Page 19 - Congress

Tharoor lauds Sudarshan Reddy after V-P poll loss, says fight is for ideals

Soon after Opposition candidate B Sudarshan Reddy's defeat in the vice presidential polls, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday hailed the former Supreme Court judge and said that sometimes the fight is not about winning or losing but about standing up for one's convictions. His remarks came after NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan was elected the next vice president of India, bagging 452 votes against the opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy's 300. "Sometimes the fight is not about winning or losing but about standing up for your convictions. Pranaams Sudershan Reddy ji," Tharoor said on X. After the results were announced, the Congress said, "The BJP's 'arithmetical' victory in the vice presidential election is both a 'moral and political defeat' for the ruling party. The Congress also asserted that the Opposition stood united in the election with "most respectable" performance." Announcing the result of the vice presidential election this evening, Rajya Sabha Secretar

BJP's arithmetic victory a moral, political defeat: Congress on VP poll

Soon after NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan won the vice presidential polls, the Congress on Tuesday said the Opposition stood united for the election with a "most respectable" performance and claimed that the BJP's arithmetical victory is both "moral and political defeat". Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge extended best wishes to Radhakrishnan on securing victory in the election, while also expressing sincere gratitude to B Sudershan Reddy for being the "united Opposition's joint candidate" and for his spirited and principled fight. "This was more than an election; it was a battle of ideology, reaffirming that governments with authoritarian tendencies must be checked to protect our Constitution and democracy," Kharge said on X. "We hope the new Vice President-elect will uphold the highest ethos of Parliamentary traditions, ensuring equal space and dignity for the Opposition, and not succumb to pressures of the ruling dispensation," the Congress chief said. The vice president,

Congress top brass strategises with Bihar leaders for Assembly polls

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi deliberated with party leaders from Bihar here on Tuesday amid ongoing seat-sharing talks among "mahagathbandhan" allies ahead of the Assembly polls in the state. Besides Kharge and Gandhi, Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram, AICC in-charge of the state Krishna Allavaru, party treasurer Ajay Maken, MPs Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Ranjeet Ranjan, Tariq Anwar and Mohammed Javed, as well as Independent MP from Purnea Pappu Yadav, participated in the meeting at the Congress president's residence here. The feedback from the Voter Adhikar Yatra, seat sharing among allies and the party's strategy for the Bihar polls were deliberated upon, sources said. The deliberations came days after INDIA bloc leaders in the state attended a meeting hosted by Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav, who heads the coordination committee for the opposition coalition. Talk

Nation continues to wait for Dhankar to speak out, says Jairam Ramesh

Opposition has time and again claimed that Dhankar has been "silenced" and has enquired about his whereabouts. It was Dhankar's registration that triggered the race for the Vice Presidential elections

Vice President polls on September 9: How Parliament numbers stack up

The election for the Vice Presidential was called after Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation; NDA's CP Radhakrishnan and INDIA bloc's Sudershan Reddy are in the fray

Trai refutes Congress claim of blocking SMS on Maharashtra poll fraud

TRAI on Monday said it did not receive any application that pertained to sending SMS to a political party's Maharashtra cadre on how the 2024 Assembly election was allegedly 'stolen', as the regulator asserted that it doesn't even approve individual SMS templates. TRAI's rebuttal came after Congress on Sunday claimed that the TRAI rejected its application for sending out SMSes to its Maharashtra cadre with the link of a documentary on how Maharashtra assembly elections were allegedly "stolen" on the grounds that it is "content related to protest". Without naming Congress, TRAI in a post on X said, "No application was received by #TRAI for sending SMS to a political party's Maharashtra cadre on how the 2024 Assembly election was stolen'". TRAI pointed out that the said application was submitted to one of the service providers, who rejected it. "TRAI was at no stage involved in this process. In fact, TRAI does not deal with approval of individual message templates," the regulator ...

Cong mocked farmers' pain, PM Modi delivered: Amit Malviya slams Kharge

Malviya praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping farmers by doubling their incomes and embracing modern farming techniques

Cong mocked farmers' pain, PM Modi delivered: Amit Malviya slams Kharge

Malviya praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping farmers by doubling their incomes and embracing modern farming techniques

Planned misadventure, risks tribes: Sonia Gandhi slams Nicobar project

Terming the Great Nicobar infrastructure project a "planned misadventure", Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday said it poses an existential danger to the island's indigenous tribal communities and is being insensitively pushed through, making a "mockery of all legal and deliberative processes". The collective conscience cannot, and must not, stay silent when the very survival of the Shompen and Nicobarese tribes is at stake, Gandhi said in an article published in 'The Hindu'. "Our commitment to future generations cannot permit this large-scale destruction of a most unique ecosystem. We must raise our voice against this travesty of justice and this betrayal of our national values," she said in her article titled 'The making of an ecological disaster in the Nicobar'. Hitting out at the Modi government, the former Congress president said there has been no shortage of "half-baked and ill-conceived policymaking" in the last 11 years. "The latest in this serie

Much fairer system, better for everyone: Tharoor welcomes GST reforms

Earlier, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that US President Donald Trump's "pressure is mounting" and claimed the Union government implemented the GST reforms with elections approaching

Shashi Tharoor calls EC's SIR exercise 'essential', urges transparency

Tharoor stressed that maintaining the credibility of the Election Commission was crucial and that any legitimate concerns raised by the opposition should be addressed fairly

Govt must introduce law for Article 15(5) in Winter Session: Congress

The Congress on Friday demanded that the government must introduce a law for implementing Article 15(5), which pertains to reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in private educational institutions, in Parliament's next session. To buttress its argument, the opposition party cited a parliamentary committee report which stated that the SC, ST, and OBC community students are underrepresented in private universities. Addressing a joint press conference along with Adivasi Congress chief Vikrant Bhuria and party's OBC department head Anil Jaihind, Congress' SC Department chief Rajendra Pal Gautam said the number of private educational institutions in the country has been continuously increasing, but due to the non-implementation of reservations there and lack of money, children from SC, ST, OBC categories could not get access to them. "Due to this, during the Congress government, a law was made, in which provision was made for reservation for SC, ST, OBC categories in private higher education

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Congress says MGNREGA underfunded for 11 years, demands ₹400 daily wage

The Congress on Friday alleged that MGNREGA has been "chronically underfunded" by the Modi government, making a "mockery" of the scheme's demand-driven vision, and reiterated its demand of significant budget enhancement and a minimum wage of Rs 400 per day to kickstart real income growth. Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh asserted that Friday marked the twentieth anniversary of MGNREGA formally becoming a law. "On a day when we should recall the many achievements of the world's largest social welfare scheme, we must instead grapple with the scheme's very uncertain future under this government," Ramesh said on X. The finance ministry's regulations prohibit government schemes from spending more than 60 per cent of the budgeted expenditure in the first half of the financial year, he said. "The ministry has blown through 60 per cent of its budget within five months itself, leaving a question mark on what the future holds for crores of India's rural ..

LIVE news updates: Industry must pass on GST benefits to consumers, says Piyush Goyal

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NDA enforces 5-hr bandh in Bihar to protest hurling of abuse at PM's mother

Women workers of the NDA constituents in Bihar on Thursday enforced a five-hour state-wide bandh to protest the alleged hurling of abuse at the mother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Congress' recently concluded 'Voter Adhikar Yatra'. The members of women cells of BJP, JD(U) and other alliance partners enforced the bandh, which began at 7 am, and staged protests in Patna and other areas. At Patna's Income Tax roundabout, the protesters raised slogans and displayed placards, slamming the Congress and RJD over the incident. Senior BJP leaders, state ministers, party MPs, MLAs and workers will also stage a sit-in outside the state unit office later in the day. Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal, MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmshila Gupta, state minister Nitin Nabin and other senior leaders will participate in the dharna, a statement issued by state BJP said. Speaking to PTI, Patna (Central) Superintendent of Police Diksha said, "Adequate forces have been deployed at all .

Cong terms GST overhaul 'GST 1.5'; says wait for 'true GST 2.0' continues

With the GST Council approving a complete overhaul of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Congress on Thursday termed it a "GST 1.5" and said time alone will tell whether it would stimulate private investment as well as ease the burden on MSMEs. The opposition party asserted that the wait for a "true GST 2.0" continues. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that a key demand of the states made in the true spirit of cooperative federalism '? namely, the extension of compensation for another five years to fully protect their revenues'? remains unaddressed. In fact, that demand assumes even greater importance now, he said. The Indian National Congress has for long been advocating for a GST 2.0 that reduces the number of rates, cuts the rates on a large number of items of mass consumption, minimises evasion, mis-classification, and disputes, does away with inverted duty structure '? lower tax on output as compared to inputs '? eases the complia

Chidambaram welcomes new GST reforms but says move is '8 years too late'

In a post on X late Wednesday, the former Union finance minister said the current GST design and rates should not have been introduced in the first place

Online betting sites operated by K'taka Cong MLA gathered ₹2,000 cr: ED

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday alleged that online betting sites "operated" by arrested Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra collected funds worth more than Rs 2,000 crore in a short span of time. It also claimed that Veerendra, the "prime accused" in a case linked to alleged cheating of public through illegal online betting, and his associates in Dubai were operating several gaming websites by using various gateways and fintech service providers for layering of funds and for masking their "illicit" activities as genuine e-commerce businesses. The federal probe agency had arrested the 50-year-old Chitradurga MLA late last month from Sikkim where he had gone on a business trip to lease a casino. He is currently in ED custody. The agency took Veerendra into custody after conducting searches against him, his linked persons, family members and some others in the case. The ED said in a statement that it conducted fresh searches in the case on Tuesday at Bengaluru and Challaker

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