Page 2 - Congress

UDF wins Kerala polls: Who are the Congress frontrunners for CM post?

The Congress-led UDF has returned to power in Kerala after 2016. The focus now shifts to who will be the party's CM choice

Kerala Assembly poll result rejection of polarisation, LDF rule: Venugopal

Congress general secretary and one of the contenders for the CM post, K C Venugopal, on Tuesday said that the Assembly poll results in Kerala were a repudiation of the communal polarisation attempts by some forces and a rejection of the decade-long "political arrogance and alleged misgovernance" by the LDF. Venugopal also termed the BJP's victories in West Bengal and Assam as not a genuine verdict, alleging that they were achieved through unfair practices that would prevent any opposition party from winning there. He claimed that the BJP wanted to do it in the entire country, and that is why it brought the Delimitation Bill, which was unitedly rejected by the opposition. Regarding the poll outcome in Kerala, Venugopal said that it was a big message to those attempting communal polarisation in the state that such efforts will not bear fruit. He said that the mature electorate of Kerala were adept at identifying suitable candidates and prioritised the state's welfare and party ...

Delimitation key factor for NDA's landslide win in Assam elections

The delimitation of constituencies to reduce the impact of minority candidates in their earlier strongholds is one among the many factors that led to the NDA's stupendous performance in the Assam polls, securing a record win of 102 seats in the 126-member assembly. The 2023 delimitation exercise, which redrew and realigned constituencies with some earlier Muslim-majority seats getting reserved for indigenous communities, played a significant role in the increase of seats for the BJP and its allies in the just-concluded assembly polls. The minority votebank played a key role, particularly for the Congress and AIUDF, in all previous assembly polls in 35 seats but delimitation reduced its influence to less than 25. The 24 seats that the opposition won, mostly in constituencies unaffected by delimitation, include 22 Muslim candidates with both the Congress and AIUDF showing a sharp decline in their erstwhile bastions. The realignment led to the fragmentation of Muslim-majority ...

Jitendra Singh resigns as Congress Assam in-charge after poll defeat

Senior Congress leader Jitendra Singh on Monday tendered his resignation as the party's general secretary in-charge of Assam with immediate effect, taking responsibility for the outcome of the assembly polls in which his party suffered a crushing defeat. In his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Singh said it is in the best interest of the organization that he steps aside to allow for fresh leadership and renewed direction. "I write to tender my resignation as General Secretary In-Charge of Assam with immediate effect. The recent election results have been deeply disappointing, and I take full responsibility for my role in the outcome," Singh said. "Despite our best efforts, we were unable to meet the expectations of the people of Assam whom we sought to serve. It is in the best interest of the organization that I step aside to allow for fresh leadership and renewed direction," he said. Singh said he is grateful for the opportunity to have served and for t

Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi loses in Jorhat by 23,182 votes

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi lost to BJP's Hitendranath Goswami by 23,182 votes in the Jorhat assembly seat on Monday, according to the Election Commission. Gogoi, the sitting MP of Jorhat, polled 46,257 votes, while Goswami secured 69,439 votes, retaining the seat for a third consecutive term. Gogoi made his assembly election debut this time. On the other side, Goswami represented the constituency thrice as an AGP MLA and twice on a BJP ticket. The deputy leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha won the Jorhat parliamentary seat in 2024, defeating the BJP's Topon Kumar Gogoi by 1,44,393 votes. Polling for all 126 assembly segments in Assam was held on April 9.

Karnataka bypolls: Ruling Congress leads both Bagalkot, Davanagere South

Initial trends showed the ruling Congress in Karnataka was ahead in Bagalkot, while opposition BJP has maintained a lead in Davanagere South assembly segment, as the counting of votes for by-elections is underway on Monday. The voting for the by-election was held on April 9. The polls were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti (Bagalkot) and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Davanagere South). According to the Election Commission, Congress party's Umesh Meti was ahead of BJP's Veerabhadrayya Charantimath by a margin of 5,016 votes. In Davanagere South, BJP's Srinivas T Dasakariyappa was leading ahead of Congress party's Samarth Mallikarjun by a margin of 577 votes. Nine and 25 candidates were in the fray, respectively in the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly segments. Although the outcome of these by-elections is unlikely to have an immediate impact on state politics, the contest is seen as a matter of prestige for both the ruling Congress and the opposition .

SC reserves order on Cong leader Pawan Khera's plea for anticipatory bail

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea of Congress leader Pawan Khera seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered against him related to allegations that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife possessed multiple passports and undisclosed properties abroad. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar reserved its decision on the plea after the Congress leader submitted that if he doesn't get anticipatory bail in a registered case against him, then the very purpose of pre-arrest bail is gone. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Khera, said the allegations against him are a matter of trial and it was not necessary to humiliate him by arrest. He submitted that out of the total sections invoked against him, some are bailable while others don't require his arrest. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam government, opposed the plea and said Khera showed fake and doctored copies of passports of the chief minister's wife.

Exit polls predict UDF return in Kerala as LDF trails in tight race

Exit polls show a setback for the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF, strongly favouring the UDF, while the BJP remains on the margins

Pentagon says Iran war cost $25 bn so far amid heated Congress hearing

Democratic lawmakers cast the conflict as a costly war of choice that President Donald Trump blundered into without a clear plan

West Bengal elections: Exit polls predict close fight between BJP, TMC

A poll of exit polls shows that TMC and BJP will be neck-and-neck in the state, as both parties are expected to win around 132-151 and 138-154 seats, respectively

'Unwarranted': General Naravane on memoir controversy, says has moved on

Former Army chief Gen Manoj Naravane has come out with two books since his unpublished memoir, "Four Stars of Destiny", caused a controversy earlier this year and looking back, he said it was "not warranted" to unnecessarily quote and drag him into the limelight for the book. The general, who recently released "The Curious and the Classified: Unearthing Military Myths and Mysteries", said that he has moved on since then and has already written two books and a third will soon be released. "The Ministry of Defence had asked the publisher to put it on hold till it was vetted. As far as I am concerned the matter rested there, and I have moved onso that is a closed chapter. And unnecessarily quoting me and dragging the unpublished book into the limelight and indirectly me to the limelight was I think not warranted," Naravane told PTI Videos in an interview. In February this year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was stopped from citing excerpts from the memoir in the Lok Sabha, as it had not

Karnataka CM accuses Centre of targeting Congress leaders after ED raids

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused the central government and its agencies of consistently targeting Congress members by using searches on their properties, and questioned why similar action is not taken against BJP leaders. He was reacting to searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday on several individuals, among them the sons of Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris and the grandson of former Union Cabinet minister K Rahman Khan, in connection with a cryptocurrency-linked money laundering case. "The central government always targets Congress leaders. Will they raid the houses of BJP leaders?" Siddaramaiah said in response to a question. More than a dozen premises in the city were searched as part of the operation carried out by the ED under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The premises searched comprised those of Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad, the sons of the MLA; Aqeeb Khan, the grandson of vetera

Congress slams PM Modi on women's quota, recalls Rahul's 2018 letter

The Congress on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to delay the implementation of women's reservations in legislatures by linking it to delimitation and recalled then Congress president Rahul Gandhi's letter to him in 2018 demanding the immediate implementation of women's quota. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi, as Congress President, had written to the Prime Minister on July 16, 2018, demanding the immediate implementation of women's reservation. "Eight years later, the Prime Minister - keen to delay the implementation of reservations by linking it to delimitation - is still to act on this demand," Ramesh said. He also shared Gandhi's letter to the PM from 2018, in which he had requested support to ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the then upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. "As you are aware, the Women's Reservation Bill, passed by the Rajya Sabha on the 9th of March, 2010, has been

'Monumental setback': Congress slams govt over Pak's role in US-Iran talks

The Congress on Monday took a swipe at the Modi government over Pakistan's role in the US-Iran peace talks, saying Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir becoming a "huge favourite" of American President Donald Trump is a "monumental setback" for India which needs a complete overhaul of its diplomatic engagement strategy. The opposition party claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "simply incapable" of the overhaul of India's diplomatic engagement strategy that is needed. In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The 'dalal' country, as the erudite and always nattily dressed External Affairs Minister described it, is reportedly hosting the second round of US-Iran peace talks today." After the completion of the first round of these talks on April 12th, Pakistan borrowed USD 6 billion from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to repay a USD 3.5 billion loan taken from the UAE and to retire a USD 1.43 billion tranche of Eurobonds, he pointed

Stop lying to the nation: Congress slams PM's address, cites MCC violation

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Saturday said a "desperate and frustrated" PM turned an official address to the nation into a political speech despite the Model Code of Conduct being in force. The party also challenged him to bring a bill in Parliament to implement women's reservation within the existing set-up of the Lok Sabha, soon after Modi's address to the nation, in which he attacked the opposition parties for not backing the government's Constitution amendment bill. In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said a "desperate and frustrated" prime minister with nothing meaningful to show for the last 12 years, turned an official address to the nation, into a political speech, full of "mudslinging, and outright lies". "The Model Code of Conduct is already in place, and it was very clear how the prime minister misused official machinery to attack his opponents. This is a travesty of democracy and the Constitution," Kharge said. "Modi j

Women's dreams crushed: PM seeks 'forgiveness' for Nari Shakti bill failure

In his televised address, PM Modi said he had expected the Opposition to support the bill, but added that the Congress "repeated its history of not supporting the Bill"

Noble effort derailed: PM Modi hits out at DMK, Cong on Women's quota Bill

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government's women's reservation bill was a noble effort that got 'derailed' due to the DMK and Congress which made it a "target of hatred and petty politics." Especially targeting the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress over the amendment bill being defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the PM asked, "Why does it trouble DMK, Congress to see ordinary women rise." He said he had personally appealed to the opposition parties to support the bill and even offered to give them credit as "I only wanted sisters from ordinary families to come to parliament, assemblies in good numbers." "But unfortunately, this noble effort got derailed. DMK, Congress and their allies made it a target of hatred and petty politics," he charged. Had this bill been passed, many Tamil women from ordinary families would have become MPs and MLAs. Based on 2011 census, Tamil Nadu was going to get so many more seats in Lok Sabha, "but clearly DMK didn't want t

Defeated delimitation bill to defend 'idea of India': Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the opposition parties defeated the delimitation bill in the Parliament on Friday to defend the "idea of India." Addressing a poll rally at Ponneri here, he said the BJP-led government at the Centre brought a new bill on April 16, and said they were trying to pass the women's bill, which he said was passed in 2023. "In the so-called Women's Bill, delimitation was hidden. The idea was to reduce Tamil Nadu's representation in the Union of India... the delimitation move by BJP was to weaken the strength of southern states, small states, north eastern states," he alleged. "We defeated in Parliament, a bill in which delimitation was hidden; we defeated it to defend the idea of India." Rahul added that India that is Bharat, is a union of states, and every single state should have a voice, be free to express itself, and protect its tradition.

Shows anti-women mentality: Kiren Rijiju slams Cong after quota bill defeat

A day after a united opposition defeated a Constitution amendment bill to tweak the women's quota law and increase the number of seats in legislatures through delimitation, Parliamentary Affairs Minsiter Kiren Rijiju on Saturday accused the Congress of being anti-women, and said it will have to face their "wrath". "It has been established that the Congress is anti-women... It will have to face the wrath of the women of the country," Rijiju said. "The opposition is celebrating after depriving women of their rights; women of the country will teach them a good lesson," he added. The Union minister also accused the Congress of having an anti-women mentality, and said it stands "exposed" now. The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which was defeated in the Lok Sabha, provided for Lok Sabha seats to be increased by up to 50 per cent to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. Seats wer

Centre's conspiracy to change federal structure defeated: Priyanka Gandhi

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Centre of conspiring to change the federal structure of the country in the garb of women's reservation, asserting that the defeat of its bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the women's quota law was a victory for the Constitution as well as opposition unity. She also demanded that the government implement the Women's Reservation Act of 2023 on the current strength of the Lok Sabha. "What happened yesterday was a big win for democracy. The conspiracy to change the federal structure (of the country) was defeated. It was a victory for the Constitution, opposition unity, and the country," the Congress general secretary said at a press conference. "When Home Minister Amit Shah was speaking in the Lok Sabha on Friday, he said the Congress will not be able to sit on the treasury benches for years, which shows their mindset," Priyanka said. "The whole conspiracy was to stay in power. They thought that if delimitation is not done now,