This is to enable Congress president to revamp the party in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
They had filed nominations against official candidates for the upcoming assembly polls.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu on Monday began an indefinite fast in New Delhi to protest against the split of Andhra Pradesh, accusing the Congress of playing politics in view of the Lok Sabha polls, but remained ambivalent on Telangana.
BJP gives only 7 per cent instead of promised 33 per cent representation to women in its national executive
As the Congress prepares to replace Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Union Cabinet will study the home ministry's note on creating Telangana, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
'We can deal with defeat but what is upsetting is that there seems to be no roadmap for the future.' 'What one can say when the high command itself is not appearing to be concerned.' Congress leaders complaining about the lack of vision and the path ahead can heave a sigh of relief after sources said that party president Sonia Gandhi has planned a special brainstorming session next month in order to galvanise the beleaguered party and help reposition it. Anita Katyal in New Delhi reports.
While bifurcation is a painful issue for many, one must understand it is the way forward, Union Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
Sonia will nominate at least two Congress Working Committee members each for the nine states going to the polls next year to assist the AICC general secretaries in charge of the respective state, party sources said.
"The ruling establishment seems to have lost all sense of balance, and of proportion. It appears determined to undermine all democratic norms. It seems hell-bent to destroy the spirit of inquiry, the spirit of questioning, the spirit of debate and dissent, said the Congress president.
The demand for turning Hyderabad into a UnionTerritory on the lines of Chandigarh and make it the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana may be considered by the government.
Ahead of the crucial All India Congress Committee session on Friday, Union Minister Oscar Fernandes on Thursday said Rahul Gandhi is Congress candidate for Prime Ministership even as suspense remains on whether the party will formally anoint him as PM nominee for the Lok Sabha polls.
Reflecting the unease in party over praise of Aam Aadmi Party by its leaders, a Congress leader on Friday likened it to early days of Lalu Prasad's rule in Bihar in the nineties while another slammed Union minister Jairam Ramesh for praising Arvind Kejriwal's party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn't hold back on Wednesday when he launched a scathing attack on the Gandhi family and the Congress in Parliament during a debate on the motion of thanks for the president's address.
Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar passed away in New Delhi on Wednesday. He was 92.
Political scientist Vinay Sitapati explores the role played by the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in steering the reforms through in his new book Half Lion.
Former Congress Working Committee member Jagmit Singh Brar created a flutter with his remarks that there was "no harm" if Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi take a two-year break in the wake of Lok Sabha poll debacle.
The Congress has "consensus" over the leadership of Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate, a party spokesperson said on Monday amid speculation that he may be anointed as the party nominee at the All India Congress Committee meeting being held in New Delhi on January 17.
Is the proposal by the GoM to form a new state -- Rayala Telangana -- with two more districts a political strategy? Vicky Nanjappa finds out
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday gave seven more days to the Andhra Pradesh assembly till January 30 to discuss and debate the draft Telangana Bill in the House before returning it to the Centre.
'It is palpably prejudiced and totally at variance with public and historical opinion.' 'As a result, he cannot be taken seriously in other matters as well because of his penchant for playing safe,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Taking an apparent dig at Modi, Gandhi satirised a song, saying "Aapka toh lagta hai bas yahi sapna, ram ram japna garibo kaa maal apna (It seems your only dream is to take away money from poor while chanting the name of Ram)".
Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday voiced his opposition to any proposal making Hyderabad a permanent joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh or a Union Territory.
Veering towards conceding the demand for a separate Telangana, the Congress has convened a meeting of its working committee, the party's highest policy-making body, on Tuesday after deliberations on the issue in the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee.
Rahul Gandhi's surprise sabbatical has exposed faultlines in the Congress.
An inchoate anger is brewing within the party against the central leadership after the poor show in the assembly polls.
He is starting to realise that an era is ending. And he is not ready to have a five-decade career besmirched by two alphabets -- AP -- that have cropped up in the AgustaWestland papers, says Aditi Phadnis.
Buoyed by government retreating on the land ordinance, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has been "reduced to unedifying flip flops" and most of his poll promises were nothing more than "hawabaazi" (empty talk).
A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
Hitting back over Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramaniam Swamy's allegation questioning his nationality, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "throwing mud" on him through his "cronies" and dared the government to "jail" him if he is guilty.
In true Congress style, the party has once again delayed a decision on the Telanagana statehood issue by referring the matter to its Working Committee.
The Congress has almost decided to accept the demand for a separate state of Telangana but is still to work out the nitty-gritty of Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation.
A rare meeting of the Congress Working Committee was held at 24 Akbar Road but after several hours of deliberations, Congress President Sonia Gandhi failed to put forward a road map for the party's revival or how to broaden the party's shrinking voter base. Instead, Gandhi focused much of her opening remarks on laying out a critique of the Narendra Modi government.
With no respite in sight, the All India Congress Committee is planning on calling a meeting of all leaders from Andhra Pradesh to discuss the proposal to set up a Rayal-Telangana state.
The Group of Ministers on Telangana will meet in the first week of February to decide on the Centre's next course of action after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought extension of the deadline for discussing and returning the statehood Bill.
Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi's decision to use the same team he used in the Lok Sabha polls for the upcoming assembly elections has not gone down well with many in the party. Rediff.com contributor Renu Mittal reports
'Muslims are depressed and disillusioned.' 'The safety valve is that we still have a multicultural mosaic in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.'