Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Mamata's 'there is no United Progressive Alliance (UPA)' remark after a meeting in Mumbai with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of Congress in Maharashtra, evoked a strong response from the party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi.
The selection of Satiuse Kujur, a leader from the tea workers (Adivasi) community in Assam, as the second candidate of the ruling Congress for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha election has not gone down well with a section of senior party MLAs. PM Dr Manmohan Singh is the party's first candidate for the RS poll that will be held for two seats.
Rahul Gandhi is marching with a positive thought, it is a positive yatra. There is no violence, no hatred. If you are not showing this yatra, you are not fulfilling your dut
Donald Trump's exaggerated opinion of his dealmaking capacity can get him into trouble, observes R Sriram.
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.
Scindia's departure from the Congress also raises question marks about delayed decision-making and status quo in the Congress.
There is no threat to the Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab and the party's victory prospects for the upcoming assembly elections, Rawat said.
Annoyed over Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's rejection of Pranab Mukherjee as one of the United Progressive Alliance's possible presidential candidates, the West Bengal Congress on Thursday said it would discuss pulling out of the TC-led government in the state.
Welcoming Shibu Soren's resignation, the Congress on Sunday night said the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief took the right decision by not seeking a floor test. "It is proper that Shibu Soren resigned after knowing he had no majority. It is always good to resign instead of going to the House without a majority," Leader of Opposition Rajendra Prasad Singh told PTI. "If our high command directs us to initiate government formation, we will go ahead, if not we won't," he said.
It appears that the party has some kind of political death wish, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Congress leaders from Telangana are up in arms against the party high command's choice of four representatives for Tuesday's talks with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram as three of them were from Andhra and Rayala Seema region and known antagonists of a separate state.
"Our target was the decimation of the Samajwadi Party and we have succeeded in it," Salman Khursheed said, congratulating Mayawati on her party's performance.
"We have built this party (Congress), we have built this house. I am a part of it...A mother will give everything to her child," he said.
The Congress and NCP are close to finalising a seat-sharing pact for next month's elections to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly with the two parties likely to contest 174 and 114 seats respectively.
Congress' good show was a "Janata Janardhana Victory", he said, crediting the people for the party's apparent return to power as it established a clear lead ahead of its rival BJP.
Kohli claimed support of local Congress leaders and said it was due to their motivation that he wanted to contest the assembly polls.
With the Congress top brass in New Delhi likely to take a final call on Friday on the vexed Telangana issue, the development has sparked a flurry of activities in the Andhra Pradesh capital.
Speculation about the missing Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu may have been removed and detained became rife after he was conspicuously absent at the meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) in Beijing on Friday.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday sacked Rajendra Gudha as minister of state, hours after he cornered the state government in the assembly.
Kharge accused PM Modi of inciting people over the issues "that the Congress will never do".
He said that to concentrate on the upcoming polls in Uttarakhand, it had been on his mind to seek to be relieved of the responsibility of the party's Punjab affairs in-charge.
'I was never why I was denied a ticket to contest the assembly elections.'
The high command's choice of Thennala Balakrishna Pillai and Vayalar Ravi for the election to the Rajya Sabha appears to have prompted the resignation.
Pilot's demand to order a probe and take action in the alleged mining scam during the previous BJP government and other corruption allegations was supported by state cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas.
'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'
Throwing a direct challenge at the Congress high command, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday said that he would ensure the defeat of the AP Reorganisation Bill 2013 when it comes up for passage in the state assembly.
About 20 Punjab Congress leaders met in Ludhiana on Tuesday, with some of them batting for a key role for Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former state party unit chief who was among the participants.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily will oversee the smooth transition of power in Andhra Pradesh.
Gadikota Srikanth Reddy, Congress MLA from Kadapa in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, says that it is a wrong image that is being portrayed in the media that the Congress in AP is against Jagan.
'They want to keep the BJP out, but how to make it happen is the issue that the Congress high command will resolve.'
In doing so, it further cemented the community's determination to support the opposition. But at the same time, it consolidated its Hindu vote bank like never before.
As per the latest trends, the BJP and Congress is neck-and-neck with 35 seats. The fledgling JJP, which fought its maiden assembly polls, is also ahead in 10 seats.
Rahul openly said he did not favour the 'high command' system in his party. Undoubtedly the Congress would have hounded any other partyman for such a brutally honest and politically-incorrect statement. But when Rahul Gandhi -- the rising force of Congress party -- speaks, you are forced to listen.
The Congress, however, said state chiefs are free to take their decisions within the party's norms and constitution.
Denying talks about power sharing and speculations that deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar will take over as CM after two-and-half years or after 2024 Lok Sabha polls, minister MB Patil on Monday evening said Siddaramaiah will remain the chief minister for a full five-year term.
Kodoth Govindan Nair has defied the Congress high command and filed his nomination.
He also said Shiv Sena, led by Shinde, and BJP will fight all elections together, which was discussed during their meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
'Its people are either victims of corruption or witnesses to it.'
Joining the BJP cannot have been an easy decision for former UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who grew up with secular values and appears to be a victim of the party's durbar politics. Amit Agnihotri reports.
