How did Arvind Kejriwal, a one-time votary of secularism, turn into a bargain-basement version of Narendra Modi, wonders Vir Sanghvi.
Offering to trade second preference votes with the Congress, Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said his main agenda is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the contest for fourth seat, during the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.
In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said divisive ideologies anchored in hate and prejudice were making every effort to weaken the strong foundation of India.
'Putra-moh Congress ko nasht kar raha hai (Sonia Gandhi's love for Rahul Gandhi is destroying the Congress).'
The Congress has decided to shift its MLAs in Rajasthan to a Udaipur hotel, with party sources saying they fear that the Bharatiya Janata Party will poach them ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
Out of 224 seats in the state, the Congress is projected to take 114 seats, a "slender but clear majority", gaining 49 seats over the 2004 assembly elections, the poll says. The poll predicts a major setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is hoping to capture power in the state, as it projects the party winning only 60 seats, a decline of 19 seats for it from last time around.
The Congress president also announced that a compact task force will be set up to drive the process of internal reforms that are essential.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the assembly polls next year, asserted that the Trinamool Congress' entry into Goa "appears to be an imposition from the top that is based in West Bengal" and said he does not know the Mamata Banerjee-led party's motive in trying to start a unit in Goa by "encouraging defections" from other parties.
Of the 612 trains affected, 602 trains were cancelled, including 223 mail and express trains and 379 passengers trains, the Railways said in a statement.
Gandhi is out to "connect" Bharat but he needs to study Indian history first, Shah said.
Rebel Congress leader and former Lok Sabha member from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday declared that the Andhra Pradesh government's days were numbered. Jagan's 48-hour hunger strike in Vijaywada for the calamity-stricken has received support from over a lakh people and 20 Congress legislators. He told his supporters that they should be ready for a longer battle to ensure justice to the farmers, weavers and other weaker sections of the state.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Monday named senior leader Mahua Maji as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand.
'Why should Khargeji work against the Gandhis for the sake of proving his independence?'
State Congress chief Girish Chodankar told reporters that AAP leaders were 'already in talks with Congress leaders'.
Gehlot exuded confidence that all the three candidates of the Congerss will comfortably win.
AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said eight former MLAs joined the party in Haryana two days ago, and lamented that such fresh developments were not getting prominence.
Those in the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress who can't see the full picture that is emerging expect the sky to fall on their head any moment now.
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.
'The biggest problem that faces the Opposition in Gujarat is just a day or two before voting is scheduled, Modiji goes on a spree of emotional appeals.' 'That process has been set in motion much earlier this time in Gujarat.'
During an interactive session at the 'Ideas for India' conference in London on Friday, Gandhi not only mounted a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party government but also extended an olive branch to regional parties who he had angered with his comment that they were not capable of taking on the saffron party for want of ideology.
'It was disappointing on two counts. One is on the leadership issue and second is how the Congress must win elections.'
Before the launch of the 'Bharat jodo yatra, former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Wednesday take part in a prayer meeting at former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's memorial in Sriperumbudur.
A day after he cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, Bishnoi also said that he listened to his soul and acted on his conscience.
Notably, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu had urged Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the state to announce the chief ministerial face for the polls, following which Gandhi had said that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party workers.
The party, the sources said, has also approved 50 per cent representation to SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities at all levels of the organisation, as part of its social engineering efforts to win the confidence of the weaker and oppressed sections of society.
With just over a month to go for assembly elections in Goa, political observers feel the Congress may upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's plans for retaining power in the coastal state, but appear less enthused about the Trinamool Congress, whose entry has added colour to the poll campaign.
'This kind of poisonous and anti-national activities happening in the country and the economic failure of the Modi government may boomerang in the form of a Congress revival.'
Yuri Alemao, Altone D'costa and advocate Carlos Alvares Ferreira, the three Congress MLAs who didn't join the eight of their former party men in jumping ship speak up about their decisions and their motivations to stay with the 137-year-old Congress.
'The Bharat Jodo Yatra has done very well in the south, and if they are able to pull voters in the south and rely on their allies in the north like in Bihar, UP and do well in Rajasthan, then there are chances that there might be a formidable opposition or at least a force to fight the BJP.'
Gandhi also highlighted the issues facing farmers and said the Congress stands with farmers' demand.
Ahead of the launch of its 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' on Wednesday, the Congress said it is a turning point in Indian politics and marks a 'new beginning'.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday took a jibe at the Congress, saying its total seats in all the four states is less than what his party has won in one state.
Cong's LS whip asks: "Why he is speaking language of RSS/BJP'
The Congress is trying to devise a political strategy to capitalise on the ongoing agitation in Andhra Pradesh, for a separate Telengana state, and defuse the pressure on the state government regarding the issue.Congress president Sonia Gandhi reportedly spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the revival of the Committee on Telengana, which was constituted during the United Progressive Alliance's first term but was subsequently abandoned.
Congress Working Committee called the recent assembly election results of five states a "cause of serious concern" for the party.
According to sources, the Goa Congress unit has not held a single meeting after it failed to reach the majority mark of 21 in the 40-member assembly.
Speaking at the concluding day of the three-day brainstorming session, Chintan Shivir, in Udaipur, Sonia Gandhi said, "We will launch a national Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra beginning on Gandhi Jayanti this year. All of us will participate in it."
'In Punjab, disappointment among the people about the AAP government has already set in.'
While Tharoor declined to comment on whether he would throw his hat into the ring, he has written an article for the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi calling for a 'free and fair' election.
In the continuing war of words between Congress and Trinamool Congress, the two ruling allies in West Bengal, Union Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday defended his comment that Congress had not taken a VRS from the state and said it would continue to speak its mind on the state's affairs.
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