Several opposition MPs on Wednesday demanded an explanation from Home Minister Amit Shah after two visitors jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors' gallery and opened canisters that emitted coloured smoke, triggering panic among the members.
'It is normal and standard for the United States to engage with members of opposition parties in any country where it has bilateral relationships'
He is a well-regarded person and he has done a lot of developmental work in his state. He will reply to all the actions that have been initiated against him at the appropriate time, the Bihar chief minister said.
Tharoor reached the AICC headquarters in New Delhi and spoke to Mistry at his office, a day before the Congress' central election authority is to issue the notification for the polls to elect the next Congress president.
The CPI-M's allegations were termed a political conspiracy by the opposition Congress which accused the Left party of stooping low to target its political opponents.
The election process of the Congress president that was to end by September 20 is likely to be delayed by a few weeks with the party focused on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' and some state units not completing the formalities, sources said on Thursday.
The results in Karnataka were declared on May 13 but the party has not finalised its chief ministerial face yet and the process of consultations is on.
Gandhi drove to Kharge's residence and held a closed-door meeting with the Congress chief.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the upcoming AICC chief polls, while the Congress president conveyed that she would stay "neutral" in the elections, sources said.
Renowned Telangana folk singer and balladeer Gaddar, who was popularly known for his revolutionary songs during the 1980s and later during the Telangana statehood agitation, passed away in Hyderabad on Sunday due to ill-health. He was 77.
Gandhi, who is being attacked by the BJP for his 'democracy under attack' in India remarks in the UK, had addressed a press conference in the national capital on Thursday, after being disallowed from defending himself inthe Lok Sabha and said if Indian democracy was functioning, he would be able to say his piece in Parliament, asserting that it is a 'test of democracy'.
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'.
The Congress accused the government of withdrawing security personnel from around Rahul Gandhi as the Bharat Jodo Yatra reached near Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress has pinned its hopes on many of the old-timers and also given representation to some new faces in its first list of candidates announced for the Chhattisgarh assembly polls scheduled next month.
'Mrs Sonia Gandhi, chairperson, UPA has been admitted to our hospital today. She has been admitted in Department of Chest Medicine under the care of Dr Arup Basu and his team. Mrs Gandhi has been admitted for observation and treatment of a viral respiratory infection,' said Dr Ajay Swaroop, chairman of the hospital's board of management.
Dressed in the T-shirt and slacks, Gandhi appeared oblivious to chilling winter temperatures.
"Next challenge for us is to win elections, neither individuals nor statements matter, those are bygones," he said.
Don't pretend to be a pressman. Why don't you ask better questions, asked Rahul Gandhi.
The plenary session in Chhattisgarh's Nava Raipur will start from February 24 and is expected to be attended by around 15,000 delegates.
Amid different voices within the Congress and INDIA bloc on DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks against Sanatan Dharma, the principal opposition party on Monday said it respects all religions and stressed that others also have the freedom to express their views.
Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad's statements regarding ministerial and chief ministerial posts, along with his veiled dig at Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to have created a sense of unease within the ruling party in Karnataka.
Chinchansur, a prominent leader of the Koli-Kabbaliga community in the Kalyana Karnataka region, resigned from his post of Member of the Legislative Council on Monday.
Sources said besides giving approval to the polls schedule, the members of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, could also express confidence in the leadership provided by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The party is very much united and working together, the AICC general secretary organisation said.
The Congress units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where the party is in government on its own, have passed resolutions that Gandhi be made the party's president.
The meeting comes amid both leaders being seen as prospective contenders for the post of AICC president.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
Rao said his party Bharat Rashtra Samithi has always maintained that parties should unite based on people-centric issue.
On Monday, Shashi Tharoor met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the upcoming AICC chief polls.
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.
The road to AICC headquarters in New Delhi was blocked on Wednesday with the Congress alleging the party was "under siege" while the police said barricades have been erected and its personnel deputed to avoid any untoward situation.
The last electoral contest for the top post of the party took place in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi.
She called on the people of the state to ensure this election is not about Modi or any other leader, irrespective of their party.
The Congress on Sunday made it clear that it will not support the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi and will oppose any such attempt of the central government to 'sabotage federalism' in the country.
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.
The Karnataka government can have 34 ministers. Ten of them, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, were sworn in on May 20.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
While 39 members of the all-important panel are general members, it has 32 permanent invitees, including some in-charges of state and 13 special invitees.
Kharge said that India progressed due to Congress' approach of inclusion and taking everyone along.
Anil Antony announced his resignation via a tweet in which he said that he was getting "intolerant calls" to retract his tweet against the documentary and the "wall of hate/abuses" on Facebook over the same issue have prompted him to take the decision.
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