As Uttar Pradesh gears up for assembly elections early next year, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address a public rally on October 10 in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a party spokesperson said.
Electioneering ended in Madhya Pradesh at 6 pm except in Naxalites-hit districts of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, where campaigning drew to a close early at 3 pm.
It is for the Congress to ensure that the revelations do not eat into its vote bank in the crucial assembly elections. And it can do that by one, instituting a transparent and credible inquiry into the allegations; two, by taking action where it is due; and three, by disassociating itself from Vadra, says Seema Mustafa.
Congress leaders going all-out to defend Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law has left several red faced, with leaders privately speaking of unfair practices in the party, reports Renu Mittal.
Robert Vadra's land deals in a village in Haryana have returned to haunt the Congress party, with whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka alleging that Vadra "falsified documents" for 3.53 acres of land in Gurgaon and "pocketed" a large premium on a commercial colony license.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed officials of Skylight Hospitality have visited ED numerous times and supplied them whatever documents required but they have not been able to find anything either against Vadra or his company or associates.
The curious dealings of Robert Vadra have become even more curious, with a bank mentioned in the balance sheet of one of his companies denying it ever undertook a transaction clearly stated in the firm's auditor's report.
Sections of the Congress party are of the view that the party would have kept itself out of any embarrassment had it not gone about defending Robert Vadra. Renu Mittal reports
The nomination is an indication that the veteran Congress leader is not sure of victory from Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency she has represented for five terms.
On balance, RG contesting from Raebareli instead of Amethi isn't the masterstroke the party's adherents are touting it to be, but neither is it the blunder the BJP and its tame media is framing it as, points out Prem Panicker.
The chief minister and his wife Kamlesh Thakur presented a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to chief secretary Prabodh Saxena at their official residence in Shimla.
The shares of DLF on Monday fell by over 5 per cent amid allegations of the company providing undue favours in its transactions with Robert Vadra -- although the charges have been vehemently denied by both the parties.
"Undue favours" to builders, including Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality, by the Haryana government during the Congress regime has come under attack from the Comptroller and Auditor General.
However, the posters were reportedly put without sanction by a Congress worker and Gandhi loyalist.
The launch coincides with the birthday of Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Fielding a strong joint opposition candidate from Varanasi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was among the proposals discussed at the fourth meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), sources said.
If Tamil Nadu voters preferred the DMK combine, it owed to the Modi-Annamalai combo's ideological battle which often crossed the line of political decency and also challenged 'Tamil pride', argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'If we want real democracy, the economy itself will need to be democratised.'
Nishi Tiwari trawled through 140-character outpourings to select the most mordant among the humorous comments flooding Twitter on Robert Vadra. Here's her list.
Claiming the Congress leadership had ignored issues raised by him, Lok Sabha MP from Gurgoan Rao Inderjit Singh has trained his guns on Robert Vadra and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Anita Katyal reports.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday.
The announcement from the Congress lawmaker brought fore cracks in the party, which on Tuesday lost the sole Rajya Sabha seat to the Bharatiya Janata Party and is apparently scrambling to keep its members together to prevent the fall of its government.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
The Prime Minister's Office has refused to part with records related to its affidavit filed in Allahabad high court in response to a writ petition seeking probe into allegations made against Robert Vadra on controversial land deals, saying these are "confidential".
'Gruha Lakshmi Yojana' is an attempt of the Congress party to share the 'burden of the exorbitant' LPG prices and the 'costly daily expenses' that a woman has to bear, the party said.
The satyagraha will begin at 10 AM and end at 5 PM on Sunday.
More than 48 lakh candidates appeared in the examination conducted on February 17 and 18 across the state.
He said with a view to releasing a white paper on the state's finances, the cabinet has asked the officials to furnish information on the expenditure made by the previous government from 2014 to December 7, 2023 on all departments in the state government and the purposes for which the expenditure was incurred.
The notable names in the BJP's first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
Insisting that all laws were followed in a "completely transparent manner", Vadra said, "Neither me nor anyone associated with me has anything to hide."
'Is it not a fact that all good leaders in the Congress have left the party?'
They later walked hand in hand during the yatra in Uttar Pradesh, often waving to the ecstatic crowds who welcomed their leaders with enthusiasm.
Caught in a controversy over allegations that he was favoured by realty major DLF, Robert Vadra has broken his silence saying he can "handle all the negativity" even as Congress and BJP sparred over the issue.
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.
The Congress on Wednesday rejected the demand for an inquiry into Robert Vadra's land dealings suggesting the action taken by Haryana Indian Admistrative Service officer Ashok Khemka on a land deal involving the son-in law of Sonia Gandhi was an afterthought.
Vadra has denied any wrongdoing even as Congress party called the action 'sheer political vendetta'.
The Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday sought to dismiss the alleged nexus between realty giant DLF and Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra as 'false'. An affidavit filed by PMO Joint Secretary Dheeraj Gupta before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court termed as "false, vexatious and based on hearsay" the allegations about DLF having extended undue favours to Robert Vadra.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
The first floor of 268, Sukhdev Vihar, a nondescript white and grey bungalow, houses the headquarters of at least three companies/businesses owned by Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Vadra, who had been renting the premises for seven-odd years, has recently bought the property.
Trouble is brewing for the Congress in Haryana with its Gurgaon Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Rao Inderjit Singh making a statement that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra must be punished if he is found guilty of 'sham land deals' in Haryana. Reenu Mittal reports
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