Ahead of its presidential poll, the Congress on Monday issued a set of guidelines for the election, debarring party office-bearers from campaigning for candidates.
In a counter offensive after 13 MLAs resigned on Saturday dealing a blow to the 13-month-old government, a delegation of Congress leaders met Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar and submitted the petition seeking, under the anti-defection law, disqualification of the rebel legislators in line with the decision taken at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday.
'I am the senior most Congress party leader from Kerala, and I don't know why I am sidelined.'
CLP saw early that the pollution caused by China's rush for industrial growth would lead inevitably to demands for cleaner electricity.
The Andhra Pradesh Congress legislature committee unanimously passed a resolution on Friday, requesting the Congress president Sonia Gandhi to choose the Congress Legislature Party leader. The resolution moved by Kadapa member of Parliament YS Jaganmohan Reddy was supported by 150 MLAs and 49 members of legislative council.
Gehlot expressed his sadness over the turn of affairs in the state.
With the deepening political crisis in Rajasthan over the appointment of Ashok Gehlot's successor, Congress Working Committee members have demanded from Sonia Gandhi to pull the state chief minister out of the race for the party chief and select another candidate for the top post, sources said on Monday.
With the Congress emerging victorious in Himachal Pradesh, state party president Pratibha Singh is considered a key frontrunner for the chief minister's post, closely followed by former party chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and outgoing Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri.
The CLP also recommended strong disciplinary action against any Congress MLA and office-bearer who 'weakens' the party. The resolution expressed confidence in the leadership of national party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The development has come amid a power tussle that polarised the ruling party in the state headed for elections in just about four months.
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
In the past the Congress had cold-shouldered overtures from the Samajwadi Party chief, leading to bad blood between the two parties.
The Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly while the BJP got 25 seats.
'Shivakumar is an andhbhakt of Congress ideology and principles.'
Harish Rawat, a Union Minister, was on Saturday sworn in as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand, succeeding Vijay Bahuguna who was asked by the Congress high command to step down in a bid to boost the party's prospects ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha polls.
The agitational programmes include the 'Loktantra Bachao Mashal Shanti March' starting from Red Fort on Tuesday and a series of press conferences in 35 major cities across the country on March 28 and 29.
The chief whip, who moved the top court two days after the assembly speaker C P Joshi filed the appeal against the July 24 Rajasthan high court order, was very critical of the judicial intervention into the disqualification proceedings and said that the order 'was ex facie unconstitutional' and amounted to an intrusion into the domain of speaker's power under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
In a day of frantic developments, Digvijaya Singh entered the fray for the Congress president's election as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot opted out of the race and the suspense over his continuation at the helm in the state deepened with the party saying it would be decided in a day or two.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Wednesday held consultations with senior party leaders, including A K Antony, as talks for an alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for the next Lok Sabha polls and formation of a coalition government in Jharkhand reached the final stage.
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 speaker told Kumaraswamy that "this (SIT) should not lead to a witch-hunt. The probe should be only to establish the truth."
The coming weeks will be a tightrope walk for Gehlot who has 100 loyalists MLAs waiting to be rewarded on one side and the dissidents who wanted to be rehabilitated on the other, observes Prakash Bhandari.
The Congress naming Channi, a Dalit face who comes from the Rupnagar district in the state's Malwa belt, assumes significance as Punjab has a population of nearly 32 per cent from the community.
The Congress on Saturday made a stunning comeback in Karnataka ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party from its lone southern citadel with a comfortable majority in a morale booster win that will be key for reviving its electoral fortunes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
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.
Deve Gowda indicated on Sunday that they were ready to compromise.
For the chief minister and Assam alike, the road ahead is full of challenges, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Nath, 72, will take the office of chief minister for the first time in a distinguished career in politics.
The Himachal effect could be replicated in Narendra Modi-run Gujarat, where the PCC chief Bharat Solanki and CLP leader Arjun Modwadia could meet a similar fate, party sources said.
The assembly session comes days after the top leadership of the Congress announced the return of Pilot and 18 other dissident MLAs to the party-fold. Referring to Pilot's open rebellion while addressing the legislators, the CM asked them to 'forget what has happened'.
Dissident Congress leader Kalikho Pul was on Friday night sworn in as chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh after more than two months of political crisis, shortly after the Supreme Court paved the way for government-formation and President's rule was lifted from the state.
Mallikarjun Kharge has the stature, maturity and gravitas to lead a national party like the Congress with its rich history of struggle and myriad achievements, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi he said that despite knowing him "for the better part of his 52 years in public life" and "that too at a deeply personal level", she never "understood" him or his "character".
New Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul on Thursday proved his majority on the floor of the assembly with the support of 40 MLAs.
'Everything else is a sham.'
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked party leaders from Gujarat to focus on issues to build pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government.
The appointment was made by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who was authorized by a meeting of the Gujarat Congress Legislature Party in Gandhinagar on Tuesday to select the leader.
Besides law and order, the long standing demand for junking Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, economic woes of the land-locked state which has hardly any industries, are expected to figure high on the agenda of the unfolding electoral battle between the two main parties with smaller local parties such as National People's Party and the Naga People's Front chipping in with their own demands.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress leaders after the meeting.
