Unfazed by the revolt by Union Minister Harish Rawat, Congress high command has ruled out any re-think over the issue of chief ministership in Uttarakhand, declaring that party MP Vijay Bahuguna will take oath as the new chief minister on Tuesday as scheduled.
Inching towards withdrawal of the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers, Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday grappled to work out a face saver in the wake of a huge political storm over Rahul Gandhi's public outburst against the measure.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the government on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Congress over the Ishrat Jahan case
Asking that if all these leaders and actors accompanying the Pakistani journalists are Inter-Services Intelligence's contacts, Singh asserted that he would have invited her again had there been no visa restrictions between India and Pakistan.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday evening asked Delhi Police Commissioner B K Gupta to revoke the detention orders against veteran activist Anna Hazare and all his supporters with immediate effect, sources told rediff.com.
In a politically-significant move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reconstituted a government committee on commemoration of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru which will be headed by him, replacing his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
It is a well publicised fact that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been traveling across India, urging students and the youth to join politics. He has also been active in organising elections in the Youth Congress and the National Students' Union of India. The Gandhi scion's activities are in sharp contrast to the workings of the Congress, where party chief Sonia Gandhi's managers still seek a consensus mantra on most issues and the nomination culture permeates.
Conveying good wishes to people of the state and all political parties for the New Year, he however wished that the Congress comes to power.
Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid's remark about Congress president Sonia Gandhi getting emotionally moved by Batl a House pictures might have created a furore in the Congress circles.
With the Pradesh Congress committees passing resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi at the helm of All India Congress Committee, party General Secretary, Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday said such measures have no binding effect.
Sukhu, the 58-year-old MLA from Nadaun in Hamirpur district, was elected the the CLP leader and will take oath as chief minister Sunday, the party said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday slammed Union minister Salman Khurshid for describing Narendra Modi as "impotent" and asked him to apologise for the "regrettable" and "shameful" comment, saying it only reflects the Congress party's "desperation".
Prasada, who had also served as a Union minister in the Congress-led UPA government and whose family had been associated with the party for three generations, joined the BJP on Wednesday, and termed the saffron party 'only true national party' in the country.
The more things change, the more they remain the same! That certainly appears to be the dictum by which the Congress party and its leadership lives and works.
Manmohan Singh said Narasimha Rao can truly be called father of economic reforms in India.
In key organisational changes, the Congress on Wednesday appointed young face Anil Chaudhary as its Delhi unit chief and named D K Shivakumar, known to be the party's chief troubleshooter in crisis situations, as the head of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
'The feeling in Telangana is that without her a separate state cannot be created... All the MPs and MLAs from Seema-Andhra have a business background. Their interest is to save their business,' Congress MP K Raj Gopal Reddy, who played a key role in Thursday's turbulent events, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
The meeting of the party's highest decision-making body will go into the reasons behind the party's debacle and discus as to why its poll narrative failed to convince the people.
Attacking rebel Congress Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Union Minister and senior party leader from the state S Jaipal Reddy on Saturday said he was violating party discipline and termed his actions as "very undesirable".
Rahul Gandhi is set to assume a "larger" role in the Congress very soon with the reshuffle of the All India Congress Committee secretariat on the cards this week.
As Germany took note of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Congress of 'inviting foreign powers' for interference in India's internal matters and the Opposition party hit back, alleging that its rival was attempting to divert attention from the Adani issue.
The Act deals with automatic disqualification of MPs and state legislators upon being convicted and sentenced for two years or more in a criminal case.
United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee is expected to file four sets of nomination papers signed by top UPA leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
However, members requested the government and the presiding officers of both the House to end the proceedings early citing the festive season and New Year celebrations ahead.
The Congress will only survive if it can transform into something more like the BJP used to be: A coalition of strong state leaders held together by shared ideology or personal loyalty, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
Launching a blistering attack on Raman Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Chhattisgarh over law and order situation, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday reminded people of the May 25 Maoist ambush in Bastar that had wiped out almost the entire Congress leadership.
Priyanka said the presence of Gandhis in the party would impede the functioning of a non-family president only if her family wanted things to be that way.
Amid a controversy over the cricket stadium in Ahmedabad being renamed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government on Wednesday said the name change involves only the Motera stadium and the entire sports complex continues to be named after Sardar Patel.
Prashant Kishor feels that the Congress is a national party that can counter the BJP.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid speculation that a reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers is on the cards later this week.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech on Wednesday was marked by the usual thumping of benches by the ruling alliance members, but the loudest cheer was reserved for her announcement of income tax relief, which was welcomed by 'Modi, Modi' chants in Lok Sabha that also witnessed a few instances of protest by the Opposition.
The government plans to convene a special session of Parliament for passage of the Food Security Bill as a divided Cabinet Thursday shunned the idea of promulgating an ordinance to implement the watershed legislation.
Union Minister Charan Das Mahant was on Monday appointed the acting Pradesh Congress Committee president of poll-bound Chhattisgarh, a week after senior party leaders in the state including PCC Chief Nand Kumar Patel were killed in a Naxal attack.
The 47-year-old scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family will face the daunting task of restoring lost glory to the party whose fortunes have been dwindling in the recent past.
The BJP on Sunday authorised its president J P Nadda and Union minister Rajnath Singh to hold consultations with different political parties, including those in the opposition, on the president's election, in what is being seen as an outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post.
"Rahul Gandhi is de facto Congress chief but he should become de jure" and make the party battle ready without waiting for anti-incumbency to build up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said.
About 45 per cent of the voters on Wednesday exercised their franchise in the first six hours of polling in seven states and two union territories during the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections that will decide the fate of political heavyweights like Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi. Barring skirmishes in Punjab that left 10 persons injured, voting was by and large peaceful.
Delhi Police has sought fresh directions from the Union Home Ministry after Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, turned down the Z category security provided to him. Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, was provided Z category security last year after Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil decided to provide security to the kith and kin of all VIPs.
After the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam pull out, the Samajwadi Party, a key outside supporter, on Wednesday kept the government on tenterhooks demanding resignation of Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma for his controversial remarks against party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
