Page 3 - Sonia Gandhi

Mallikarjun Kharge sets up 47-member Steering Committee in place of CWC

New Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge set up a 47-member Steering Committee, which includes his predecessors Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Sonia Gandhi writes to British PM Sunak, hopes India-UK ties will deepen

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday congratulated Rishi Sunak on his elevation as British Prime Minister and hoped India's ties with the UK will further deepen during his tenure. "I am delighted at your taking over as Prime Minister of Great Britain. It is certainly a matter of pride for all of us in India," she said in her letter to Sunak, who is of Indian origin. "India-Britain relations have always been very special and I am confident that they will be further deepened during your tenure," Gandhi said. Sunak on Tuesday took charge as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister with a promise to put the crisis-hit country's needs "above politics" and "fix the mistakes" made by his predecessor, a day after he was elected the leader of the Conservative Party in a historic leadership run. The 42-year-old investment banker-turned politician is the youngest British prime minister in 210 years. He is also Britain's first Hindu Prime Minister. Sunak's ..

Congress will be strengthened by Kharge's leadership: Sonia Gandhi

The Congress faces many challenges but with unity and strength it will move forward to tackle them as it has done before, outgoing party chief Sonia Gandhi said on Wednesday. Speaking at an event where Mallikarjun Kharge formally took over as the Congress president after he was handed over the certificate of election to the top post, Gandhi said she is confident that the Congress will be inspired and strengthened by his leadership. She said it is her biggest satisfaction that the new Congress president is very experienced and has risen from being an ordinary worker to such heights through his hardwork. Gandhi said she did her duty as Congress president to the best of her ability and was feeling relieved as she would now be free from this responsibility. The Congress faces many challenges but with full strength and unity "we have to move forward and succeed" she said. Kharge is the first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years. He succeeds Sonia Gandhi, the longest serving party

Mallikarjun Kharge to formally take over as Congress president on Wednesday

Hectic preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters for Wednesday's ceremony where party president Sonia Gandhi will hand over the baton to her successor, Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the outfit in 24 years. Kharge defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the top post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race. Security personnel and workers made last-minute arrangements on the AICC headquarters lawns where a tent was being put up and in the Congress president's office room. Chairman of the central election authority of the Congress Madhusudan Mistry will formally hand over the election certificate to Kharge at the function, which will also see the presence of outgoing chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Kharge, 80, takes charge of the party at a time when it faces a tough challenge from a formidable BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has ousted the Congress from many states. For Kharge, wh

Gandhi family, its NGOs not above law: BJP on cancellation of FCRA licences

The BJP on Sunday welcomed the cancellation of the FCRA licences of two NGOs headed by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and said the Gandhi family and organisations linked to them can't be above law. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed that the home ministry's decision to cancel the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act licences of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) for alleged violation of laws has "exposed" their corruption. He also hit out at the RGF for receiving donations from controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, the Chinese embassy and the Chinese government besides several people accused of corruption charges, including Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, when the Congress-led UPA was in power. The Modi government has acted in accordance with the law and the Constitution, he said, adding that no one had the courage to act against the likes of Naik, who is facing probe on terror charges and fled India when the UPA was in ...

Kharge's presidency of Congress in Modi era is a poisoned chalice

It's time to admit the Congress's problem is not, in fact, the Gandhis. If anything, they hold together a party that would otherwise split into multiple factions

Sonia Gandhi has last word in Cong, likely to remain so: Ashwani Kumar

Former Congress leader Ashwani Kumar has said the election of Mallikarjun Kharge as party president by a huge margin shows Sonia Gandhi has the last word in the organisation's internal politics. She is likely to command such respect as long as she is active in the party in whatever capacity, Kumar said on Wednesday while asserting that it is because party persons retain a sense of personal loyalty to her, which extends to the family. "That Kharge was her undeclared choice is indisputable notwithstanding vehement denials by the establishment to the contrary. Sonia Gandhi has once again demonstrated her astute political judgment in using elections to demonstrate the family's pre-eminence in the party established over long years of exercise of political patronage," Kumar said in a statement. The former union minister also lauded Shashi Tharoor for taking on the challenge to contest the top Congress post and said he is no loser. "The election process is a victory for him. He invested h

Mallikarjun Kharge faces multiple challenges in new role as Congress chief

He is the first non-Gandhi president of the party in more than 20 years

Will Kharge be a rubber stamp or a connect between party and family?

Kharge began life as a trade union lawyer and knows what it is to struggle

Sonia Gandhi visits Kharge, congratulates him on winning Cong prez poll

Outgoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday visited veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge's residence and congratulated him on winning the party presidential poll with a huge margin

Mallikarjun Kharge becomes first non-Gandhi Congress President in 24 years

Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge, a staunch Gandhi family loyalist from Karnataka, has become the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years. The 80-year-old leader succeeds Sonia Gandhi at the grand old party's highest office. Kharge defeated Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor in the October 17 Congress' Presidential polls, which saw over 9,500 delegates across the country voting. A leader with more than 50 years of experience in politics, he is also the second AICC President from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa and also second Dalit leader after Jagjivan Ram to hold the post. Kharge was elected MLA for nine times in a row, seeing a steady rise in his career graph from humble beginnings as a union leader in his home district of Gulbarga (renamed as Kalaburagi). He joined the party in 1969 and went on to become President of the Gulbarga City Congress Committee. That Kharge was unconquerable at the hustings was mirrored until 2014 Lok Sabha polls in which h

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Will have no shame in taking advice, support of Gandhi family: Kharge

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said the Gandhi family has struggled to strengthen the party, and he would have no shame in taking their advice and support in case he is elected party president. Kharge, considered close to the Gandhis, joined Rahul Gandhi in Bellary on Saturday for the Bharat Jodo Yatra and later addressed a public meeting there. The veteran leader said he is the "delegates' candidate" in this polls to the party's highest post, scheduled for October 17. Responding to a question about talk that he would be remote-controlled by the Gandhi family, Kharge said, "They say such things as there is nothing else to tell. The BJP indulges in such a campaign and others follow it. Sonia Gandhi has worked for 20 years in the organisation...Rahul Gandhi was also president...they have struggled for the party and put their strength for its growth." Congress delegates will vote on Monday to elect their party president. Kharge, who is up against party leader Shas

Tharoor's 'netagiri' jibe at Kharge camp on eve of Congress president polls

Congress presidential poll candidate Shashi Tharoor on Sunday took a veiled dig at the Kharge camp saying some colleagues were "indulging in 'netagiri' and telling party workers" that they know whom Sonia Gandhi wants elected. If anyone has "fear or doubt" in their mind, the party has made it clear that it will be a secret ballot, he said and urged the Congress delegates to listen to their hearts while voting to elect the new party president. "I also asked Sonia Gandhi how she views the elections. She said that it is very good for the party, and you fight with full courage ('himmat'), and we will stay neutral. She had said that there will be no official candidate from their side," Tharoor told reporters at the Uttar Pradesh Congress headquarters. The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who is contesting against veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the Monday election, emphasised on "decentralisation" in the organisation so that "'all decisions are not taken in Delhi. He said that there should b

I appreciate that I'm seen as the underdog in Congress election: Tharoor

Political career spent defending the values of inclusive India, allegations of disloyalty to Nehru Gandhi family malicious: Congress MP

Bharat Jodo Yatra: Laskar named Congress coordinator of north-east states

The Congress has appointed Sharif Uz Zaman Laskar as coordinator of northeast states for organising sub-yatras there parallel to the main Bharat Jodo Yatra. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who heads the Bharat Jodo Yatra organising panel, appointed Zaman, who is currently vice president of Assam PCC. The Congress is organising sub-yatras in states where the main Kanyakumari-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra is not passing through. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had last month announced that Assam would start its Bharat Jodo sub-yatra on November 1 from Dhubri to Sadiya town.

After Gandhis refused to fight Prez poll, decided to enter fray: Kharge

Congress presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said he decided to enter the fray for the top post after members of the Gandhi family refused to contest the poll and he wanted to strengthen the party. The electoral contest would take place between Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, and voting will take place on October 17 in every state capital through secret ballot. "After the Gandhi family refused to contest the election for the post of Congress president, I decided to contest this election after consulting my well-wishers," said Kharge, who was here to meet members of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC). "I decided to contest the election to strengthen the Congress and to save its ideology," Kharge said, adding he was meeting more than 9,000 members of his party across the country and seeking their support. He said that he has prepared his manifesto by incorporating the announcements made at the party's Udaipur Chintan Shivir. "Fifty per cent posts in the organisa

When Mulayam and Pawar dashed Sonia Gandhi's prime ministerial hopes

Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who passed away on Monday, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar formed the unlikely duo who set in motion political events in 1999 that dashed Congress president Sonia Gandhi's prime ministerial hopes. Gandhi, then a newly appointed Congress chief, had staked claim to form the government at the Centre after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 1999. We have 272 and we hope to get morewe are confident we will get more, Gandhi had famously told reporters at the Rashtrapati Bhawan after calling on the then President K R Narayanan. However, Yadav, whose 20 members in the Lok Sabha were crucial for the Congress to cross the majority mark, had different plans and was not keen to back Gandhi as the prime minister. Yadav had proposed the name of CPI(M) stalwart Jyoti Basu for the top executive post, bristling at Gandhi's claims of forming a Congress ...

Contesting Congress prez poll as no Gandhi member running for post: Kharge

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday expressed regret that none from the Gandhi family was running for the party chief's post and said he took the plunge on advice of all in the party. As part of his campaign for the AICC presidential post, Kharge visited the headquarters of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee in Vijayawada. Kharge said he played a long innings in Karnataka politics and contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 on the advice of current party president Sonia Gandhi. "Election for the Congress president's post became inevitable as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka refused to take it up. So I have jumped into the fray for the president's post on the advice of all in the party," Kharge told reporters after addressing the AP Congress leaders. "I served as Union Labour and Social Justice minister," he said and also mentioned his tenure as Congress party leader in Lok Sabha. Kharge said he would implement the Udaipur Declaration of offering 50 per cent of p

Kharge rubbishes talk of him being 'Sonia's remote control', slams BJP

Senior Congress leader and candidate for the party's presidential polls Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said there is no such thing as "remote control" in his party unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party, where every president is selected through a "consensus". In the city to campaign for the election to the party's top post, Kharge asserted that if becomes the head of the grand old party, the remote control would be with him. He was replying to a query about the BJP's claim that he would act as the "remote control" and "proxy" of Sonia Gandhi after being elected to the post. "A lot of people say I am a remote control and work from behind. They say I will do what Sonia Gandhi will say. There is no such thing as remote control in Congress, people take decisions together. It is your thinking. A few people are creating this idea," Kharge said. Attacking the BJP, he said, "How many times has the prime minister held (party president's) election? All the presidents were selected through consensu