'Both Rahul and Modi are the same in the way they run their parties. Modi too wants faceless people and so does Rahul Gandhi.'
Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc met in New Delhi on Monday and decided to write to the chief justice of India on the Special Intesive Revision exercise and "vote loot", besides demanding the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET-CBSE row.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday night hosted her first Iftar in three years, which saw the Congress president sharing a table with leaders of RJD and its new-found ally Janata Dal-United.
'Temperamentally, they are quite alike.' 'Ahmed Patel avoided the limelight and was not a power seeker.' 'The Gandhis too are not power wielders, but trustees of power.'
'It all depends on how Shivakumar uses him and treats him.'
Sources said Sonia Gandhi referred to Azad and others twice during her brief address and the issues raised by them.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership, delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of leaders leave it.
She was down with viral fever and doctors advised her to be under medical supervision.
'It was my first day in office, so you cannot blame me for the missing photos.' 'I had to join the office and sit on the chair at a particular mahurat time.'
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Gandhi is stable and will be in the hospital for a few days.
The situation in the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be grim with 21 leaders (9 Members of Legislative Assembly and 12 Members of Parliament) expressing their open support to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in case he decides to quit the party. But what has taken everyone by surprise is the open praise lavished upon Congress president Sonia Gandhi by Yeddyurappa.
Inaugurating the new terminal for the Srinagar international airport from where the first direct flight to Dubai was undertaken, Sonia Gandhi said, " The people of Jammu and Kashmir have shown their faith in democracy by an overwhelming participation in the recently held assembly elections in the state."
The Congress on Monday said it welcomed the reported move as the party has been raising the demand for long.
Newly-appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam on Wednesday hinted at an equal seat-sharing arrangement with the Samajwadi Party for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
'It is not because of the war in West Asia, which began on February 28.' 'Petroleum product prices are already going through the roof. They are bound to have a serious inflationary impact.' 'A country's leadership is tested in trying times. It is here that the current leadership is failing.'
Speculation about a possible rapprochement or merger between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has exposed deep divisions within the Congress's West Bengal unit, with senior state leaders vocally opposing any alliance with Mamata Banerjee.
The Congress party is set to challenge the Modi government on a range of critical issues, including alleged theft of Ram temple donations, 'systemic corrosion' of the education system, and constitutional amendment bills related to delimitation and dismissal of ministers, during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The meeting also includes some of Sonia Gandhi's close associates and is the first effort by the Congress leadership for a reproachment with those who raised questions over the leadership.
Her medical condition was stable and she has been advised rest.
China's ruling Communist Party on Tuesday confirmed that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted President Hu Jintao's invitation to visit the country, saying the event will further enhance friendship between leaders of the two countries.
Asked what role she will assume after Rahul Gandhi takes over the reins of the party, Sonia Gandhi told media persons in the Parliament complex: "My role is to retire."
Several top Congress leaders including party general secretary organisation K C Venugopal, Sachin Pilot, Randeep Surjewala and Shashi Tharoor, wished the former party chief on her birthday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was discharged from the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi on Monday evening and was advised rest at home, the party said.
'You have all the qualities to become a world champion.'
The Congress president had left on August 23 to visit her ailing mother, who was in her 90s.
The Delhi High Court has scheduled a hearing for March 9 on the Enforcement Directorate's plea challenging a trial court order that refused to acknowledge its chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case.
Siddaramaiah met Rahul Gandhi to discuss his future role within the Congress party after resigning as Chief Minister of Karnataka. The meeting addressed his potential future roles and the formation of the new Karnataka government.
She was born in 1946 in the town of Or Orbassano, near Turin (Italy) and married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, attacking him on issues like the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and the subsequent police firing on protesters.
The original Mrs Gandhi -- Indira -- had delivered a second successive election victory for the Congress in 1971 but before that she had to win a war. The reigning Mrs Gandhi -- Sonia -- has also led the Congress to consecutive poll successes (in 2004 and 2009) but she hasn't had to go so far as to fight an external war, though there have been many domestic battles, writes Kidwai, whose second book on Sonia Gandhi, 24 Akbar Road, is soon to be released by Hachette Books
The ED has accused Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, as well as late party leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, along with Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and a private company, Young Indian, of conspiracy and money laundering.
Amidst alleged power struggles within the ruling Congress in Karnataka, AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has called for discipline within the party, emphasizing that the party is paramount. This comes as the state's chief minister and deputy chief minister submitted a consolidated report on the performance of 31 ministers to Surjewala, fueling speculation about a potential cabinet reshuffle.
For the second consecutive day on Friday, several Indian journalists went to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre on 68th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan, New York, where Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has reportedly undergone a surgery
"We met Gandhi and sought her intervention on the Maharashtra government's decision to ban dance bars," Bharatiya Bar Girls Union chief Varsha Kale said.
The 77-year-old former Congress president is set to enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan.
The meeting came a day after Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh met the Congress chief for a tie-up in Uttar Pradesh.
There was a celebratory mood outside her Delhi residence.
Her move comes after doctors advised her to get away from the heavy pollution in the national capital in view of her chronic chest infection, party insiders said.
