Page 50 - Indian National Congress

BJP repeatedly tried to impose its will on people of Tamil Nadu: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of repeatedly trying to impose its will on the people of Tamil Nadu and flagged issues such as "devastating impacts" of NEET in the state and insufficient devolution of taxes from the Centre. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his rally in Coimbatore and posed questions to him on key issues affecting the state. "Today, PM Modi will be in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. In a state which has a long history of advocating for cooperative federalism, the BJP has repeatedly tried to impose its will on the people," Ramesh said. He said, "The Modi Sarkar's track record in TN begs the question - does PM Modi want to represent the people, or does he want to rule over them?" Ramesh said the NEET exam was introduced by the BJP government in 2017, and it faced widespread public backlash due to fears that it would unfairly disadvantage students from poor and marginalised communities. "Very s

'Not joining any party or contesting polls,' says actor Sanjay Dutt

Actor issues a clarification stating he will not be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024

PM Modi frustated, resorting to cliched Hindu-Muslim script, says Cong

The Congress on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'Muslim League imprint' remarks on the party's manifesto, saying he is scared over the prospect of the BJP struggling to cross the 180-seat mark in the Lok Sabha polls and has again resorted to the "same cliched Hindu-Muslim script". The opposition party's reaction came a day after Prime Minister Modi launched an attack on the Congress, charging that its poll manifesto bore the imprint of the Muslim League and utterances of its leaders showed hostility towards national integrity and Sanatan Dharma. Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the BJP is consistently losing ground, which is why "the PM's love for Muslim League has resurfaced". She said the Congress manifesto is being widely discussed and is a blueprint for the future of the country. "After being in power for 10 years, when the country is at the brink of elections and the prime minister

'Step aside, take a break': Prashant Kishor's advice for Rahul Gandhi

Poll strategist said former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has been 'unsuccessfully' running the party for the last 10 years

Highlights of the day: Two planes collide at Heathrow Airport while aircraft being towed

From Congress' meeting to plan for Delhi's Lok Sabha seats to the tremors felt in J&K, catch all the updates from around the world here

PM Narendra Modi tore apart country's dignity, hurt democracy: Sonia Gandhi

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of tearing apart the country's dignity and democracy and claimed that various tactics were being used to force opposition leaders to join the BJP. Addressing an election event of the party here, the former Congress chief claimed that for the last 10 years, the country has been in the hands of a government that left no stone unturned to promote unemployment, inflation, economic crisis and inequality. "Today our country's democracy is in danger. Democratic institutions are being destroyed and a conspiracy is being hatched to change our Constitution," she alleged, adding, "This is a dictatorship and we all will give a reply to this." "Considering himself great, Modi ji is tearing apart the dignity of the country and its democracy," Sonia Gandhi said. Addressing the event earlier, the party's national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra referred to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former ..

Won't allow BJP's communal politics to take root in Kerala: CM Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said the Left will not allow the communal politics of the BJP to take root in the state and ensure that the saffron party does not win a single seat in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the media here, Vijayan said the Left will overcome the challenges posed by the Sangh Parivar to the nation and its people and will work towards ousting them from power. "We are contesting this election with an aim to bring down the BJP from power and that's why we have actively joined the anti-BJP front at the national level. We would like to make one thing clear. The BJP will not only face defeat in all 20 seats, they will even fail to secure the second position in any constituency this time," Vijayan said. He noted that this election will decide the future of the country and there is no point in voting for the Congress party. "People have understood that there is no point in voting for the Congress party from their experience in the last five years

INDIA alliance is for commission, NDA is on mission: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the opposition INDIA bloc's aim is to earn commission after coming to power while the BJP-led NDA is on a mission. Addressing an election rally in Saharanpur, Modi said the opposition alliance was fighting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections just to stop the BJP from winning more than 370 seats. "During its rule, the Congress' focus was on earning commissions. The INDI alliance too aims to earn commission after coming to power but the NDA and Modi sarkar is on a mission," Modi said. "The opposition is fighting just to stop the BJP from winning more than 370 seats. The Samajwadi Party is changing candidates every hour while the Congress can't even find candidates to field," Modi said. "The Congress does not have the courage to field candidates even in those seats which are considered its stronghold," he added. Modi said the Congress manifesto bears a Muslim League imprint and part of it is dominated by leftists. The prime minister said th

Will win by over 200K votes against Gaurav Gogoi in Jorhat: Assam BJP MP

Sitting BJP MP from Jorhat Lok Sabha seat, Topon Kumar Gogoi, on Saturday exuded confidence of retaining the constituency by trouncing his rival Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress by a margin of over two lakh votes. In an interview to PTI, the BJP leader asserted that people of his constituency and the entire country want Narendra Modi elected as prime minister for the third consecutive term so that the "development journey continues. He also claimed that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which the opposition is "trying to make an election issue", is not at all a concern among voters. "My campaigning is going on very well. Political meetings are being held in every panchayat of all the legislative assembly constituencies of Jorhat, and I am getting spontaneous reactions of people irrespective of religion, caste and creed," the BJP MP said. Jorhat will vote in the first phase on April 19 along with four other seats in Upper Assam. "We have done enough work in the tea gardens. Earlie

LS elections: Kharge, Rahul to address poll rally in Hyderabad today

Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be addressing a Congress rally on Saturday at Tukkuguda near here, party sources said. Tukkuguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad is where the party had earlier announced its six poll 'guarantees' for the Assembly elections held in November last year. The Congress is expected to show its strength by mobilising huge crowds from surrounding areas to the 'Jana Jatara' meeting, the sources said. Industries Minister D Sridha Babu visited the venue on Friday with others. He said that about 10 lakh people are expected to attend the meeting. He said all the arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the rally. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who is also TPCC president had earlier opined that the rally will serve as a launchpad for the INDIA bloc to come to power at the Centre in the upcoming LokSabha polls.

Cong holds CEC meet with focus on Delhi seats; next list of candidates soon

Top Congress leaders met here on Friday to discuss the party's Lok Sabha poll candidates for the three seats it is contesting in Delhi, with sources saying an announcement on it would be made very soon. The Congress is in an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and fielding candidates in three of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. The Congress Election Committee meeting was also held for the states of West Bengal and Haryana with most of its senior leaders in attendance. The meeting was chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by former party chief Sonia Gandhi, general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, senior leaders Salman Khurshid and P L Punia, among others. The party has so far declared over 230 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls that are scheduled to commence on April 19.

LS polls: Kamal Nath aide, former Congress minister Dipak Saxena joins BJP

Former Madhya Pradesh minister and four-time Congress MLA from Chhindwara Dipak Saxena and his supporters joined the BJP on Friday night. MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav welcomed Saxena, a close aide of senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, into the ruling party. Saxena, who quit the Congress on March 22, said he was joining the BJP as he was influenced by the works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, CM Yadav and state BJP chief VD Sharma. Earlier, his son Ajay Saxena had joined the BJP. "The Congress has become aimless under Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath, sitting MP from Chhindwara. My father was being marginalized and the workers too were being ignored in Chhindwara for the last six years. That is why my father took the decision to part ways with the Congress," Ajay Saxena said. Dipak Saxena had quit his Assembly seat when Kamal Nath became CM in 2018 so that latter could become an MLA. On March 29, Kamal Nath loyalist and Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Pratap Shah crossed

From jobs to MSP, what has changed in Congress' manifesto from 2019

Lok Sabha elections 2024: The manifesto pledged to conduct a nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census to assess caste and sub-caste demographics along with their socio-economic status

LS polls: 28% of BJP candidates so far are defectors, mostly from Congress

Out of the total of 417 candidates announced so far, 116 are turncoats, claims report while saying majority defections happened after PM Modi came to power

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress releases election manifesto at AICC HQ

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 would be held in seven phases starting on April 19 and ending on June 1. The results will be declared on June 4

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress set to contest fewest seats since 1951

The decrease in the number of candidates was mainly because of the party conceding seats to its allies

Lok Sabha polls: Rahul Gandhi, Kharge to launch Congress manifesto today

Lok Sabha elections: The Congress has made poll promises focussing on five segments of the society, including women, youth, dalit, farmers and workers

LS polls: Digital clocks and smart TV box are new-age freebies in Karnataka

Lok Sabha elections: Poll officers in Karnataka reported that alongside traditional freebies such as groceries and cookers, new age attractions have also taken centre stage this election

Oppn made Modi govt provide for free Covid-19 vaccines, says Congress

The Congress on Friday claimed that the Modi government was "dragged into" providing free COVID-19 vaccinations on the insistence of the opposition and the Supreme Court, and said it is hard to forget the "extent of the mismanagement" that occurred during the pandemic. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the BJP has been touting free COVID-19 vaccinations as a big achievement. "The truth is the Modi Sarkar was dragged into doing so by the insistence of the Opposition and the intervention of the Supreme Court. Aap chronology samajhiye: On April 18, 2021, Dr. Manmohan Singh writes to the Prime Minister, urging him to clarify vaccine policy - which until then was chaotic and not systematized - and giving him well-thought out suggestions on how to maximise vaccinations," Ramesh said on X. On April 19, 2021, the Union government announced the "Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy" which made the vaccination of citizens between 18 and 44 yea

INDIA alliance joins CPI to contest 1 Lok Sabha, 8 Assembly seats in Andhra

INDIA alliance partners Congress and CPI in Andhra Pradesh have struck a seat sharing deal for the ensuing simultaneous polls, entailing the CPI to contest one Lok Sabha and eight Assembly seats. As per the agreement reached on Thursday, CPI will contest the Guntur Lok Sabha constituency, while the Assembly segments include Vijayawada West, Visakhapatnam West, Anantapur and Pattikonda. Other Assembly constituencies allocated to the CPI are Tirupati, Rajampet, Eluru and Kamalapuram. Congress party will leave one Parliament constituency, namely Guntur to the CPI to contest. Congress party will leave the following eight Assembly constituencies to CPI to contest, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) said in a press release on Thursday night. YS Sharmila Reddy, president, APCC, held a series of consultations with Ramakrishna, secretary, CPI, on sharing of seats between Indian National Congress and CPI for the upcoming elections to Parliament and Assembly in Andhra Pradesh, it ..