Page 187 - Congress

After Kamal Nath, reports claim Manish Tewari giving thought to BJP switch

A source close to Manish Tiwari said the speculations linking the Congress old-timer to the BJP were all 'rubbish' as he was busy working for the people of his constituency

Rahul's Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to enter Amethi on Monday

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will enter Amethi on Monday around 3 pm, an office bearer of the party's district unit said on Sunday. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also accompany Rahul in Amethi, the party said. "All preparations for Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Naya Yatra' have been completed. Rahul Gandhi will be welcomed first in Kakwa. His Nyay Yatra will enter Amethi border from Rampur Khas assembly constituency of Pratapgarh district, said Anil Singh, media coordinator of Congress' Amethi district unit. Rahul Gandhi will address a public meeting near Gandhinagar toll plaza. He will rest in the night at a field in Akelva near Fursatganj and will leave for Rae Bareli on February 20 at 10.00 am, he said. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be present along with her brother, when the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' enters Amethi, he said. Rahul gandhi is a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amethi. Union minister Smriti Irani is the sitting MP from .

Congress will win atleast 20 seats in Karnataka in LS polls: Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that the Congress will win at least 20 out of 28 seats from the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He also junked the BJP's claim of winning all the 28 seats. "We are preparing to win at least 20 seats this time. The BJP is making exaggerated claims that they will win all the 28 seats because they have realised that people will bless Congress this time," the Congress leader told reporters at Malavalli in Mandya district. Regarding the Congress strategy to fight against the coalition of BJP and Janata Dal (Secular), Siddaramaiah said there are no two parties in the opposition. "This time we have only one opposition. There are no two parties but only one party in the opposition. JD(S) has merged with the BJP and is not functioning like a separate party," he said. The BJP swept the 2019 Parliamentary polls in Karnataka by winning 25 seats, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya) backed by it won one seat.

INDIA bloc's doors 'open' for BSP, says Cong's UP in-charge Avinash Pande

INDIA bloc's doors are "open" for the BSP and it is up to Mayawati to decide if she wants to join the united fight against the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls or not, Congress' Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande said on Sunday. The Congress general secretary said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) very much wanted the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to join the bloc but Mayawati has already declared that she will go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls. In an interview with PTI during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the politically-crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Pande said the Congress is "wholeheartedly" supporting the Samajwadi Party and expressed confidence that a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls in the state will be finalised "very soon" with remaining "confusions" dispelled. He said the Congress-SP combine is in talks with small parties in Uttar Pradesh who would also be joining the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, and asserted

Double engine govt means double blow to unemployed: Rahul Gandhi slams BJP

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked the BJP over the issue of unemployment in Uttar Pradesh, saying double engine government means "double blow" to the unemployed. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi claimed that today every third youth of Uttar Pradesh is suffering from the "disease of unemployment". "Where more than 1.5 lakh government posts are vacant, graduates, post graduates and PhD holders are standing in line even for the posts that require minimum qualification," the former Congress chief said. "Double engine government means double blow to the unemployed!" he said. "First of all, the coming out of recruitment possibilities is a dream and even if the recruitment is being done then the paper gets leaked, if the paper happens then the result is not known and even when the result comes after a long wait, one often has to go to the court for ensuring joining," he said. Lakhs of students have become overage after waiting for years for recruitments from the Army to Rail

Cong leader Rahul meets families of elephant attack victims in Wayanad

Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday visited the houses of two victims of the recent wild elephant attacks in this high range district, and consoled their family members. Gandhi reached neighbouring Kannur district on Saturday night after halting his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Varanasi abruptly in the wake of intense protests by locals seeking solutions to the human-animal conflicts in his constituency. From Kannur, he proceeded to Wayanad by road and was accompanied by AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal and other local leaders. He spent over 20 minutes at the house of Aji (42), who was trampled to death by a radio-collared elephant in the Mananthavady area of Wayanad district triggering massive protests last week. Later, he visited the residence of Paul, an eco-tourism guide of the forest department who was killed by a wild tusker near Kuruva island on Friday and spent some time there. The MP is also expected to visit the house of Prajeesh who was killed in a ti

Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' to resume from Prayagraj today

This comes after Rahul Gandhi abruptly halted the Yatra on Saturday in Varanasi, prompted by public protest over the deaths of residents in wild elephant attacks in his constituency of Wayanad, Kerala

Delhi's Cong unit holds protest against freezing of party's bank accounts

Delhi unit of Congress on Saturday held a demonstration against the freezing of party bank accounts by the Income Tax department a day ago. The Congress' main bank accounts were frozen on Friday over an income tax demand of Rs 210 crore but an I-T appellate tribunal later allowed it to operate them pending a further hearing next week, a huge relief for the party which said the move had impacted all political activity. The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee's (DPCC) protest was led by its president Arvinder Singh Lovely with demonstrator carrying placards and raising slogans. Adequate security was deployed near the DPCC office where the protestors were stopped and not allowed to move towards the ITO office.

Congress expels Golaghat district chief after his meeting with CM Himanta

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has expelled Golaghat District Congress Committee from his position following a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: March enters Varanasi on 2nd day of UP campaign

The Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' of the Congress on Saturday entered Varanasi on the second day of its Uttar Pradesh leg. Gandhi, along with the party's state president Ajay Rai and other congress leaders, stood atop an open jeep and toured the busy Gudauli area of the temple town. Gandhi also visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel and the Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from Sirathu also joined the yatra in Varanasi. The yatra on Friday entered the state from Bihar at Chanduali where it halted for the night. SP president Akhilesh Yadav has said that he will join the yatra in Rae Bareli. The yatra will traverse through Uttar Pradesh before entering Rajasthan. The east to west Manipur-Mumbai yatra will traverse 6,700 km through 15 states and aims to highlight the message of 'nyay' (justice) while meeting common people on the way.

Former Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty whot quit 2 days ago, joins BJD

Former Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal here. Mohanty, who was also the Congress Kendrapara District president, had quit the party two days ago. Many of his supporters also joined the BJD in the presence of senior leaders including organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das at the BJD headquarters here on Friday. Later Mohanty visited Naveen Niwas, the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and met him. Mohanty was the Rajnagar MLA from 2014 to 2019. He, however, lost the 2019 election to BJD's Dhruba Sahoo.

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Oppn stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali, NCSC recommends President's rule

National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chief said the commission has recommended the imposition of President's rule in West Bengal in its report submitted to President Droupadi Murmu

ITAT's relief to Congress after nine bank accounts 'frozen' claim

Sources said that it was not the accounts that were frozen, but an amount of around Rs 115 crore, which remains attached

Spoke to PM on BJP 'poaching' Oppn leaders by 'scaring' them: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said he had recently spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the BJP's "poaching" of leaders from the opposition ranks and asserted it was being done by "scaring" them. Against the backdrop of former chief minister Ashok Chavan joining the BJP recently, Kharge said such switching of sides was an act of "cowardice". He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day state level training camp in Lonavala here for Congress functionaries. "During a tea meeting in Parliament where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present, I asked him how many people are you (BJP) going to poach as ministers and ex-chief ministers are joining your fold. I asked him about the appetite (to take leaders from opposition ranks into the ruling party)," Kharge told the gathering. "He (PM) said what could he do if people want to join the BJP. I told him they (BJP) are carrying out this work (poaching) by scaring people. He said these people want to join because of .

Central govt doing injustice to farmers: Cong leader Jairam Ramesh

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over farmers' protest, alleging that the Center is doing injustice to them. Interacting with media persons in Rohtas, Ramesh said, When the Modi government brought three black laws, the farmers sat on strike for almost a year. After that, the government withdrew the laws and made many promises to the farmers. These promises have not been fulfilled till date. He was referring to three laws that the Modi government had passed in June 2020, stating that those would bring reforms to the farm sector. However, cultivators started protesting against the legislations in November and ended their agitation after Parliament repealed the three laws in the same month next year. Now, when the farmers are coming to Delhi again, the Central government is raining tear gas shells on them and spreading nails on their path. The Modi government is committing huge atrocities on them and doing injusti

Cong condemns police action on farmers, urges govt to fulfil MSP promise

The Congress on Friday condemned the police action on farmers protesting at Shambhu border and urged the government to fulfil its promises made to them on providing legal guarantee to minimum support price on crops and other demands. The party also hit out at the Haryana government, alleging it was creating impediments and committing brutality on peaceful farmers wanting to proceed to Delhi to remind the government of its promise. Chairman of the All India Kisan Congress Sukhpal Singh Khaira said at a press conference that the Centre should consider their legitimate demands. He also demanded that the government withdraw all criminal cases against the farmers booked during the last agitation two years ago and adequate compensation be paid to families of all those 700 farmers who lost their lives during the year-long agitation at Delhi's borders. He showed pictures of injured farmers in Shambhu border due to tear gas shells and rubber bullets lobbed at them by Haryana Police, claimin

'Agniveer' scheme brought to benefit a biz house instead of soldiers: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday charged the Narendra Modi government with having brought the 'Agniveer' scheme in order to spend the defence budget for the benefit of a big business house, instead of emoluments paid to the soldiers. Gandhi made the allegation at Mohania in Kaimur district of Bihar, bordering Uttar Pradesh, a region from where youngsters are known to enrol in the armed forces on a large scale. The region was a witness to large-scale protests against the Agniveer scheme two years ago. An Agniveer will not get a salary and pension on par with a regular army soldier nor will he get access to the canteen," alleged Gandhi. The government had launched the 'Agnipath' scheme on June 15, 2022 to recruit aspirants in below the officer's rank' cadre of the three services for a period of four years as 'Agniveers'. The former Congress president claimed, "This is because the Modi government does not want to spend the defence budget on salary and other perks of soldiers. I

BJP's return will cause existential crisis to regional parties: Chidambaram

Veteran Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram on Friday said he cannot predict the future of the INDIA bloc as he is not part of the negotiating committee of the national alliance, but said that the return of Narendra Modi and the BJP to power would cause an existential crisis to state-specific regional parties. He said the Ram temple in Ayodhya could be a factor in the upcoming elections but "whether it will be a decisive one, only time will say". "I cannot say anything about the future of the bloc because I'm not part of the national alliance's negotiating committee and also not part of INDIA bloc meetings. My information is only secondhand or even thirdhand. But I sincerely hope that all the remaining parties understand that the return of Mr Modi and the BJP to the Centre will cause an existential crisis to the state-specific regional parties," Chidambaram told PTI in an exclusive interview here. The veteran Congressman was recently in the city for a ...

Everyone leaving Cong as it's trapped in vicious circle of nepotism: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hit out at the Congress, saying that everyone is leaving the party as it is trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics. He said the Congress' sole agenda is to oppose Modi. The prime minister was virtually addressing an event, 'Viksit Bharat, Viksit Rajasthan', in Jaipur. He also laid the foundation stones of projects worth about Rs 17,000 crore and inaugurated various development works. "The Congress has only one agenda, anti-Modi. It spreads such things against Modi which divide society. This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics. Today everyone is leaving the Congress and only one family is seen there," Modi said. A big problem with the Congress is that it lacks the farsightedness to frame positive policies. Neither can the Congress foresee the future nor does it have any road map for it, he said. To make India a developed country, the prime minister sai