Gandhiji asked me if I had sufficient warm clothes in view of the coming cold season. I said yes. But he verified my statement by asking Miraben to search my bag to make sure. Such was Gandhiji.
The Congress is gearing up to demonstrate a political show of strength on Monday when the party leader Rahul Gandhi will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection in connection with a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
With many claimants for the chief minister's post in Uttarakhand, the ball was on Saturday back in the court of All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi to take a call, as the party observers wrapped up their consultations with Congress and independent Members of Legislative Assembly on the leadership issue. Congress general secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad and Chaudhary Birendra Singh, in-charge of the affairs in the state, held separate talks with each of the MLAs.
"We have a commitment before the people of Karnataka. Parliament elections are ahead. So, I have to bow to the AICC president and the Gandhi family. In the larger interest of the party (I have agreed to the formula) and why not, because sometimes the ice should break. Ultimately, there is a responsibility towards what we have a commitment to the people of Karnataka and we have to deliver," he said.
West Bengal is home to 43,000 Durga Pujas, and the business around it is a major economic driver.
Senior party leaders R K Dhawan and V Narainswamy are members of the committee, which has All India Congress Committee general secretary Ashok Gehlot as convenor.
In their letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Congress leaders said during a discussion on the functioning of the ministry of agriculture and farmers' welfare on August 2, "misleading and incorrect assertions" were made by the minister.
The opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra on Tuesday announced its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray securing a substantial portion with 21 seats, while the Congress will contest 17 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar 10 seats.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
The opposition, which had earlier accepted defeat, is again jumping around today, the UP CM said.
A day after the Congress's second straight defeat in the national election, resignations were flying.
The party on Wednesday removed former minister Sudhir Sharma, who was among the six rebel MLAs who were later disqualified for defying party whip on the state budget, from the post of All India Congress Committee secretary with immediate effect.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Raj Babbar said, "It has been decided that she will campaign for the party in the state elections. She has accepted our request to campaign. Whenever we will get her schedule, we will use her time accordingly".
Opposition leaders on Saturday stepped up pressure on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for stringent action against Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramesh Bidhuri over his derogatory remarks against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali in the House.
A total of seven candidates have filed papers for the elections, for which the date for filing nominations ended on Friday.
Striking a different note from the government on last week's anti-Naxal operation in Chhattisgarh that left 19 tribals killed, Congress on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state for the "botch-up", saying it has resulted in the loss of lives of innocent tribals and minors.
The party had also decided to ask Congress workers to contribute Rs 250 annually to the party.
Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Hooda are the members of the pro-reform G23 group who wrote a letter to party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Jairam Ramesh, who quit as a union minister earlier this week, was on Saturday appointed the Congress' campaign coordinator in the Lok Sabha elections.He will be setting up a 'war room' near the All India Congress Committee headquarters to coordinate the movement of Congress leaders on the campaign trail and meet the requirements of candidates. A Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, he is also a member of various AICC committees.
The Congress has not released a poll manifesto but a declaration of appeasement.
'Has the BJP not announced its candidates in Raebareli?'
'Two years ago I told Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that we have traitors in the Congress.'
The party, the sources said, has also approved 50 per cent representation to SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities at all levels of the organisation, as part of its social engineering efforts to win the confidence of the weaker and oppressed sections of society.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
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.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should avoid visiting the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardeva at Batadrava on January 22, as there can be no competition between Lord Ram and the medieval age Vaishnav saint revered as an icon in the state.
Wadettiwar said he was not opposed to the idea of increasing the overall quota ceiling to accommodate the Maratha community.
They are also likely to demand a second round of cabinet expansion soon.
'I assured them I will not back away. I will not betray those who have supported me till now. Their confidence in me is what gives me the strength to move forward'
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
It is clear that Kamal Nath is gearing up for the 2023 assembly polls, reports Sandeep Kumar.
Priyanka Gandhi's charge were the key seats of Lucknow, Amethi, Raebareli, Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Phulpur, Allahabad, Barabanki, and Kushinagar.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
Nothing is going to change in a hurry unless attitudes change and punishments are speedy and fair, notes Ramesh Menon.
'The consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has demoralised them.' 'And, now it is reflecting in their individual reactions as they are losing hope to take on the BJP in 2024.'
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday hinted at a thaw between his party and the Congress, saying had a telephonic talk with Sonia Gandhi whom he asked to hold a meeting of 'like-minded' parties which could join hands to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'All the big things happening today in economic development have their beginning in Dr Manmohan Singh's ideas.'
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
Das, a law graduate, was in politics from his college days and was elected as the Students' Union president at Gangadhar Meher College at Sambalpur, one of the oldest colleges in western Odisha.
The controversial issue of Muslim girls wearing 'hijab' in educational institutions, which had hit national headlines last year with a government pre-university college in Udupi banning it inside classrooms, does not appear to be a serious campaign issue for the May 10 elections to the Karnataka assembly.
