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.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was at Palghar in Maharashtra on Wednesday to launch the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram as part of the National Rural Health Mission scheme, got a flowery surprise.
Amid reports that decision on the contentious Telangana issue will be taken this month, Congress on Monday said it was not against creation of smaller states including Telangana, but admitted it was a difficult matter to resolve and time consuming too.
Modi did not have the guts to face the students of the country and so he crushed them using the police, he alleged. "I challenge the prime minister to go to any of the universities, stand over there without his police, without his infrastructure and tell the people what is he going to do with this country," the Congress leader said.
The winter session of Parliament normally starts from last week of November or first week of December.
Jha will contest against National democratic Alliance's nominee Harivansh of the Janata Dal-United.
Tharoor, among the group of 23 leaders who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large-scale reforms, said 'reformists' at the end of the day wanted a more consultative process where a wide variety of voices would be heard and taken into account before decisions were made.
Ruling out any differences between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said Sharad Pawar is the biggest "supporter and well-wisher" of the United Progressive Alliance government. "There are no differences with Sharad Pawar. He is the biggest supporter and well-wisher of the UPA," Azad told reporters.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, Rahul Gandhi hasn't said a word of this nature nor alluded to it.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said the elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has "strengthened" the Congress while dealing a set back to the Bharatiya Janata Party as its allies were running away.
The issue of Telangana assumes importance as Andhra Pradesh is the only major state where the party is in power on its own. A spectacular victory in Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and 2009 has helped Congress to come to power at the Centre in 2004 and 2009.
Congress party circles are talking about a major Cabinet reshuffle on September 18. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Public Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad and Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik are said to be tipped for party organisational work, while party spokesman Janardan Dwivedi and his junior Manish Tiwari are likely to be included in the Union Cabinet.
The decision on Telangana will be taken only after more consultations with senior leaders, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in New Delhi on Sunday evening. He said leaders from both Rayalseema-Andhra and Telangana will be invited to Delhi for talks before a final decision is taken.
Hyderabad remained tense on Sunday in anticipation of an announcement by the Centre on the creation of a separate state of Telangana by Sunday evening. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is expected to meet party chief Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders before making a final announcement on Telangana by Sunday evening.
In a telephonic message to reporters late Wednesday night, Rao, popularly known as KCR, recalled that they had termed the all-party meeting convened by the union home minister on December 28 as a "futile exercise".
As part of efforts to improve falling sex ratio, 436 cases have been registered for violation of anti-sex selection laws in the last two years against 789 cases in past over 14 years, indicating better monitoring and effective enforcement by authorities.
With the crisis continuing over the issue of chief ministership in Uttarakhand, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today held deliberations with newly sworn-in chief minister Vijay Bahuguna and senior party leaders to resolve the matter.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called off her Maharashtra visit on Sunday because of health reasons, party sources said.
High drama played out at the nearly seven-hour Congress Working Committee meeting with sources saying that Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the letter writers and some leaders found it to be insinuating that it was written in cahoots with the BJP.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday met the family of the five-year-old rape victim at All India Institute of Medical Sciences and enquired about her health.
Union Ministers Dr Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh and G K Vasan have complained to Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth about the rude behaviour of the Special Protection Group personnel at 7 Race Course Road.
The Thursday's meeting will be the first between the Centre and mainstream Jammu and Kashmir politicians after the abrogation of Article 370 and the divisions of the erstwhile state into two union territories in 2019.
Taking a strong exception to National Conference leader Mustafa Kamal's remark on Indo-Pak talks, Union minister Gulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday night asked the party to clear its stand on the issue.
The decision of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen to withdraw support from the Andhra Pradesh government has spurred hectic behind the scene activity in the ruling Congress party.
As the month-long fasting observed by the people of the Muslim community during Ramzan came to an end on Modnay, devotees across the country offered namaz on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr in large numbers on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council will be taken only after a discussion with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi.
What the leaders said after the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi meeting their party's stalwart of many decades -- President Pranab Mukherjee -- is not unusual, but the timing of their visits is, notes Sheela Bhatt
Debunking the claim of Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K Chandrasekhar Rao that decision on the creation of Telangana state would be announced by the Centre by Dussehra, Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said a decision will be taken only after arriving at a 'consensus'.
Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
Participating in the discussion on the Motion on Thanks to President's Address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress member Ghulam Nabi Azad suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself should make the announcement on repeal of the laws. Modi was present in the House at the time.
The Telangana Joint Action Committee which was to complete their protest march at 7 pm on Sunday decided to stay put on Necklace Road in Hyderabad until there was a decision on separate statehood.
Several Congress ministers have reportedly said that they want to be relieved of their ministerial berths. These include Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Raut said during their meeting, Rahul told him the system of creating and building leaders has stopped in the Congress.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says that the government has sought cooperation from the private hospitals to deal with swine flu.
As Azad ended his decades-old association with the party, leaders across political spectrum praised his contribution to Jammu and Kashmir, with the BJP hailing him as a "towering leader".
The idea of the garden, spread over 30 hectares in the foothills of snow-clad Zabarwan range, was conceived to advance the tourism season in the valley by two months.
The opposition was demanding a discussion on the issue on Wednesday itself. The House witnessed three brief adjournments as the government and opposition parties were trying to reach an agreement on holding the discussion on the Delhi violence as well as the debate on two ordinances which are set to lapse.
For more than a decade, Indian bureaucracy has continued to inhibit efforts by Indian American physicians to help the ailing health care there. This was the message conveyed by Dr Navin Shah, former president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during an hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the United States-India Strategic Dialogue held in Washington, DC in June.
