Page 360 - Congress

Cong rejigs Jharkhand unit, appoints 11 V-Ps, 35 gen secys and 82 secys

In a major revamp of its Jharkhand unit, the Congress on Saturday appointed a political affairs committee, 11 vice presidents, 35 general secretaries, 82 secretaries and a new working committee in the state. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed the 26-member political affairs committee with AICC in-charge Avinash Pande, state unit chief Rajesh Thakur, Congress Legislature Party leader Alamgir Alam, former chief minister Madhu Koda, Rameshwar Oraon and Ajoy Kumar among those named in the panel. The Congress also appointed 11 vice presidents, 35 general secretaries, 82 secretaries and a new working committee in the state. Alam, Oraon, Kumar, coordinator attached with Congress president's office Pranav Jha and Gourav Vallabh were among those appointed in the working committee. The Congress is part of the alliance government headed by Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

Peru's ex-president Pedro Castillo faced bigotry for impoverished past

When Pedro Castillo won Peru's presidency last year, it was celebrated as a victory by the country's poor the peasants and Indigenous people who live deep in the Andes and whose struggles had long been ignored. His supporters hoped Castillo, a populist outsider of humble roots, would redress their plight or at least end their invisibility. But during 17 months in office before being ousted and detained on Wednesday, supporters instead saw Castillo face the racism and discrimination they often experience. He was mocked for wearing a traditional hat and poncho, ridiculed for his accent and criticised for incorporating Indigenous ceremonies into official events. Protests against Castillo's government featured a donkey a symbol of ignorance in Latin America with a hat similar to his. The attacks were endless, so much so that observers from the Organisation of American States documented it during a recent mission to the deeply unequal and divided country. Castillo, however, squand

Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' resumes from Rajasthan's Bundi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed the Rajasthan leg of the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Gudli village in Bundi district on Saturday morning. Gandhi had taken a day's break in the yatra on Friday to celebrate his mother Sonia Gandhi's birthday. He flew back to Gudli village to resume the yatra. Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were not accompanying him in the yatra. On the 93rd day, the yatra is likely to cover 30 km from Gudli village in Keshoraipatan assembly constituency in Bundi district represented by BJP MLA Chandrakanta Meghwal. On Thursday, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi had reached Ranthambore. Rahul's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is currently in Kota-Bundi area of Rajasthan.

Worker of Rahul Gandhi: Ali Mehdi on returning to Cong after joining AAP

The announcement came through a video posted by Mehdi on Twitter in which he was seen "apologising" for his "mistake"

Best of BS Opinion: Defence industry perks up, wealth & inequality and more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Newly elected Cong MLAs authorise party president to pick next Himachal CM

Newly elected Congress MLAs met here on Friday and unanimously passed a resolution authorising the party president to pick their leader who will be the next Himachal Pradesh chief minister. Ahead of the Congress Legislature Party meeting, chief minister hopefuls Pratibha Singh, Mukesh Agnihotri and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu reached the party office in state capital Shimla along with their supporters, who raised slogans in their favour. The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared Thursday. Addressing the media after the legislature party meeting, AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla said the one-line resolution was passed unanimously and the party's observers would submit their report to its high command on Saturday. Refuting that there is factionalism within the Congress party as several leaders were lobbying for the chief minister's post, Shukla said no na

Congress to take 'consensus' decision based on views of MLAs in HP: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the views of the newly-elected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh were being sought to bring out a consensus on who will be their leader. He said the observers sent to the hill state were seeking the individual views of all party legislators and they would convey to him their opinions, based on which the party will take a decision on the chief ministerial candidate. Kharge said in the Congress party, there is a procedure in place and the party observers go and take the opinion of all legislators.

Congress' Imran Khedawala lone Muslim MLA in new Gujarat Assembly

Imran Khedawala of the Congress is the only Muslim candidate to be elected to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly in the just concluded polls, which saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win a landslide victory. The outgoing Assembly had three Muslim legislators, all from the Congress. Khedawala, the sitting Congress MLA from the Jamalpur-Khadia Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad city, won the election by a margin of 13,658 votes on Thursday to retain the seat. He defeated his nearest rival, Bhushan Bhatt of the BJP, in the Muslim majority constituency, where state president of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and former MLA Sabir Kabliwala was also in the fray. The Congress had fielded six Muslim candidates, including three siting MLAs. Of these, five candidates, including two MLAs, lost. In 2017, three of five candidates from the minority community fielded by the main Opposition party had emerged victorious. Muslims account for around 10 per cent of Gujarat's

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Himachal Congress Legislature Party meeting begins to discuss next CM

A meeting of newly elected Congress MLAs got underway in Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla Friday evening. The MLAs are expected to pass a resolution authorising the Congress president to pick the legislature party leader who will be the next chief minister. The meeting started at the Congress office here amid show of strength by the chief minister aspirants. State party chief Pratibha Singh, leader of the opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and head of the election campaign committee Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu reached the party office along with their supporters, who raised slogans in their favour. The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared Thursday. Two Congress observers - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former CM of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda -- and AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla attended the meeting.

Cong observers meet Himachal governor amid hectic lobbying for CM's post

Congress observers met Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Friday, shared a list of the party's winning MLAs and "sought time" to formally stake claim to form the government, as the party saw hectic lobbying for the chief minister's post. With the new MLAs slated to meet later in the evening, Pratibha Singh, Congress MP and the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, indicated that she is in the running for the top job. Some Congress workers raised slogans in support of Singh, who is also the state party chief. Former state chief of the party Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and outgoing legislature party leader Mukesh Agnihotri are also believed to among the frontrunners for the chief minister's post. The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared Thursday. At the MLAs' meeting, they are expected to pass a resolution authorising the party president to

40 Congress lawmakers in Himachal to nominate legislative party leader

Pratibha Singh, Sukhwinder Sukhu and Mukesh Agnihotri are considered key frontrunners for the chief minister's post

Himachal polls: Rebels played spoilsport in 12 out of 68 assembly seats

Rebels played a spoilsport for both the BJP and Congress in 12 out of the 68 assembly segments in Himachal Pradesh. The rebels, who contested as independents in the assembly polls, marred the prospects of BJP candidates in eight seats while Congress candidates were hit in four assembly segments. Out of the total 99 independents who were in the fray, 28 were rebels. All the three winning Independents -- K L Thakur from Nalagarh, Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur -- were BJP rebels who were denied party tickets. Thakur had won in 2012 but lost in 2017 and the BJP chose to field Lakhwinder Singh Rana, a two-term Congress MLA, who jumped ship ahead of the elections. Singh, sitting independent MLA from Dehra had joined the BJP on the eve of assembly elections but the party gave ticket to Ramesh Dhawala while Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur was also a BJP rebel. The rebels spoiled the prospects of the BJP in Kinnaur, Kullu, Banjar, Indora and Dharamshala, while the .

Guj poll result HIGHLIGHTS: Massive victory for BJP, Patel to be CM again

Gujarat election result 2022: Exit polls have predicted a landslide win for the ruling BJP, while AAP could see a 'positive sign'. Stay tuned for Gujarat Assembly election result LIVE updates

Himachal poll result 2022 HIGHLIGHTS: Cong wins 40 seats, BJP settles at 25

Himachal Pradesh election result 2022: Exit polls have predicted the return of the BJP. Stay tuned for Himachal Pradesh Assembly election result LIVE updates

Most exit polls get Guj result right, fail to call HP elections correctly

All exit polls predicted a BJP win in Gujarat but only a few got its scale right, while for Himachal Pradesh, most pollsters got it wrong as they failed to predict a Congress win. The BJP posted a historic victory in Gujarat, winning 156 seats in the 182-member state assembly. The Congress party finished second, winning a paltry 17 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party bagged just five. The Aaj Tak-Axis My India exit poll nearly got it right as it had predicted 129-151 seats for the BJP, 16-30 seats for the Congress and 9-21 seats for the AAP. News 24-Today's Chanakya also was close in its prediction as it had projected an average of 150 seats for the BJP, 19 for the Congress and 11 for the AAP. Both pollsters were a little off the mark in predicting the AAP's seats. All pollsters called the result right but failed to accurately predict the scale. While ABP News C-Voter had predicted 128-140 seats for the BJP, 31-43 for the Congress and 3-11 for the AAP, the News X-Jan Ki Baat exit pol

Off the mark: Pollsters faltered in Gujarat again, and in Himachal as well

In Gujarat, the number of seats won on smaller margins had redu­ced

Election results 2022: BJP breaks records in Gujarat, Cong wins Himachal

AAP becomes national party after winning 12% vote share, 5 seats in Gujarat

Himachal election results: Cong wins battle of tradition, faces CM hurdle

Locals say two factors played an invisible role in the BJP's defeat: one, the turnout of women in this time was 17% higher; second, the Agnivir scheme in a state that sends a large number of soldiers

Gujarat election result 2022: Bhupendra Patel firmly in the saddle

Patel's work was hyper-local - which left leaders like Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to emphasise how the BJP had managed to propel India to the centre stage globally