Amethi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday cut short his visit to his parliamentary constituency here and rushed to Assam where over 100 people died in a boat tragedy in Brahmaputra. The Congress leader, who had to fly from here for Delhi in the evening, winded up his three-day visit in the forenoon and left for Assam, Congress sources said. The review meeting of Jagdishpur assembly segment, which was scheduled to start around 11am, was advanced and got underway at 9am after which Gandhi left for the Fursatganj airstrip, the sources said. Gandhi had arrived here on April 30 for the first time after UP poll debacle to review the party's ...
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Islamabad, The contact between Rahul Gandhi, general secretary of ruling Congress party, and Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, who heads the Pakistan Peoples Party, is "important given that both might lead their respective countries one day and determine the future course of events", said a daily. Rahul and Bilawal met on Sunday during a day-long trip by President Asif Ali Zardari to India. Zardari interacted with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and later paid obeisance at the dargah of a Sufi saint in Ajmer. An editorial in the News International on Tuesday said that the general tone of friendship between the two leaders also "passed on to the torch-bearers of the future". "Rahul Gandhi, 40, accepted an invitation from Bilawal Bhutto Zardari 23, to visit Pakistan. "This initial contact between the two young men, who share some similarities as far as family history goes, is also important given that both might lead their respective countries one day and determine the future course of events," it added. The daily said that private or otherwise, "any contact between Pakistan and India is important". Zardari "managed to discuss some delicate but crucial issues during his ...
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New Delhi, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday will meet the party leaders from Uttar Pradesh to analyse the disappointing result of the party in the Assembly polls in the crucial north Indian state. Gandhi will meet the leaders in New Delhi in an attempt to "fix things" before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, media reports said. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh, who is currently out of the country, will not be attending the meeting. Newly elected Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly will attend the meeting on Thursday. Gandhi, who lead the campaign for Congress in Uttar Pradesh, failed to produce a winning result for the party in the politically critical state in the recent Assembly elections. Gandhi had taken the 'responsibility' behind the dismal show of the party in Uttar Pradesh on himself. Akhilesh Yadav, the 38-year-old Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, scripted a stunning victory of the outfit in Uttar Pradesh elections. ...
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Ghaziabad, Going against the wave of the "red cap" party across UP, Ghazibad voted for BSP. Mayawati's partymen were elected from four of the eight constituencies which are part of the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha segment. While the Congress-RLD alliance and SP won two seats each, BJP was completely wiped out on Tuesday from this region bordering the national capital. BSP winning from Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Muradnagar and Loni is likely to cause greater worry for the saffron party considering its eroding support base - particularly its loyal baniya and upper caste votes. BJP was rooted out completely in less than three years after people of Ghaziabad had elected its former national president Rajnath Singh to the XIVth LS. Political analysts feel wrong selection of candidates and Singh's lack of interest in local issues were responsible for BJP's big loss from these urbanized blocks. However, there are also theories of Muslims and dalits rallying behind the BSP apprehending BJP could win from these seats. Moreover, Mayawati's move to allot houses to the poor seems to have worked for her party. For the Congress-RLD combine, it was equally bad considering the alliance had high ...
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New Delhi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday accepted responsibility for the party's disastrous showing in Uttar Pradesh where he aggressively led the election campaign. "I fought, so it is my responsibility (for what happened)," Gandhi told reporters here, as it became clear that the Samajwadi Party was poised to take power in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress was decimated, winning barely 27 of 403 seats -- marginally more than the 22 it won five years ago. "We fought well but the results are not so good," he said, looking tired but managing a smile now and then. "I promised to the people of UP that I will be seen with the poor, on the roads and fields. "My work will continue. My efforts will be to re-erect the Congress in UP." Gandhi said it was too early to explain why the Congress was routed. "One or two reasons are very clear... Organisationally we are not where we should be. And the general mood was for the Samajwadi Party... "The Congress fundamentals were weak. Until we set that right, that weakness will not go away. "Overall our position has improved but it has to be taken forward." Gandhi politely sidestepped questions as to why ...
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New Delhi, Social activist Arvind Kejriwal, a key member of veteran anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s group, on Monday asked Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to disclose his election campaigning expenses. He also dared All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh to make Gandhi's helicopter and the party's other election expenses public, adding that it was the Congress’ turn to publish expenses. Kejriwal reiterated how their group of activists, led by Hazare, had disclosed their expenses and sources of funding for their last year’s extensive campaigning for a tough anti-graft law, the Lokpal Bill, within 24 hours of being asked. The group, nicknamed ‘Team Anna’ asserted that they were not just seeking a disclosure from the Congress but also from all political parties who had canvassed votes for this year’s assembly elections in five states. Backing Kejrijwal, the Hazare who is in New Delhi to attend a meeting of the core committee of his activist group to chalk out a “post-poll strategy”, said "People should know, where their money is being used by these politicians.” Hazare’s group had last year campaigned against ...
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Muzaffarnagar, "Ek do zakhm nahi, saara jism hai chhalni; dard bechara pareshan hai kahan se uthe," says Mufti Zulfiqar, the shehar mufti of Muzaffarnagar, ruing the lack of higher education among the region's Muslim youth famous for sugarcane farming. "In the land of sugarcane, there is bitterness all around," he adds. Barely a few hundred metres away from his home at Khalapar, Mayawati is holding a rally at Numaish Maidan which, like elsewhere, has overshadowed the one held by Rahul Gandhi at a management college at the same time. "Don't go by those present in these rallies wearing skull caps. In these bad times, people here seem to have realized that Mulayam is their best bet," he adds. Coming from somebody who aspires to one day contest Lok Sabha elections on a Congress ticket, the comment is surprising. "My feelings for the Congress notwithstanding, its alliance with the RLD to forge a Jat-Muslim alliance would have had a better chance if the Centre had implemented the Ranganath Mishra Committee report or if Rahul himself was projected as CM," he says. In the Jat-Muslim stronghold of Muzaffarnagar, the attempt by RLD chief Ajit Singh and the Congress to revive his ...
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Luckmow, A day after Kanpur administration lodged an FIR against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for violating the model code of conduct, Union telecom minister Kapil Sibal accused CM Mayawati of patronizing politicians with criminal antecedents. "Mayawati came to power promising to put criminals behind bars. However , since she became CM, her government has quietly been withdrawing criminal cases against her party MLAs and MPs with of kidnapping, rape and murder. It started in May 2007 when she was sworn in as CM and is still on," Sibal told reporters. The Bahujan Samaj Party rubbished Sibal's allegations and said it was the only party that acted against legislators found guilty of wrongdoing. To prove his point, Sibal presented a list of nine cases that included BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya. "The state government wants to withdraw a case against Maurya where he is charged with attempt to murder," said Sibal. He added that when a Rae Bareli lower court rejected the application , the state government moved to the district judge's court that directed the court to re-consider the case. The case was filed by head constable Ram Surat Upadhayay in 1987 posted in the ...
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Kanpur, A combative Congress on Tuesday asserted that it will move the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against Rahul Gandhi for alleged violation of poll code, saying the action was taken at the behest of Chief Minister Mayawati. "Because of the successful election campaign of the Congress, this action has been taken on the direction of Mayawatiji," Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters here. "We will go to the High Court to get the FIR quashed. I also want to clarify that we haven't received any notice regarding violation of Model Code of Conduct," he said. The FIR was lodged against Rahul by the district authorities which said his road show here had breached the time limit and the route map set by them. District Magistrate Hari Om said the FIR has been filed against Rahul and city Congress chief Mahesh Dikshit who have been booked under Section 188 of IPC for violating prohibitory orders (Section 144) imposed in the city and under Sections 283 (danger or obstruction in public way) and 290 (public nuisance). "The district administration had allocated time till noon and fixed a 20-km route for Rahul Gandhi's road show but he ...
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Kanpur, A cautious Rahul Gandhi on Sunday sought to ensure that he stayed within the limits set by the EC even as he insisted that the original author of the quota-for-Muslims pledge was the Congress. Mulayam Singh Yadav was merely doing a me-too act promising a higher reservation for the community. Speaking in Kanpur, Rahul questioned the very legitimacy of Mulayam Singh Yadav as a genuine leader of the Muslim community. He said : "Mulayam claims to be the leader of Muslims. If that's true, he should actually specify what he did for the community during his three stints as CM." The crowd responded to him with cries of "nothing, nothing". The Congress general secretary continued : "Tell me what kind of leader is he? He claims to be your leader and does nothing for you." Insisting that Mulayam had latched on to the reservations for Muslims pledge as an afterthought, Rahul said : "When Mulayam was CM, the media would ask him his views on Muslim quotas. But he would remain tightlipped. You will be surprised to know that the state which has over 70 districts has only one Muslim DM. Now Congress has given you reservation, so Mulayam says that he would have done more." Accusing SP ...
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Kanpur, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj has called election campaign of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi ' theatrics', which would not translate into votes. "Tearing up a list while standing on stage might make a good front-page photograph, but it cannot translate into votes. In order to get votes, one has to connect with the people and raise their issues," Swaraj told a gathering here on Saturday. Gandhi, while addressing a public gathering in Lucknow on Wednesday, tore a piece of paper carrying a list of the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party's poll promises, drawing huge cheers from his listeners. Swaraj also criticised the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for not having done justice to a widespread mandate that had given it an absolute majority in the 2007 state poll. "The BSP had an absolute majority government, but when I hold them to account after five years, then the performance register shows a zero. Their campaign slogan did not translate into ideology or practice. In this term, they pushed aside even their main voters, and the slogan 'For the Good of All' got changed to 'For Individual Good'," Swaraj said. The Uttar Pradesh polls ...
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Lucknow, A day after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi tore up a list of election promises made by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, Akhilesh Yadav, addressing a rally in the Gandhi bastion of Amethi, said Rahul may next jump from the stage to show his anger. "Rahul seems angry. Earlier , he used to get angry by folding his hands. Yesterday, he got angry and tore up a piece of paper. Who knows, next he may jump off the stage in anger?" said the SP state president while addressing reporters after a rally at Tiloi, Amethi. Rahul's sister Priyanka Gandhi played down the incident , saying he just tore up a writing slip, not any party's manifesto. Congress leader Digvijay Singh, asked about SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's advice to Rahul to learn courtesy, refused to comment. Akhilesh also advised Rahul, three years his elder, to control his rage. "He should control his anger. It's not good for his health," he said. Both SP and BSP were targeted by Rahul, who tore up a piece of paper at an election meeting in Lucknow on Wednesday, saying "mere lists of assurances" prepared by rival parties were of no use. He also charged BSP chief Mayawati and Mulayam with ...
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Varanasi, A feisty Mayawati gave it back to Rahul Gandhi word for word at a poll rally more than 80,000 people attended here on Friday. She saw in the Congress general secretary's aggressive campaign to win UP a "conspiracy to pave the way for FDI in retail". Rahul, she said, asks "aapko gussa nahin ataa? (Don't you get angry?). Truth is the Congress first introduces poverty in UP, then its prince starts calling our people beggars. Then, he plays sympathizer." The Congress, the CM said, ruled UP for 40 years and because of the party's wrong policies the young and jobless of the state were forced to go elsewhere in search of a livelihood. "If you commit the blunder of bringing in a Congress government here, the party would handover all your businesses and industries to foreign companies," she warned. Speaking her mind on minority quotas, the chief minister said: "Without amending the Constitution to increase reservations from 50%, creating a 4.5% quota provision for the minority within the 27% quota of OBCs will lead to adverse effects." The Congress, Mayawati said, was trying to create differences between OBCs and minority." Sushma sees the same ghost Was BJP's ...
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Varanasi, Asserting that he was never ''obsessed'' with the post of prime minister, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today said his party would not ally with any party and continue to fight for the ''honour'' and ''hope'' of the people of Uttar Pradesh. ''I am not bothered about the election results and my sole endeavour will be to see the Congress stand up and be counted in the times to come,'' he told a press conference here. ''How many seats, the Congress will get in the UP assembly polls was irrespective of the fact that the poll results would see the Congress defining the UP politics,'' Mr Gandhi said, adding that his party would give ''solid'' performance in the UP polls. In reply to a question, the Congress MP from Amethi said that like most of the top leaders of the country, he was never obsessed to become Prime Minister. ''You will see for youself that Rahul Gandhi will be with the people of Uttar Pradesh till the state is transformed for the good,'' he said. He said Congress may get 400 seats or 200 seats or whatever number it may get, but one thing is for sure that it would change the face of the state and the residents of UP would get due ...
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Varanasi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Monday said he wasn't running for the prime minister's post and his job was to stay connected with people. "Rahul Gandhi's obsession is not to be PM. Rahul Gandhi's obsession is to work for the people," the Congress general secretary told reporters on the last day of campaigning for the first of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh polls due to begin Wednesday. Without naming him, the Gandhi scion hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani saying some senior politicians were obsessed with prime ministership. He, however, said Advani was committing the "crime" of promising something to people that he won't be able to deliver. "He (Advani) is not listening to the people. He is trying to tell people that he will do something that he won't. But I don't do that," Gandhi said. He accused the BJP leader of scuttling the Lokpal bill in parliament. "Giving constitutional status to the Lokpal was India's idea," Gandhi said, alleging that the BJP opposed it thinking that this was Congress's ...
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Lucknow, Congress general secretary Rashid Alvi declared here Monday that Rahul Gandhi’s rise to the prime minister’s chair in 2014 was a forgone conclusion. He was reacting to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad’s sarcastic remark, daring Rahul to become prime minister as that would expose his capabilities. “We are glad that realisation has finally dawned on the BJP that the Congress is all set to again return to power in 2014, and Rahul will become prime minister,” Alvi said at a press conference here. Taking a dig at the party, he went on to add: “I would like to assure the BJP that its position will remain secure in the opposition benches of parliament.” He also predicted Congress victories in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur. ...
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New Delhi, Upping the ante on the Lokpal bill ahead of assembly polls in five states, Anna Hazare Sunday shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to "show courage" in passing stringent anti-corruption legislation to give the country something to remember him by. Team Anna also wrote separate missives to Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and other leaders questioning their party's stance on aspects of the legislation passed by the Lok Sabha last month. Using sharp language in the letters to the prime minister and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Hazare described Home Minister P. Chidambaram as "corrupt" and wondered why the government wanted to keep Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) "in its grip." The four-page letter to Manmohan Singh, only signed by Hazare, said he was not sure whether the Congress will give him another chance to become the prime minister and he should use this opportunity to push for a stringent anti-corruption law. "You have turned 80 and this country has given you everything. Now the county is asking something in ...
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Lucknow, BJP leader Uma Bharti today said Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had opened a pandora's box by making remarks about her origin of Madhya Pradesh. ''Rahul Gandhi should also speak about his origin as well as origin of his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and specify why they are contesting elections from Uttar Pradesh,'' she said at a luncheon press conference here. Countering that Congress president of Maharashtra Kripa Shankar Singh hailed from UP while Sheila Dikshit and several other Congress leaders had chosen not to contest from their native states, Ms Bharti said the Congress general secretary should not divert attention from the vital issues ahead of Assembly polls in UP. Mr Gandhi, after announcement of candidature of Uma Bharti in UP Assembly polls from Charkhari in Mahoba district, had commented that BJP had imported her from Madhya Pradesh. The firebrand BJP leader also took strong exception to the unsavoury comments made by congress leaders against her and said Mr Gandhi, who belonged to a reputed family, should censure such party leaders. ''I suggest Rahul and other Congress leaders stop use of such objectionable language till ...
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Azamgarh, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today wound up his five-day tour of Uttar Pradesh with an attack on the ruling BSP and opposition Samajwadi Party for allegedly using Muslims as votebank. '' Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party had been in power for four times while SP remained in power thrice but sadly nothing was done to improve the lot of minorities,'' Mr Gandhi told a public meeting here. The Congress MP from Amethi said Mulayam Singh Yadav headed SP government in Uttar Pradesh thrice but did nothing for reservation to Muslims. '' Since the Congress has announced 4.5 reservation to Muslims from within the backward quota, he is raising a hue and cry for increasing it further while his inaction in this regard is well known,''he added. Hollow promises would not help the SP or BSP, Mr Gandhi alleged. ''SP and BSP had always played with the psyche of the Muslims just to garner their votes in the elections and forgot them afterwards,'' he ...
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Ballia, Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of ill governance, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said that the former has failed to develop the state and would not be able to do so in the future. Addressing a gathering here, Gandhi asked: "Have you ever seen Mayawati visiting any village in the state in the last five years? Has she ever sat with a family in the village and dined with them? She has never connected with the people in the state." "Have you seen her drinking the same water that you intake in your village? How does she plan to develop the state without being connected with its people? She has developed magical elephant in Lucknow that eats public money," Gandhi said. He also accused the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of keeping mum on the entire reservation issue. "Have any previous chief ministers in the state spoken openly or done anything about reservation? When Mulayam Singh Yadav got to know that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is about to talk on reservation, he chose to remain silent. Even he did the same when mediapersons asked him to say on the same issue (reservation)," said Gandhi. Gandhi further urged the people ...
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