Sonia Gandhi's remarks about the Waqf (Amendment) Bill being "bulldozed through" the Lower House. Birla said a senior member casting aspersions on the House proceedings was "most unfortunate" and against the dignity of parliamentary democracy. He pointed out that the bill was debated for 13 hours and 53 minutes with several members participating and was passed after multiple divisions.
Congress leaders from various parts of Rajasthan have already arrived in Jaipur to take part in the rally, which will be held at Vidhyadhar Nagar stadium.
Businessman Robert Vadra says his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has a bright future in politics and a time will come when people would like to see her at the top position.
'It was then that the game started. It was decided that under no circumstances, the seat tally of the Congress should increase from 206 in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls'
The decision on Rahul Gandhi's appointment as the Leader of Opposition was made after a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
It was significant that the ceremony took place at 24, Akbar Road, the party's former national headquarters, and not at its new office in Kotla Road.
Bangladesh's prime minister met Advaniji and Soniaji on her short visit to New Delhi.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tells the women that "Rahul was naughtier than her, but she got the scolding instead".
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