Protestors demanding the demolition of an illegal structure in a mosque in Shimla's Sanjauli area were lathi-charged by security forces on Wednesday after they broke police barricades during a demonstration.
Phogat and Punia joined the party in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, spokesperson Pawan Khera and Haryana Congress chief Uday Bhan.
The Rajya Sabha chairman asked him to authenticate his assertions and refused to accept newspaper clippings that the Congress leader showed to buttress his points.
Parliament is set to witness heated debates on a range of issues like the NEET paper leak row, the Agnipath initiative and inflation when both houses reconvene on Monday.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised Rahul Gandhi as the leader of opposition on Wednesday, a day after the Congress communicated its decision to name him for the position to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The Election Commission Wednesday directed the leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain from making speeches on religious and communal lines, and opposition Congress from potentially divisive statements on the socioeconomic composition of the armed forces.
The turbulent relations between Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and INDIA bloc parties came to a head on Friday with sources saying that the opposition is considering submitting a notice for moving a resolution to remove the vice president from his office.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi state convener Gopal Rai on Thursday said his party's alliance with the Congress was only for the Lok Sabha elections and hinted that the ruling party in the city will go solo in next year's assembly polls in Delhi.
He said the Congress has already begun preparation for the Lok Sabha polls with the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' led by party leader Rahul Gandhi and his own visit to various places across the country.
The opposition parties on Sunday slammed the move to hire public servants through lateral entry, claiming it will snatch reservations from SCs, STs and OBCs, but the Bharatiya Janata Party hit back stating the National Democratic Alliance government was bringing transparency to this mode of recruitment started by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
He urged the Central government to take this matter seriously and come to their rescue immediately.
Gandhi alleged the increase in railway accidents in the last 10 years is a "direct result of the mismanagement and negligence of the Modi government, which has resulted in loss of lives and property of passengers on a daily basis".
'I give a lot of credit to Rahul Gandhi for standing up and fighting it for a long time and surviving, nobody else would have been able to survive'
A day after a Vokkaliga seer publicly urged Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to step down and make way for his deputy D K Shivakumar, a prominent seer from the dominant Veershaiva-Lingayat community on Friday urged that ministers from his community should be considered in case there is a change in CM post.
This will be the first time that the Congress, since its ouster from power in 2014, will get the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It failed to get the position in the past 10 years as its tally was below the requisite 10 per cent of total seats in the House, both in 2014 and 2019.
Alleging that the BJP would end democracy if it was not voted out, Kharge said it was because of this democracy that a tea-seller's son could become the prime minister of India and he, the son of a labourer, could become the president of the opposition Congress.
Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi.
'We cannot endanger our national security by indulging in false bravado, fake narratives and high-decibel whitewashing. As a nation, we have to collectively fight the scourge of cross-border terrorism'
'Don't be surprised if the Census forms come with a caste box.' 'I will be surprised if it doesn't. It will be a point conceded to Rahul Gandhi and his allies,' asserts Shekhar Gupta. The BJP machine could take all 3 in its stride, but this election has changed that, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Wednesday announced five guarantees for women, including annual direct cash transfers of Rs 1 lakh to one woman from each of the country's poorest families and 50 per cent quota in all new recruitments in central government jobs.
The Congress on Sunday called for fixing accountability over the death of three IAS aspirants due to waterlogging in a building in Delhi with Rahul Gandhi asserting that common people are paying the price for irresponsibility of institutions at every level.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that violence in Manipur is continuously declining and educational institutes along with businesses have opened in most parts of the state.
Reacting to the results, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that in the by-elections held on 13 seats in seven states, the people of the country have given their support to the INDIA bloc.
The idea that India is the world's largest democracy is a complete lie, Rahul Gandhi alleged.
The council of ministers discussed the showcause notice, and alleged that it was a "gross misuse of the constitutional office' of the governor and said that a concerted effort is being made to destabilise a lawfully elected majority government in Karnataka for political considerations.
In the event that like in the 17th Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi again gets locked out of the House, the Congress needs a second-in-command who will keep the momentum going inside Parliament, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Ganguly joined the BJP in New Delhi at the party headquarters in the presence of several other party leaders, including its national media department in-charge Anil Baluni.
Karra, who became the J&K Congress chief last Friday replacing Vikar Rasool Wani, said a call is already there for all secular parties who are opposed to the "hegemonic attitude" of the BJP to unite.
"We are going to have a meeting with our partners tomorrow. These questions will be raised and answered there," Gandhi told a press conference in New Delhi when asked if the Congress and its allies will approach parties that are part of the National Democratic Alliance to try and form a government.
Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Saturday accorded sanction for prosecution of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment 'scam', giving a major jolt to the nearly 15 month old Congress government.
Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, had joined the Congress on January 4 in Delhi in the presence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.
The former BRS MP who left the Congress and joined the saffron party in 2020 was not active in BJP's programmes in the recent times.
BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde sought to draw a parallel between Karnataka's handling of Neha Hiremath's killing to the way West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee allegedly shielded the Sandeshkhali case accused Shajahan Sheikh.
After joining the Congress, Rahul Kaswan said he felt his "voice was not being heard" in the party.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties, led by the Congress, staged a walkout from both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, in protest against all states except two being 'ignored' in the budget, an allegation termed 'outrageous' by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanm, who said all the states never found a mention in any of the previous budgets, including those presented by the Congress.
Why is the saffron party welcoming corrupt people to their fold, the veteran leader asked.
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