Page 371 - Congress

BJP busy with distorting history: Siddaramaiah on Tipu Sultan's statue row

Tanveer Sait on Thursday promised a 100 feet statue of Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatna or Karnataka's Mysuru that erupted in a political row.

Bharat Jodo Yatra takes break in Maharashtra; to move to Washim on Nov 14

The Bharat Jodo Yatra of the Congress took a one-day break in Maharashtra on Sunday and it will proceed from Kalamnuri in Hingoli district to Washim on Monday. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a public gathering in Kalamnuri on Saturday night, the sixth day of the yatra in Maharashtra, and said the message of the foot march led by him was that India cannot be divided and hatred would not be allowed to be spread. The Congress leader had also targeted the state and Central governments over the shifting of mega projects like the Vedanta-Foxconn and the Tata Airbus from Maharashtra to poll-bound Gujarat. The yatra, which began on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, entered its 66th day on Saturday and has so far covered 28 districts in six states. All India Congress Committee General Secretary (communications ) Jairam Ramesh in a tweet on Saturday night said,""66th day of #BharatJodoYatra draws to a close in Hingoli district. The enthusiasm of people throughout the

Congress yatra will establish Rahul as serious politician: Analysts

Rahul Gandhi's ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra will establish the Congress MP as a serious politician and provide him heft to take on his formidable opponent BJP, but the cross-country march should have focused on specific issues to leave a lasting impact, according to political observers. The 3,570-km-long foot-march of the Congress, which started from Tamil Nadu on September 7, entered Maharashtra on November 7. The Gandhi-led yatra will reach almost halfway mark after entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20 in Burhanpur district. The stated goal of the mass outreach programme is to revive, resuscitate and reinvigorate the Congress party organisation. Though Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath, who is overseeing preparations for the yatra in the state, has maintained the route of the unity walk has not been decided on the basis of the party's strength or weakness, observers said the event will have long-term political implications for the country. The yatra will have larger ...

Guj polls: Congress promises jobs, electricity, LPG, unemployment allowance

Ten lakh jobs in government and semi-government departments, free medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, LPG cylinder at Rs 500 and 300 units of free electricity every month are some of the key promises that the Congress made in its manifesto for the Gujarat elections. In the manifesto released on Saturday, the grand old party, which has been out of power in the state for more than two decades, also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen, among other things. Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress's senior observer for Gujarat polls Ashok Gehlot released the manifesto at the state party headquarters here in the presence of other party leaders. Elections to the 182-member Assembly in Gujarat, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is currently in power, will be held in two phases - on December 1 and 5 - and the counting of votes will be taken up

Cong resumes Bharat Jodo Yatra on its 66th day in Maharashtra's Kalamnuri

Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is at its Maharashtra leg, resumed from the Shevala village of Kalamnuri in Maharashtra's Hingoli on Saturday

LIVE: PM Narendra Modi conducts road show in Andhra Pradesh's Vizag

From PM Modi's visit to southern states to Congress releasing its second list of candidates ahead of Gujarat polls, catch all the live updates here

AAP's 10 guarantees for MCD elections 'bundle of lies', says Congress

The Congress' Delhi unit on Friday called the AAP's "10 guarantees" for the MCD elections just another "bundle of lies" and said the Kejriwal government "fostered corruption" in the national capital, utilising every opportunity to make money. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier in the day announced the AAP's 10 guarantees, including clearing the city's three landfill sites, ending corruption in the civic body and timely payment of salaries to employees, for the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. Congress state unit president Anil Chaudhary claimed that the promises to clear the land-fill mountains and ending corruption were akin to the "pot calling the kettle black". "The AAP government in Delhi was equally responsible for the three landfill mountains and corruption. In the last eight years, the Kejriwal government only fostered corruption in the national capital and utilised every opportunity to make money," he alleged. Chaudhary said the National Gr

Despite AAP's presence, Himachal's political battle between BJP, Congress

AAP, which is in the fray for the first time in the Assembly polls, has been missing from the state with its leaders focusing on strengthening its vote bank in another poll-bound Gujarat.

Cong, NCP forge alliance in Gujarat; Pawar's party to contest 3 seats

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) entered into a pre-poll alliance for the next month's Gujarat Assembly elections, as part of which the Sharad Pawar-led party will contest three of the total 182 seats in the state, the leaders of the two parties announced here on Friday. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the two parties had contested the Gujarat elections separately. NCP's Kandhal Jadeja was the only MLA to win from the party. He represents the Kutiyana Assembly seat in Porbandar district. Making an announcement about the alliance, Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor said, "NCP will fight the upcoming Assembly polls in the state in alliance with the Congress. The NCP will contest three seats - Umreth (Anand district), Naroda (Ahmedabad) and Devgadh Baria (Dahod district) as part of the alliance." These three seats are currently held by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The Congress has decided to forge an alliance with those parties that were with u

Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra enters 65th day, Aaditya Thackeray to take part

The Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi continued on the fifth day of its Maharashtra leg in Nanded district on Friday and will later enter neighbouring Hingoli district, where Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray will take part in it. Thackeray is scheduled to join the foot march around 4 pm along with Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Ambadas Danve and Sena legislator Sachin Ahir, the Congress has said. The yatra that began on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, entered its 65th day on Friday. It had reached Deglur in Maharashtra's Nanded from neighbouring Telangana on November 7 night and has been in the district for five days. The yatra had taken the night halt at Vitthalrao Deshmukh Karyalay in Pimpalgaon Mahadev in Nanded's Ardhapur. It resumed from Dabhad on the Nanded-Hingoli Road in Ardhapur on Friday morning. In the second half of the day, the yatra will resume from Choramba Phata and reach Hingoli at ..

Congress to win unilaterally in Himachal Pradesh elections: Ashok Gehlot

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday exuded confidence that the Congress would win unilaterally in the upcoming Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. He also said there is a good atmosphere in favour of the Congress in Gujarat where a fierce anti-incumbency wave is being seen against the current BJP government. "The atmosphere is good. In Himachal, Congress is winning the election unilaterally," he told reporters after returning from the tour of both states. "There is a good atmosphere in Gujarat. There is also a very fierce wave against the BJP government. Our campaign is going well. Five (Parivartan Sankalp) yatras were taken out, the reaction of the people seen in these yatras is indicative of this," the senior Congress leader said. "Unemployment situation is very terrible in Gujarat. Recently, 70 people have died due to illicit liquor. These (BJP) people are not conducting any investigation into the Morbi accident. The Chief Minister is stubborn and stubborn is their leader,"

Multiple CM faces our strength, not weakness: Congress President Kharge

The presence of several chief ministerial faces in Himachal Pradesh is not the Congress' weakness but its strength, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Thursday as the campaign for assembly elections in the hill state drew to a close. The ruling BJP, in contrast, is going into elections banking just on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face because it is "aware of the failures of the chief minister (Jairam Thakur) and the state government", Kharge, who is overseeing his first elections after assuming charge as Congress president last month, said. "The PM is saying don't look at the candidate, vote for me. This attitude belittles the people of Himachal Pradesh. They know the prime minister will not be there in the state after the voting ends," the Congress veteran told PTI in an interview, referring to Modi's campaign speeches. Confident that the Congress will wrest power from the BJP because the people were determined to bring in change, Kharge said his party is going into the .

Uttar Pradesh bypolls: Congress not to contest in Mainpuri, Khatauli

The by-election to Mainpuri Lok Sabha and Khatauli Assembly seats is scheduled for December 5

Sharad Pawar not to join Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra: Jairam Ramesh

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar will not join the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra due to health issues, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday. Addressing media persons here, Ramesh said Pawar (81) had earlier agreed to participate in the foot march. ''He was recently hospitalised and considering doctor's advice for rest, he will not join (the yatra),'' said Ramesh, the general secretary (communications) of the All India Congress Committee. Pawar's daughter and NCP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule, state party president Jayant Patil and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad reached Maharashtra's Nanded district on Thursday to join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the foot march from Deglur Naka and to attend the latter's public rally in the evening. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge will also attend the rally. Ramesh said Rahul Gandhi had spoken to Pawar when he was in hospital. ''Even though Pawar had agreed to join the yatra, he is unable to come due to doct

Himachal polls: BJP, Congress launch aggressive social media campaigns

The BJP and the Congress have launched an aggressive social media campaign to target each other ahead of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election as the rival parties leave no stone unturned in a bid to reap maximum gains. BJP leader Sanjay Tandon told PTI that the party started the campaign from Tuesday evening with a tagline of 'naya rivaj banayenge, phir bhajpa layenge' (will make a new tradition, will bring BJP again). The tagline ostensibly refers to the trend of the state electing governments of alternate parties every assembly election. The BJP has prepared 15-second short video messages, some of which target the grand old party on many issues. On the other hand, the Congress targeted the BJP for allegedly making big promises at the time of previous assembly polls and not fulfilling it. "They snatched Himachal's special status and we returned it respectfully," one of the BJP's messages says in Hindi. It refers to the BJP leaders saying during the poll campaigning that the then

Himachal polls: Cong on 68 rally blitzkrieg, Priyanka goes door to door

The oldest party in the country will hold rallies in all 68 assembly constituencies simultaneously in the state on the last day of the campaign

Why does Rahul not visit Raebareli during Bharat Jodo Yatra: BJP leader

Tripathi alleged that the former prime minister's remarks made fun of the BJP, which then had two MPs in the Lok Sabha, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.

Guj's financial position makes it easy to go for freebies. But should it?

The Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, and the results will be declared on December 8

Gujarat polls: Congress MLA Bhagwan Barad quits, joins BJP; 2nd in two days

In another jolt to the opposition Congress on the second day in a row ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls, senior MLA Bhagwan Barad on Wednesday resigned as a legislator and primary member and joined BJP. Barad, 63, who had won the Talala seat in Gir Somnath district in 2017, sent his resignation letter to Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and also handed it over to Speaker Nimaben Acharya. The development comes a day after 10-time Congress MLA and tribal leader, Mohansinh Rathva, resigned and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Barad, also known as Bhaga Barad, was welcomed into the BJP fold by state general secretary Pradipsinh Vaghela at the party's media centre in Ahmedabad. Barad told reporters he decided to quit the party after consulting at least 4,000 of his supporters and will fight the next month's elections if BJP wants him to, but added that he is not joining BJP with any pre-condition to get a poll ticket. Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 1 an

Bharat Jodo Yatra: Rahul Gandhi targets PM Modi over demonetisation, GST

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of unleashing an "economic tsunami" by carrying out demonetisation in November 2016. Addressing a meeting in Nanded district of central Maharashtra on the 63rd day of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, he also said that projects like Tata- Airbus military aircraft venture and Vendanta-Foxconn semiconductor plant were taken away from the state and given to Gujarat because of the Assembly elections in the neighbouring state. "These projects will be given to two-three industrialists who are the prime minister's friends, and the country's wealth is accumulating in their hands. Ports, infrastructure, telecom, agriculture sectors have been given to these people," Gandhi alleged. Referring to his encounters with locals during the day, he said a young boy told him about the lack of practical education in the country due to which there are no job opportunities, while a little girl told him that her parents love her brother ..