Priyanka Gandhi will decide her future role herself, the Congress said on Wednesday downplaying suggestions that she is set to play a larger role in the party ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
Her name figures among the 40 star campaigners that the Congress has finalised and forwarded to the Election Commission on Tuesday for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh polls.
Former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday appeared all set to become Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha after his appointment as Leader of Congress in the Upper House.
Tytler, who remains sidelined in the party, was seated along with other party leaders including Dikshit on the stage where the function took place at the Delhi Congress office.
Cracking the whip, the Congress on Tuesday expelled six Lok Sabha Members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh who had opposed the creation of Telangana and had given a notice of no-confidence motion against the government.
The Congress has decided to extend support to the Aam Aadmi Party government as it respects the popular verdict, but the party's role would be that of a constructive opposition, president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, Arvinder Singh, said on Sunday.
Rahul Gandhi is the future leader of the Congress but the question of their prime ministerial candidate will be decided at an appropriate time, party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said on Tuesday amid talk that the Congress vice president would be named as the face of their Lok Sabha poll campaign at the All India Congress Committee meeting next month.
Rahul Gandhi will be back in the proximate future and is deeply involved in decision making.
Declaration of Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate cannot be ruled out, Congress hinted on Monday in the backdrop of conflicting statements from party leaders including Digvijay Singh.
Patel's closeness to the Gandhi family was undeniable. But unlike others, he resisted the temptation to use it to leverage personal business, says Aditi Phadnis.
He has also convened the first meeting of the extended CWC on July 22 to chalk out the party's future strategy.
Gandhi came along with Mukherjee and while the former president left after sometime, the Congress chief offered to drop him back but Mukherjee politely refused.
Reflecting the unease in sections of the Congress over its support to the Aam Aadmi Party to form the government in Delhi, senior party leader Janardan Dwivedi on Tuesday said there was an opinion in the party that the decision to support the AAP was perhaps not correct and it should have instead raised people's issues as an opposition.
"I thank the high command for imposing their trust on me and assigning me this big responsibility," she said soon after the announcement.
Office space allotted to its functionaries at the Congress headquarters on 24 Akbar Road has, over the years, emerged as a reliable yardstick to measure a leader's standing in the party hierarchy, says Anita Katyal.
Under attack over Janardan Dwivedi's pitch against reservation on caste lines, the Congress and the government on Wednesday distanced themselves from the senior leader's remarks, saying it was his "personal" view and they support, adhere and subscribe to the existing policy.
Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi's remarks on ending caste-based reservations and seeking a quota based on economic criteria created a stir on Wednesday, with the Samajwadi Party stoutly opposing the proposal and the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiromani Akali Dam questioning its timing.
The issue of separate Telangana could cast a shadow over the All India Congress Committee meeting on Friday with Congress leaders from Seemandhra region on Thursday threatening to hold a dharna outside the venue over denial of entry to them.
The Congress on Wednesday made it clear that there is no going back on the issue of its support to the Aam Aadmi Party for government formation, saying it was giving its backing to the newbie's manifesto.
There was considerable disquiet in the Congress after Mukherjee accepted the invitation of the RSS to address its workers at its headquarters in Nagpur.
The Congress on Friday distanced itself from party leader Janardan Dwivedi's remarks that people in politics should not continue in active posts beyond 70 years of age even as another party leader Digvijaya Singh backed him.
Sanjay Singh, Sushil Gupta and Narain Dass Gupta were selected as AAP's Rajya Sabha nominees.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will campaign only in Raebareli and Amethi, Congress said on Monday putting at rest speculation about her larger role in electioneering across the country 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.
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.
The court has now posted the matter for further hearing on May 15.
If Priyanka Gandhi does take a plunge into electoral politics as demanded by the Congress rank and file, it will tantamount to an admission that Rahul Gandhi lacks the necessary qualities to take on Narendra Modi. On the other hand, the Congress also needs to change the political discourse in its favour, notes Anita Katyal.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is on his way out, according to Congress sources, and Union Minister Harish Rawat and state minister Pritam Singh are emerging as the frontrunners for the top job in the hill state.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Monday night admitted to AIIMS hospital after she was taken ill in the Lok Sabha where her pet welfare legislation and UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill was in the final stages of adoption.
Congress on Monday appointed five new PCC chiefs.
Shortly before going to the Raj Bhawan to submit his resignation to Governor Aziz Qureshi, the former high court judge-turned-politician said he was resigning on the directives of the party high command
Fadnavis, who on Tuesday favoured a dialogue on the issue in the wake of a tense showdown, did not make any comment on the set of demands before leaving the venue.
Shashi Tharoor has been removed as Congress spokesperson after the party high command received complaints that he had embarrassed the party with his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The session started on December 15 ended on January 5.
Apart from taking stock of the political situation in the country, the CWC discussed the upcoming presidential and vice presidential elections.
Taking strong exception to Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressing Rahul Gandhi as shehzada, the Congress on Saturday did some tough talking, threatening that its workers were capable of stopping such "undignified" language but were restrained due to their respect for laws and the Model Code.
When the United Progressive Alliance had completed four years of its second term in power, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had publicly said at a dinner hosted for coalition partners that her party stood by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: "We respect him and stand by him." That was in May 2013.
In remarks that could raise eyebrows within Congress, former Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Monday questioned the relevance of reservation in the 21st century.
Brushing aside speculation about a leadership change in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan virtually confirmed on Thursday that he is not going to be replaced.
'All the hoardings showed only Rahulji. No pictures of Indiraji and Rajivji. What is the Congress's worth without its history? It is unthinkable that none of our hoardings shows Indira and Rajiv. It was a total fiasco to see that many advertisements were in black and white. In such competitive politics, how can you experiment?' fumes a Congress leader.
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