Mayawati and Akhilesh, who contested the recent UP bypolls together, will campaign separately for their parties.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt analysis what Rahul Gandhi's elevation to number 2 position means to a struggling Congress party and a government facing a credibility crisis.
"The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale," he said.
Rahul Gandhi was on Saturday formally elevated to the number two position in the Congress party after being appointed its Vice President, but his role in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls would be decided later.
Rahul says the BJP lies for political benefits.
Tuesday's Congress Working Committee meeting put a lid on the issue of whether the party was putting its full force behind the government's current economic decisions, which have attracted widespread protests.
The BJP on Saturday said the elevation of Rahul Gandhi to the number two position in Congress poses no challenges to it.
The Congress Working Committee anointed Rahul Gandhi as party vice-president at the party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur on Saturday. He is now the official number two in the Congress, paving the way for his projection as the party's prime ministerial candidate in the run up to the 2014 general elections.
A sulking former external affairs minister S M Krishna, who was recently made a permanent invitee of the Congress working committee, will skip the party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur this week.
After holding meetings with senior leaders of the Congress on Monday morning, party president Sonia Gandhi has decided to convene a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on Tuesday at 9 am to discuss the difficulties before the United Progressive Alliance government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Amongst those who met Gandhi on Monday was Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
At a time when the party and the government are facing tough challenges at political and economic fronts, the Congress' day-long 'dialogue session' on Friday is likely to brainstorm on the strategy ahead and take a view on the issue of alliances in different states.
All eyes are on the parties to see which of them can stake claim to power.
Slogans of 'Rahul ji, we are with you' and 'Please do not resign' rang through the air.
With the Lok Sabha elections schedule set to be announced soon, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be holding consultations with senior party leaders on Friday at an informal meeting of the Congress Working Committee. Renu Mittal reports
Addressing media persons following the CWC meeting, party leader Janardhan Dwivedi said that the party meeting concluded that the role of the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had been negative on reforms.
The Congress Working Committee on Monday authorised party President Sonia Gandhi to decide on the candidates for the coming Presidential and Vice Presidential elections.
With an attempt to chalk out a strategy for the next Lok Sabha polls, the Congress top brass on Friday huddled in Surajkund, Haryana, to deliberate on political and economic issues. The meet, attended by top central ministers and Congress Working Committee members, will also see the party reviewing the extent of implementation of the promises made in its manifesto for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Chidambaram caught napping. The tug of war for Pranab's seat in Lok Sabha. Kapil Sibal is very afraid these days. All this, and more, in this edition of Dilli Gupshup
Recalling his long association with the CWC, the highest decision making body of the party, Mukherjee thanked the party for all the cooperation and for nominating him for the president's post, sources said.
Pranab Mukherjee, the United Progressive Alliance's presidential candidate, has friends across the political spectrum, in the Left as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party, says Aditi Phadnis
PM blames 'circumstances beyond control'; FM says urged states to consider 25% cut in petrol taxes
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday rejected the charges of Team Anna that the government had "swindled unbelievable amounts" of money and hit out at yoga guru Ramdev for claiming that "astronomical" sums of black money can be brought back from other countries in one stroke.
Congress chief spokesman and general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Tuesday scoffed at media reports that the Congress Working Committee meeting called on June 4 will decide the party's presidential candidate.
"I will miss his tantrums" is what Congress president Sonia Gandhi said while bidding farewell to Pranab Mukherjee from the Congress Working Committee at a meeting which formally approved his name as the United Progressive Alliance's presidential nominee in June 2012.
The Congress on Monday bid a warm farewell to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, poised to become the country's President, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the veteran leader will be missed.
Senior leaders are of the impression that Rahul's stock is down in the Congress party with very few willing to root strongly for him. He did not speak at the meeting as AICC general secretaries did not speak during the meeting.
After a long gap, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on 4th June to discuss the 'current political and economic situation in the country'.
Even as the Congress Working Committee met on Monday morning to salute its seniormost member Pranab Mukherjee (who became a CWC member in 1978) and put on record its appreciation of his services both in the party and the government, the union finance minister spent his day tying up loose ends and saying his goodbyes.
A special meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the party's top decision making body, has been convened on Monday when it is expected to pass a resolution acknowledging Mukherjee's four decades of service to the party.
In the run-up to Budget, Congress leaders have urged Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take steps to appease the 'common man' - to raise the income tax exemption limit, reduce interest rates and provide greater Budgetary allocations for poverty alleviation programmes.
A combative Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday made a scathing attack on the opposition and civil society for levelling "baseless" allegations against the prime minister and the party, saying it was part of a conspiracy and told partymen to fight back.
This will be the first meeting of the CWC after the party's debacle in assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa, which could lead to a churning in the party
Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi on Thursday night resigned from his post in protest against the Union Cabinet's approval of the formation of separate Telangana, his aide said.
Former Union Minister Rasheed Masood was on Monday made special invitee to the Congress Working Committee with immediate effect. The announcement was made by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi.
He said the states needed to also do their bit on reduction of petrol price.
If the Congress manages to upset its dominant rival, the BJP, in these assembly polls, then it will be a big boost to the opposition for the Lok Sabha polls, while a good show by the BJP will energise its cadres and give a fillip to its hopes of retaining the power at the Centre in 2019.
In a major set back to those opposing the state's bifurcation, the Andhra Pradesh high court has struck down a petition questioning the creation of Telangana.
Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family.
Come Saturday and there may be a battle on the streets of Hyderabad between the people of Rayalseema and Telangana.
Modi and Shah's next focus will be South India, and the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections. Shah is unlikely to abdicate control over the party even after he joins the government. Modi and Shah both know only too well that the party makes the government, and not the other way round.
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