The Congress alleged that Delhi Police personnel forcibly entered its headquarters and beat up party workers and leaders on Wednesday, on a day the party staged vociferous protests against the questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate for the third consecutive day.
Hit hard by defections in the last five years, the Congress in Goa on Friday made its candidates sign affidavits and take an oath of loyalty to the party in the presence of its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
I am here to stay the course. Please come and vote on October 17. For me, 'Think tomorrow, think Tharoor', he said
The letter from the Uttar Pradesh veterans comes days after 23 senior Congress leaders wrote to Gandhi, saying uncertainty over the party leadership has 'demoralised Congress workers'.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
Voting began on Monday in the Congress presidential polls as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor face-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
Kharge said that while there are very responsible people in the party who were doing their duty, some people had assumed that lack of responsibility will be ignored.
The Congress on Tuesday stepped up its attack on the government over the Pegasus snooping controversy and demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
'There is a group who want to internally damage the Congress and they may be hand in glove with the BJP.'
'It will be better if the 'family' desists from giving 'advice and guidance' lest it should be seen as a backseat driver which had placed a puppet at the top,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Even if the Congress is unable to defeat the political appeal of Narendra Modi, the resources and talent of the BJP and its managers, it is relying on issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act and the perceived threat to Assamese identity, along with the future threat of the National People's Register to ensure it continues to be a force in the state. Aditi Phadnis reports.
The current battle within the party is seen as setting the stage for August 10 when Sonia completes one year of interim presidentship, and questions are being raised about a leadership vacuum. For the first time, responsible quarters are suggesting that as Sonia cannot function as interim president indefinitely and Rahul seems to want power but not the responsibility, one way out is collective leadership, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the two aspiring CMs.
After the party's drubbing in the just-concluded assembly polls in five states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers.
The former Punjab Congress chief had been upset with the party for serving him a show-cause notice.
With the victory over FDI in multi-brand retail in Parliament, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance is now gearing up for the party's all important 'Chintan Shivir' (brainstorming camp) next month.
Party chief Rahul Gandhi formed a nine-member Core Group Committee, a 19-member Manifesto Committee and a committee comprising 19 top party leaders who will look after the publicity during the elections.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
'The Congress is trying to cover up their anti-incumbency by highlighting the Dalit CM factor.'
On the lines of the Sachar Committee for Muslims, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set up a panel to assess the status of Scheduled Tribes, to ensure their progress in socio-economic, health and education fields.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Centre would soon form a committee which would adopt all possible ways for empowering Madigas (a SC community) with regard to their demand of categorisation of Scheduled Castes.
As many as 11 Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress have written to Speaker Om Birla against the "unethical conduct" of BJP parliamentarians Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Subrat Pathak and Bhola Singh of sharing a distorted and fake video of Rahul Gandhi that could pose a threat to the country's social fabric and demanded swift intervention.
The Congress, which ended up six seats short of a simple majority in the 90-member Haryana assembly, will meet Governor Jagannath Pahadia in Chandigarh on Friday to stake claim to form the government. "We are going to meet the governor shortly with letters of support from independent candidates and stake our claim," said Pradesh Congress Committee chief Phool Chand Mullana. When queried about how many independents were supporting the Congress, he said, "All of them."
'You need a leader whom India can identify with and I cannot think of any other leader except Sachin Pilot in the Congress party.'
Pilot, who is also the president of the state unit of the party, on Tuesday night claimed he has the support of 30 MLAs and the Gehlot government is now in minority.
A case has been registered against Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar for allegedly making statements that promote enmity between different groups, police said on Tuesday.
Asked about him sticking with the Congress since he got the parliamentary polls ticket from Moradabad in 2009, he said loyalty is very important to him since the beginning.
Sources said the selection committee could meet either on March 13 or 14 depending on the convenience of the members and the appointments are likely to be made by March 15.
However, the AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SC committee has limited terms of reference and 'cannot bring out the deep nexus between' the prime minister and the billionaire businessman.
The talks between the ruling Congress party and the Praja Rajyam Party for a tie-up for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Monday suffered a major setback.
At its Jaipur meeting, the BJP will focus on this year's assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh while the Congress's Chintan Shivir in Udaipur will discuss how it can resurrect itself.
As the All India Congress Committee Plenary session started in New Delhi, the party rank and file hoped that the Congress high command would be able to clear up the mess surrounding the party in the wake of the various scams surrounding it.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
Noting that the Bahujan Samaj Party had held a dialogue with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the past, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said no decision on the Mayawati-led party's inclusion in Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc can be taken until there is clarity on whose side she is on.
They said that as Congress MPs, they are concerned about the transparency and fairness of the election process for the president of the party.
In a jolt to the Congress ahead of Himachal Pradesh polls, senior leader Anand Sharma on Sunday resigned from the chairmanship of the party's steering committee for the state, saying he was left with no choice after the 'continuing exclusion and insults'.
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.
They said they will raise issues related to rising prices, unemployment, corruption and caste census.
Asserting that the prime minister's job will remain with BJP leader Narendra Modi even after the general elections slated for next year, Singh claimed the country is scaling new heights under PM Modi's leadership.
Amid the factional feud in the Punjab Congress, Sidhu will be meeting All India Congress Committee general secretary Harish Rawat and senior party leader K C Venugopal on October 14 for a discussion on organisational matters related to the party's state unit.
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