Andhra Pradesh ministers from the Telangana region, who have sent their resignation letters to Sonia Gandhi, arrived in New Delhi on Sunday to hold consultations with top leaders, and demanded that the government come out with a "time-bound programme" for the creation of a separate state.
'He has destroyed the Youth Congress. Now he is trying to destroy the National Students Union of India. Next he will destroy the Congress. Whatever responsibility you give him he will destroy that.'
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister of the state, had a meeting with Gandhi on the issue. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan also arrived in New Delhi in the evening for talks with central leaders.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
D Purandeswari, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, has been asked to speak about literacy initiatives undertaken since the UNESCO regional literacy meet held in New Delhi in 2006 and the progress and the effect they have had in India.
DMK president M Karunanidhi told reporters that Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will release a special postal cover on the occasion.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
Aam Aadmi Party leader Shazia Ilmi sought to quell speculation that she would be pitted against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls, saying she "never agreed" to contest from Rae Bareli.
She alleged that today, the regime in power is misusing and subverting the institutions of the Constitution, and weakening its foundations of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice.
The advertisement highlights NCP chief Sharad Pawar's accomplishments as Union agriculture minister and thanks the UPA government for its support. While the Congress said it was unaware of the advertisement, the NCP claimed it was not issued by the party.
However, he pointed out that the manner in which Smriti Irani was taking the name of President in the House was not proper and in consonance with the status and position of the President.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was made to wait a good 30 minutes on Tuesday outside the gate of the Mahabodhi temple, the site of serial blasts on Sunday, due to the visit by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
The rout of Sharad Pawar-led faction has raised questions over his political future with a potential risk of a further slide in the party flock in future.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
A day after Congress leader Gourav Vallabh taunted Shashi Tharoor over his probable All India Congress Committee president poll bid, the party on Friday urged all its spokespersons and communication department office bearers to refrain from commenting on any colleague contesting the elections.
Aiming to retain power at the Centre for the third time in a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party while banking heavily on its sitting MPs on Saturday released the first list of 51 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.
'Putra-moh Congress ko nasht kar raha hai (Sonia Gandhi's love for Rahul Gandhi is destroying the Congress).'
She suggested several measures such as protection of doctors, easing the supply chains and deferment of loans.
'Shivakumar is an andhbhakt of Congress ideology and principles.'
As Bharatiya Janata Party's war of words with the government intensified, party chief Nitin Gadkari on Monday asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi what 'action' she intends to take against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram, who have been dragged in the 2G scam by jailed former Union minister A Raja.
The saffron party also slammed Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu for announcing that the Sethu Samudram project will be completed in November next year saying his statement on the Vijayadashmi day was a 'deliberate attempt' to hurt the sentiments of crore of believers.
All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi has taken a conscious decision of being neutral to Andhra Pradesh politics in the wake of the sudden demise of its chief minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy, and wait for a three-member committee to brief her. Till such time, she is not likely to meet any leader from the state.
Amar alleged that Jaipal was trying to "humiliate" Amitabh at the behest of the Congress president.
Gandhi's flying into Srinagar to meet Mehbooba assumes significance as there are reports that the PDP and the BJP are bargaining afresh over the formation of a new government.
On Tuesday, 49 opposition MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the session for disrupting proceedings, taking the total tally of suspended MPs in Lok Sabha to 95.
The 78-year-old Ahamed died at 2:15 am at RML hospital where he was admitted on Tuesday and put on artificial life support.
Scripting a new chapter in his illustrious career, Pranab Mukherjee will on Wednesday take over as India's 13th President. Watch the momentous ceremony LIVE on rediff.com
Scripting a new chapter in his illustrious career, Pranab Mukherjee will on Wednesday take over as India's 13th President.
Gandhi was served a notice to vacate the government bungalow allotted to him by April 22
Volcker: Opposition stages walkout in both Houses
Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Agatha Sangma, the youngest minister in the United Progressive Alliance government, said on Sunday that her father and Nationalist Congress Party leader Parno A Sangma no longer had any issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi over her foreign origins.
The meeting comes as part of Paswan's efforts to seek support of like-minded parties in a bid to form a government in Bihar, now under President's rule.
A senior party leader on the condition of anonymity said the CWC meeting will be called next week although the agenda is to be worked out and finalised.
The party is likely to table a privilege motion against Manmohan Singh.
Gandhi said around 400 Congress members will be attending the Chintan Shivir in Udaipur from May 13 to 15 and stressed on the message of every leader holding one party post.
In her condolence message for Patel, who served as her political secretary for years and was the All India Congress Committee treasurer, party chief Sonia Gandhi said, 'In Shri Ahmed Patel, I have lost a colleague, whose entire life was dedicated to the Congress Party.'
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the upcoming AICC chief polls, while the Congress president conveyed that she would stay "neutral" in the elections, sources said.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice in the post-lunch period on Thursday as a war of words broke out between the treasury and opposition benches, triggered by Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi's spat with the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ravneet Singh Bittu.
A number of other dignitaries, Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Leader of the Oppositon L K Advani also offered floral tributes at Gandhi's 'samadhi' at the Raj Ghat in Delhi.
In a statement in Hindi, she said governments and their leaders who ignore public sentiments in a democracy cannot govern for long and it is now quite clear that the protesting farmers will not bow in the face of the Centre's policy of 'tire and pushover'.
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