K C Venugopal

The Congress on Monday rejected the directions of the Department of Telecommunications on pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app in new mobile handsets as unconstitutional, and demanded its immediate rollback. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said that the right to privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty. Big Brother cannot watch us. This DoT direction is beyond unconstitutional. The Right to Privacy is an intrinsic part of the fundamental right to life and liberty, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. A pre-loaded government app that cannot be uninstalled is a dystopian tool to monitor every Indian. It is a means to watch over every movement, interaction and decision of each citizen, Venugopal said in a post on X. The move, he alleged, is part of the long series of "relentless assaults" on the Constitutional rights of Indian citizens, which will not be allowed to continue. We reject this direction and demand its immediate ...

Congress MPs Manickam Tagore and Vijay Kumar Vasanth on Monday moved an adjournment motion in Parliament, seeking an urgent debate on the SIR exercise

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Saturday called Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the "Trojan horse" of the central government. Venugopal was hitting back at the ruling CPI(M) in the state a day after state Minister V Sivankutty had called the Congress leader and Alappuzha MP a "Trojan horse" deployed by the BJP to destroy the grand old party. "Pinarayi Vijayan is the Centre's 'Trojan horse' in Kerala. Every child in the state knows that," the Alappuzha MP claimed while speaking to reporters here. The Congress general secretary said that the current government in Kerala was working hard for the last few years to implement whatever Prime Minister Narendra Modi was thinking of. "That is what we saw in the case of the PM SHRI scheme and the new labour codes. Even before the Centre implemented the labour codes, the government here had formulated draft regulations in connection with it," he said and questioned the intention behind it. "The CPI(M) has to clarify that

The Congress on Friday announced that it will hold a rally on December 14 at Ramlila Maidan here, against the alleged "vote chori". It alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is now a "blatantly partisan player" that is "completely destroying" the very concept of a level-playing field for all political parties during elections. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said the spectre of "vote chori" is the biggest danger looming over our democracy today. "To send a message across the nation against these attempts to destroy our Constitution, the Congress will hold the 'Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod' Maha Rally on December 14 (1.30 pm onwards) at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi," he said on X. "We have received crores of signatures from every corner of India, rejecting the BJP-ECI's nefarious tactics like adding bogus voters, deleting opposition-inclined voters, and manipulating voter rolls at a mass scale," Venugopal said. Every Indian has seen how the ECI bends rule

Venugopal said that another aircraft was on the same runway where his Air India flight was attempting to land

Congress MP KC Venugopal was among the passengers on the flight, he described the experience as 'frighteningly close to tragedy'

Opposition MPs, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday staged a protest in Parliament House complex against the Election Commission's voter roll revision in Bihar. The opposition MPs gathered on the steps of Makar Dwar of Parliament and raised slogans against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging that it amounts to stealing elections. They also held placards like 'SIR: Stealing Indian Rights' and 'SIR: Subverting Indian Republic'. MPs of several parties, including the Congress, SP, RJD, TMC, DMK, JMM, among others participated in the protest. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also took part in the protest. Earlier, a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders was held in the presence of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. During the meeting, the opposition decided to press for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in the Hou

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal on Wednesday clarified that his remarks about welfare pension disbursement by the Kerala government were aimed at showing how much delayed it was and that arrears were partially cleared usually close to elections. Venugopal, the MP from Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency, said his remarks were "deliberately misinterpreted" by the CPI(M) to "mislead" the people. "I did not say anything against the beneficiaries who deserve to get the pension on time. I only intended to point out the state government's priority with regard to its payment. "Last year, two out of seven months arrears were paid just before the Lok Sabha polls. This year, one month's arrears is being paid just before the by-poll," he told reporters. He alleged that while the government has enough funds to take care of "PR work" for itself and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, it is unable to pay pension arrears on time or increase the honorarium of Accredited Social Health Activist .

The Congress on Monday urged the Centre to clarify whether it is open to third-party mediation on the Kashmir issue, warning that such as stance could potentially violate the Simla Agreement. The grand old party pointed to US President Donald Trump's daily statements, claiming that he was intervening in the matter, and said a clarification from the union government on the matter was inevitable. While addressing a party programme here, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said the party wants to know whether there has been a shift in the country's foreign policy, and therefore the matter has to be taken up in the Parliament at the earliest. Questions are now being raised if the Simla Agreement has been violated. "Was the Simla Agreement, which rejects any third-party involvement in the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, violated? Trump has been making statements daily, claiming that he has intervened in the matter. We need the government's clarification," Venugopal said. "Th

The Congress has issued a directive to its leaders, urging them to align all public communication with CWC's resolution, which condemned the Pahalgam attack and called for unity and enhanced security

Soon after the Centre notified the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner on Monday, the Congress said the hastily-taken decision shows that the government is keen on circumventing the Supreme Court's scrutiny and getting the appointment done before a clear order kicks in. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said in a hasty midnight move, the government has notified the appointment of the new CEC. "This goes against the spirit of our Constitution, and what has been reiterated by the Supreme Court in many cases -- for the electoral process to have sanctity, the CEC must be an impartial stakeholder," Venugopal said in a post on X. The amended law dealing with the appointment of election commissioners has removed the chief justice of India (CJI) from the CEC selection panel and the government ought to have waited until the apex court's hearing in the matter on Wednesday (February 19) before selecting the officer, he said. "Their decision to hastily hold t

In his X post, he said Sitharaman's reply was more about political point-scoring than addressing the concerns raised by the opposition

Delhi Police on Thursday registered an FIR against Rahul Gandhi, who is also Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, in connection with a scuffle in Parliament

Opposition MPs including Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Sanjay Singh among others had earlier held a protest by carrying Dr BR Ambedkar's photo in their hands

Earlier today, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also moved an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the stopping of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi

Sixty lakh new job cards are issued under the MGNREGS on average every year and the government has no role in the deletion of the job cards which is done based on various parameters, the Centre said on Tuesday. Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told the Lok Sabha that 57 per cent of the rural development budget is allocated for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and asserted that Aadhaar-seeding of the cards enhances transparency. He was responding to Congress leader K C Venugopal, who claimed that the names of 10.43 crore MGNREGS workers have been deleted in the last four years. Venugopal also wanted to know whether the deletions were linked to the Aadhaar-seeding requirement. "Ninety-nine per cent of all job card holders have Aadhaar seeding. Aadhaar seeding is nothing but to increase transparency. It is not an obstacle," the minister said during the Question Hour. According to Pemmasani, the deletion of job car

Opposition members were keen to raise the issue in the House and have targeted Yogi Adityanath government over the violence

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Sunday said Manipur is burning but it is painful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not even visited the state and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is not taking any action to resolve the issue. Manipur has been on the boil since May last year due to ethnic strife between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups, leaving more than 200 dead and largescale arson damaging property worth several crore rupees. In an interview with PTI Videos, Venugopal said, "What is happening in Manipur? (Union) Home Minister is busy campaigning (for elections), our PM is abroad and one state of ours is burning." "The situation of Manipur is painful for every Indian. The PM has not even visited the state, (Union) Home Minister is not taking any action. Rahul Gandhi is talking about the real issues of this country," he added. Speaking about BJP slogans like 'batenge toh katenge' (divided we perish), Venugopal said his party did not .

Earlier on November 1, the Congress submitted a 'counter response' to the ECI, describing its initial reply as 'generic' and focused on dismissing the complaints and their petitioners

Venugopal referred to PM Modi as the uncrowned champion of puffery, misdirection, and unfulfilled promises