The Congress on Monday sought a thorough probe in the Rafale defence deal and demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after a French media report claimed that 1.1 million (Rs 9.5 crore) was paid to a "middleman" by the aircraft manufacturer.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
'Once RM is done commenting on the hand symbol, can he answer: Have the Chinese occupied Indian territory in Ladakh,' he asked on Twitter. Singh had on Monday hit out at Gandhi with a couplet of noted Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib, saying when there is pain in the hand, one takes medicine, but what does one do when the hand itself is a pain.
Suspended Congress leader claims 100 letters to Sonia Gandhi over leadership change
While over 80 MLAs, including some of the independents, have reached a hotel in Udaipur, Soldier Welfare Minister Rajendra Gudha, SC Commission Chairman and MLA Khiladi Bairwa and MLA Girraj Singh Malinga expressed their displeasure in Jaipur.
'The government is scared of this Congress yatra, that is why various orders and letters are being issued'
To chart the Congress's future course, its chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday formed three groups -- on political affairs for guidance on key issues, task force-2024 to implement the Udaipur 'Nav Sankalp' declaration, and another to coordinate the October 2 'harat Jodo Yatra.
Asked about the organisational changes made by Gandhi and the subsequent reported statements by some leaders who had written to her over party reforms, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he had not seen a single statement by any Congress leader on the issue and cannot comment on that.
Surjewala alleged that the prime minister makes a joke of everything.
Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah were involved in attempts to topple the JD-S-Congress government in Karnataka.
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
A delegation of Congress leaders comprising Pawan Kumar Bansal, Vivek Tankha and Ranjeet Ranjan met the Election Commission and handed over a memorandum by Ajay Maken, its candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll in the state.
'Mahabharata of coronavirus pandemic is on, but the Modi government is missing'
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, who has served over 30 years of life term in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Hours after making the statement, the Haryana agriculture minister said he has seen "twisted" statements, attributed to him, on social media.
The group is also reported to be seeking the ouster of some Rahul Gandhi loyalists from key AICC positions and top on their target are AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and general secretary Ajay Maken.
Nowadays, our politics is habituated to sitting on a high pedestal, hobnobbing with world leaders, generating impressions of a superpower and returning to earth for the purpose of winning elections. In contrast, the yatra never left earth, observes Shyam G Menon.
The winter session of Parliament normally starts from last week of November or first week of December.
Senior leader P Chidambaram whose Rajya Sabha tenure is ending from Maharashtra is under consideration from Tamil Nadu as the Congress is all set to get the support of alliance partner the DMK. The G-23 leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Vivek Tankha, are also said to be in contention.
Shaktisinh Gohil asserted that the Gandhi family had always shown large-heartedness and never aspired for power.
The Rajya Sabha proceeding washed out completely on Wednesday and was adjourned for the day amid continued protest by the Opposition parties led by the Congress over price rise and levy of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on daily essentials.
A deputy superintendent of police investigating illegal stone-mining was killed on Tuesday when a truck he signalled to stop in Haryana's Nuh district drove into him, officials said.
A dominant force in the country's politics for decades, the grand old party's free fall continued as it lost Punjab to AAP and finished with just two seats out of 403 in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
There is no room for Pakistan or any other foreign country to interfere in Kashmir, Rahul said.
The leaders who Gandhi met included Deputy Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari. She is likely to meet some other leaders of the G-23 as well in the coming days.
Accompanied by Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala and other leaders of the Grand Alliance, Yadav made a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, asking who gave permission to the Munger police to act like 'General Dyer'.
Referring to his grandmother and the former PM, he said she took '32 bullets for the country' but her name was not even mentioned at a government event in New Delhi on the anniversary of the victory over Pakistan.
The division bench of the court, hearing the dissident MLAs petition against the Speaker's notices, adjourned Friday evening. It fixed the next hearing for 10 am on Monday. The counsel for the Speaker assured the court that no order shall be passed on the notice till 5.30 pm on Tuesday.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, Rahul Gandhi hasn't said a word of this nature nor alluded to it.
Police said around half-a-dozen dumper trucks and some machines were buried under the debris caused by the landslide which occurred around 9 am in Tosham block.
Ajay Maken, who has also served as the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly in the past, asked Deora to "leave Congress" before propagating "half-baked facts."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was questioned for over 10 hours by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering probe linked to the National Herald newspaper and was called to depose again on Tuesday, as his party protested across the country, alleging that the Centre was targeting the Opposition by misusing agencies.
Ignoring JD-S' request for support, the Congress did not withdraw its second candidate Khan from the fray and issued a whip to all its MLAs asking them to vote for the party's candidates.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
The opposition party also alleged that Twitter acted in haste due to "pressure" from the Indian government and was "selective" in removing Rahul Gandhi's tweet and "suspending" his account for putting up pictures of the victim's family as no action was taken against some other handles which carried the same pictures.
'We, as a nation, must rise up and refuse to be silent spectators to the death of democracy. We stand with P Chidambaram and reiterate our unwavering belief in his innocence'
'Neither farmers nor farm labourers will benefit from these jumla announcements of the finance minister'
Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala described the incident as shocking. In a tweet, he said a farmer's body is nibbled by rodents and the "Bharatiya Janata Party government acts as a mute spectator".
The party, however, did not say exactly when the Congress general secretary received the message.
'For Modi, it's not just winning, but winning with style.'