Page 178 - Congress

11 Himachal MLAs move to U'khand, Union minister says Sukhu govt will fall

Six Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs who voted against party nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha elections, along with three Independent lawmakers, have shifted to a hotel in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand amid an ongoing rebellion against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Two BJP MLAs Vikram Thakur and Trilok Jamwal from Himachal Pradesh were accompanying the legislators, who arrived in Rishikesh from Haryana's Panchkula by a chartered flight late on Friday and checked into Hotel Taj. Congress MLAs Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhuttu, Ravindra Thakur and Chaitanya Sharma have since been disqualified for defying the party whip on the state budget. They have approached the Supreme Court for relief in the matter. Three Independent MLAs Hoshiar Singh, KL Thakur and Ashish Sharma were also with them when they arrived. The Congress currently has 34 MLAs in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly while the BJP has 25. The three Independent MLAs had als

Cost of apprenticeship right works out to be Rs 20K cr: Praveen Chakravarty

The current law, the Apprentices Act of 1961, mandates organisations of a certain size to take apprentices in the range of 2.5-15 per cent of their workforce, said Chakravarty

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: No startups in the country, claims Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi claimed the Centre had waived off loans to the tune of Rs 16 lakh crore of big corporates but was unwilling to provide the same relief to farmers, students and labourers

Rahul fielded from Wayanad as Cong announces first list of 39 candidates

Venugopal said the Congress was trying to resolve its differences with its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies, including the Trinamool Congress, in West Bengal

Cong releases first list of 39 candidates, Rahul to contest from Wayanad

Venugopal said the list has 15 general category candidates while 24 are from the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities

Congress first list of candidates out

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha polls from Kerala's Wayanad again, the party announced on Friday as it released its first list of 39 candidates. Watch the video to know more.

LS polls highlights: Cong releases 1st list, Rahul to contest from Wayanad

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Income tax tribunal dismisses Congress appeal against Rs 210 cr penalty

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal on Friday dismissed the Congress party's appeal against imposition of penalty for discrepancies in tax returns for previous years and said it was exploring all legal options and will move the high court against it very soon. Sources said the tribunal had dismissed the appeal of the Congress for imposition of penalties of Rs 210 crore by the Income Tax department here on Friday. Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said the party is exploring all legal options and would move the high court "very soon". "The BJP government has deliberately chosen the timing of this to coincide with national elections," Maken told PTI. He said the I-T tribunal order freezing Congress's funds is "an attack on democracy" as it has come just ahead of national elections. "How can one expect fair elections in such a situation when funds to the tune of Rs 270 crore have been freezed or taken away by the Income Tax authorities from Congress party's accounts," he asked. Confirming

PM Modi pledges $15 bn spending splurge as Lok Sabha elections near

Modi's spending projects come days before the election announcement, after which he will not be not be allowed to try to pull in voters with big schemes

Congress' second CEC meet on March 11 to discuss candidates for LS polls

On the Congress CEC meetings, the party's General Secretary (Communications), Jairam Ramesh said, "CEC will discuss all seats. Final decisions will be taken wherever possible

Congress in Kerala in quandary as stalwart Karunakaran's daughter joins BJP

The decision of Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of former Kerala chief minister and Congress stalwart late K Karunakaran, to join the BJP has left the grand old party in a quandary in Kerala before the Lok Sabha polls. Padmaja officially joined the BJP at a function held at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. The saffron party has suggested that it marks the decline of the grand old party. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief K Sudhakaran termed Padmaja's decision as "cheating and betraying" the party and a "breach of confidence". He added that there were no reasons for Padmaja to leave the party and it was a "wrong and unfortunate decision". The KPCC chief said that he himself had taken many decisions to protect her interests, but she disregarded all that to leave the party and join the BJP. "Nevertheless, as she is the daughter of the late K Karunakaran, we still have love and respect for her," he said. Emotionally reacting to the development, K Muraleedhara

Highlights of the day: Sweden joins Nato, completes its accession process

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LS polls highlights: Cong's poll body meets to finalise candidates

Lok Sabha elections 2024 latest news updates: Catch all the latest updates from around the world here

Lok Sabha polls: Congress unveils 5 guarantees to woo youth in poll promise

A Congress government will guarantee a "bharti bharosa" to the youth, where the Centre will take steps to fill three million vacant government jobs

Cong's poll body meets to finalise 1st list of candidates for LS elections

The top leadership of the Congress is attending a meeting in the national capital on Thursday to finalise the party's candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi and general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal, as well as other senior leaders who are part of the Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) were present at the meeting. Finalising candidates for Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Manipur, among others, is expected to be discussed during the meeting. The Congress has not declared any candidate so far. Last week, the BJP came out with its first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Congress sources said the party is likely to declare its first list of candidates soon to enable the candidates to start their poll campaign. Speculation is rife over Rahul Gandhi's candidature from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's from Rae

LS polls: Cong to hold discussion on candidates for 10 States in CEC meet

According to sources, the states of Chattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Manipur will be put for discussion

Nation seeks, Modi hides, says Congress over electoral bonds issue

The Congress hit out at the Centre on Thursday over the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking more time from the Supreme Court to disclose details of electoral bonds and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "absolutely terrified" of revealing his corporate donors to people. The SBI moved the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking an extension till June 30 to disclose the details of each electoral bond encashed by political parties. In its verdict last month, the top court directed the bank to furnish the details to the Election Commission (EC) by March 6. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh hit out at the government, saying, "Hide and seek in New India: Nation seeks, Modi hides!" "The Pradhan Mantri Chanda Chipao Yojana, implemented by the SBI, is built on lies," he said on X. The Supreme Court had asked the SBI to provide the details of the electoral bond donors and recipients within three weeks, the former Union minister noted. The SBI has asked the

LS polls: Kharge's son-in-law emerges as front-runner for Gulbarga seat

M Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani has emerged as the front-runner for Congress ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the home turf of the party's President. The 81-year-old Kharge had won from Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) Lok Sabha segment twice but lost the 2019 polls. "The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha's hands are full. In addition to managing party affairs at the national level, he has to coordinate with INDIA bloc partners", a senior party leader said. "Also, he has four more years of his term left in Rajya Sabha", he said, seeking to confirm reports that Kharge is not in favour of contesting from Kalaburagi. His son, Priyank Kharge, who represents Chittapur assembly constituency in Gulbarga segment and is a Minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet in Karnataka, is also not interested to throw his hat in the ring. "Doddamani, a businessman who also manages educational institutions, seems to be the front runner", a party leader said.. Party .

LS polls: Two sides of same coin, says Congress on possible BJP-BJD tie-up

The Congress on Thursday said it has always been stating that the BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin and whatever opposition the two show to each other in Odisha is merely "shadow boxing". The Congress' assertion comes amid buzz over a tie-up between the BJP and the BJD for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "We've always been saying that the BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. The BJD has always supported the BJP in Parliament and whatever opposition the two show to each other in the state is merely shadow boxing." "The cat appears to be emerging out of the bag!" he said. Although there was no formal announcement regarding a pre-poll alliance between the ruling BJD and the Opposition BJP in Odisha, leaders from both parties have hinted at a mutual tie-up before the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. While BJD leaders held a marathon meeting at Naveen Niwas, the residence of Chief Ministe

Rahul's 'yatra' another miserably failed re-launch attempt, says Rijiju

Union minister Kiren Rijiju advised Rahul Gandhi on Thursday to stop pursuing endeavours that are beyond his capabilities as he claimed that the Congress has failed in every attempt to re-launch his political innings. In a video interview to PTI, Rijiju said had he faced similar failures as the Gandhi scion, he would not have wasted the "precious time" of his party and colleagues in trying to do something that was not doable. The three-term Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Pradesh claimed that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is yet another attempt to launch Gandhi and that the former Congress president has failed in that endeavour miserably. "Elsewhere in the world, you do not get a second chance to be launched. I think he (Gandhi) has now been launched 19 times. How long will you keep on launching one person?" asked Rijiju, who has held diverse portfolios in the central government, including home affairs (minister of state), minority affairs, sports and youth affairs, law and now, earth