Page 385 - Congress

Congress president's election: Uncertain times ahead for the party

The election of Kharge as Congress president is almost certain. From here on, if the Congress does not improve its poor electoral performance, a challenge could emerge to the Gandhi family leadership

Drenched in rain, Rahul Gandhi says nothing can stop Bharat Jodo Yatra

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said nothing can deter the Bharat Jodo Yatra which is aimed at "stopping hatred and violence spread by the BJP-RSS", as he addressed a public meeting in heavy rains here. Soon after Gandhi arrived at the public meeting at the end of the day's march, the showers started but Gandhi chose to continue his speech. "This yatra will carry on from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and will not stop. As you are seeing it is raining, but rains have not stopped this yatra. "Heat, storm or cold can't stop this yatra. This river-like yatra will carry on from Knayakumari to Kashmir and in this river you will not see things like hate or violence. There will only be love and brotherhood as this is India's history and DNA," he said. Gandhi said that whatever "hatred and violence the BJP may spread, this yatra will stop it and will help unite people". The former Congress president also attacked the BJP government in Karnataka over corruption. Meanwhile, a number of part

Bommai ridicules Rahul Gandhi, says no need to talk about 'Nakli Gandhis'

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday called Rahul Gandhi and his family as 'fake Gandhis' and preferred not to discuss about them on Gandhi Jayanti. Bommai was speaking to reporters after paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 153rd birth anniversary. "Why are you talking about Nakli (fake) Gandhis on Gandhi Jayanti. There is no need to talk about Nakli Gandhis on Gandhi Jayanti," the Chief Minister said. He was replying to a query on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's charge that there was rampant corruption in Karnataka under the BJP rule. "The entire party (Congress) is on bail. He (Rahul) himself is on bail, the previous Congress president, honourable Sonia Gandhi is on bail. Our president (state Congress president D K Shivakumar) is also on bail. The entire party is bail party. Everyone (in Congress) is facing corruption charges," Bommai alleged. He charged that Shivakumar, who is also participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, is facing lots of corruption charges fo

State scan: Has Goa become the go-to party-hopping destination in India?

Goa isn't new to defections. Political analysts say there have been at least 10 major episodes of defections since the state was liberated in the early 1960s

INLD eyes revival in 2024 Haryana Assembly polls as mega oppn gathers steam

The INLD is looking to make a comeback in the state riding on the support it extended to farmers when they were struggling against the now-withdrawn three central farm laws

The great big election: A non-Gandhi to head Congress after over 2 decades

The new president will be elected on October 17 and October 19 will bring the answer

National Herald case: ED again summons Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar for questioning in its ongoing money laundering probe into the operations of the Congress party-owned National Herald newspaper, official sources said. He has been asked to depose before the federal investigative agency on October 7 in Delhi, they said. The 60-year-old former cabinet minister was last questioned by the federal agency on September 19 in the national capital in another money laundering case linked to alleged possession of disproportionate assets. The latest summons comes at a time when the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' of the Congress party, led by its leader Rahul Gandhi, entered Karnataka on Friday, September 30, and will be in the state for 21 days. Shivakumar is involved in the conduct of this leg of the yatra. While exiting the ED office after his questioning last month, he had told the waiting mediapersons that he has been charge-sheeted by the agency in one money laundering case but h

Gehlot targets Pilot, says Rajasthan MLAs got agitated over new CM's name

In a veiled attack on party leader Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said it was important to know why there was resentment among MLAs over the name of a new chief minister in the state. Several MLAs loyal to Gehlot, who was seen as the frontrunner for the post of the Congress national president, had last week submitted resignation letters over a possible move to appoint Pilot as the next chief minister. Gehlot later announced that he will not contest the Congress presidential polls as he took moral responsibility for the political crisis in his state. Referring to the crisis, he said 80-90 per cent MLAs switch sides when a new chief minister is going to be appointed but this did not happen in Rajasthan. "When a chief minister is changed, 80-90 percent (MLAs) leave him and switch sides. They turn to the new candidate. I too don't consider it wrong. But it was a new case in Rajasthan where the MLAs got agitated just in the name of the new chief minister,"

Sonia to participate in Bharat Jodo Yatra on Oct 6 in Karnataka: Report

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra on October 6 in Karnataka, sources said on Sunday. The Yatra will pass through Karnataka for 21 days covering 511 km in the state. It began on September 7 from Kanyakumari and entered Karnataka on Friday after passing through Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sonia Gandhi will walk with the participants on October 6 during the Karnataka leg of the Yatra, a party source said. This would be the first time that Sonia Gandhi will participate in the Yatra which began when she was abroad for a medical check-up. Rahul Gandhi has been walking continuously in the Yatra and reached Gundlupet in Karnataka on September 30 from Gudalur in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The Yatra has entered a crucial phase with the Karnataka leg as the state goes to polls next year and is the first time when it is passing through a BJP-ruled state.

Told Tharoor better to have consensus candidate: Mallikarjun Kharge

Nominee for the Congress president post Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he told fellow contender Shashi Tharoor that it would be better to have a consensus candidate, but the Lok Sabha MP insisted on a contest for the "sake of democracy". Kharge said if he becomes the party chief, he will consult the Gandhi family and other senior leaders and implement the good things suggested by them, even as he rejected claims that he was the "official candidate" backed by the Gandhis. Launching his Congress presidential poll campaign with a press conference at his residence here, 80-year-old Kharge said there is no G-23 camp now and all those leaders want to fight unitedly against the RSS-BJP and therefore are supporting him. Several dissident leaders such as Bhupinder Hooda, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari and Prithviraj Chavan of the group of 23, which had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 for large scale organisational reform, have put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his ...

Nadda takes jibe at Congress, says its reduced to a 'brother-sister party'

Nadda inaugurated the BJP district office in Una and was quick to take a jibe at the Congress saying that it has been reduced to merely a 'brother-sister party'

Mallikarjun Kharge 'officially starts' campaigning for Congress prez post

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is one of the contenders for the party's top post, announced his "official start" to the election campaign

Open to public debate between Cong prez poll candidates: Shashi Tharoor

Set for an electoral face-off with Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge for the AICC chief's post, Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said he would be open to the idea of a public debate between the candidates as it would evoke people's interest in the party in a manner similar to the recent British Conservative Party leadership race. He also said the Nehru-Gandhi family has held and will always hold a special place in the hearts of Congress party members. In an interview with PTI, Tharoor said the answer to the Congress' current challenges lies in a combination of effective leadership and organisational reforms. Kharge and Tharoor were left in the fray in the Congress presidential poll after former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi's nomination was rejected on Saturday. Talking about what he brings to the table, Tharoor said, "I have a proven and credible track record in leading at the highest levels of organisations, whether it has been at the UN, where, as the under-secretary ..

BJP, Congress organise events to remember Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat

The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress are celebrating Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on Sunday in a big way in Gujarat where the Assembly elections are due later this year. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel attended a prayer meet with BJP leaders at Kirti Mandir in Porbandar, the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, and said the Father of the Nation lives in the heart of every Indian. The Congress said it will hold a prayer meeting at Kochrab Ashram, established by Mahatma Gandhi, near the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad in the evening. Elections are due in Gujarat by this year-end and political parties are engaged in hectic campaigning across the state. After the prayer meet in Porbandar, CM Patel said, Mahatma Gandhi resides in the heart of every Indian. His philosophy of non-violence, truth and cleanliness is being thought about and followed across the world when it is plagued by war, communism, imperialism and capitalism." He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working t

Congress President polls: Gehlot says Tharoor belongs to elite class

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge has the experience to strengthen the Congress and would emerge as a clear winner in the party presidential poll, while his rival in the race Shashi Tharoor belongs to the "elite class". Kharge has a long political experience. He has a clean heart, he comes from the Dalit community and (Kharge contesting election) is being welcomed everywhere, he told reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the secretariat here. Gehlot, one of the proposers of Kharge, said Tharoor is also a good man and has good thoughts but he is from the elite class. "Tharoor is a class apart; he is from elite class but the kind of experience which is needed to strengthen the party at booth, block and district levels, that is with Kharge and cannot be compared to Shashi Tharoor," he said "Therefore, it will naturally be a one-sided contest for Kharge, he said. Kharge and Tharoor are in a direct contest for th

Congress will continue to raise corruption issue: Rahul Gandhi in Karnataka

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi discussed the prevailing situation in the country with intellectuals and prominent persons from the fields of culture and performing arts in the region

Tharoor backers: 2 ex- union ministers, G-23 leader among 60 signatories

Former Union ministers Mohsina Kidwai, Saifuddin Soz, four MPs and G-23 leader Sandeep Dikshit are among those who signed the nomination forms in support of Shashi Tharoor's candidacy for the post of Congress president. Tharoor posted six forms on Twitter though he could submit only five on Friday as he was late by a few minutes in submitting the sixth form. Also, it was not known if all his five forms were admitted as Congress' central election authority chief Madhusudan Mistry said on Saturday that out of the total 20 nomination forms, four were rejected. While one rejected form was of former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi, Mistry refused to divulge who had filed the other three forms that were rejected. Party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Tharoor are now left in the fray. While Kharge had submitted 14 forms, Tharoor submitted five and Tripathi one. According to the six forms posted by Tharoor on Twitter that had the signatures of 60 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates (10 e

Congress slams BJP for putting ads calling Nehru grandfather of Partition

The Congress on Saturday slammed the BJP for putting up front page advertisements in a few vernacular dailies in Karnataka, calling the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the grandfather of India's Partition. As Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra' (Unite India March) entered the second day in Karnataka, the State unit of the BJP put out an advertisement in some Kannada newspapers which read, Can the great grandson unite what the grandfather of India partition' did? With a map dividing Pakistan and Bangladesh in the middle of Nehru's and Rahul Gandhi's photographs, the advertisement painted in black questions, Can the unity of India possible from a party, which caused the bloodbath of the citizens only to come to power? The BJP alleged that the agenda of Bharat Jodo Yatra' is to disintegrate India. The Congress took strong exception to the accusation, saying the right wing has always been on the wrong side of the history. The BJP gave the advertisement. The right wing ideology

New AICC president will be remote control of Nehru family: Pralhad Joshi

Taking potshots at the election for AICC chief, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi stated on Saturday that no matter who becomes the President, he will be the remote control of Nehru family

Congress appoints Brijlal Khabri as UP unit chief, names six regional heads

The Congress on Saturday appointed Dalit leader Brijlal Khabri as its Uttar Pradesh unit chief and named six regional chiefs as part of efforts to revive its fortunes in the politically crucial state ahead of the 2024 general elections. The appointments come months after Ajay Lallu resigned as the state unit chief following the party's crushing defeat in the 2022 Assembly polls. Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed Khabri, a former BSP leader, as the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president, along with naming Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Ajai Rai, Virendra Chaudhary, Nakul Dubey, Anil Yadav and Yogesh Dixit as regional chiefs in the state unit, a party statement said. Party sources said that as part of its strategy to strengthen the organisation, the UP Congress has divided the entire state into six parts -- Paschim, Braj, Awadh, Bundelkhand, Prayag and Purvanchal -- on a politico-cultural basis. National Secretaries have already been posted in every zone by party general secretary