RAHUL GANDHI

Rahul Gandhi, who was declared the Congress party's chief campaigner for this year's looming electoral battle, today indicated his willingness to take up the country's top job if his name was approved by the elected representatives after the Lok Sabha polls. "In the Congress, elected MPs select the Prime Minister. If our party comes to power after the election and the MPs elect me, then I will definitely consider it," Mr Gandhi was quoted as saying by the news agency, Press Trust of India. The Congress vice-president, who is presently on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Amethi, was responding to a specific query whether he would be willing to shoulder the Prime Minister's responsibility. "To select a Prime Minister is the right of the MPs and it should stay with them. Selecting a nominee before polls is not a democratic culture, but part of a personality cult," Mr Gandhi said, and cited the example of Dr Manmohan ...

Amethi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today made light of Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas' statement challenging him to retain his Amethi Lok Sabha seat, saying that he had a 'love affair' with the people of the constituency.  "Mera to Amethi se prem ka rishta hai. Bahut log aate jaate rehte hain" (many people have come and gone, but I have a love affair with Amethi), Mr Gandhi told NDTV today. Accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, the Congress vice-president arrived  on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency yesterday.  Hours after their arrival, the AAP leader, who has been camping in the area to muster support for his election bid, likened Mr Gandhi's visits to Amethi to 'a political picnic,' and criticized him for doing precious little for the constituency's uplift.  Mr Gandhi said he had not been advertising the work done by him in his parliamentary constituency as  he had been advised by his ...

Mainpuri.  On his birthday that also happens to be Father’s Day, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has declared that he’d adopt a dalit girl child and become her foster father. Rahul has adopted the same eight-year-old girl, with whom he had ridden a buffalo around three years ago while on his expeditions to Uttar Pradesh to discover the other India. The girl’s name is Maya Kumari. “Our office received a fax from Switzerland, where Rahulji and Soniaji are currently holidaying, apprising us of Rahul Baba’s decision. Little Maya’s father had passed away in her childhood and her mother had tough time raising her; she even resorted to selling her to a rich man in Ambedkarnagar. Mayawati government didn’t help her at all so our party decided to step in,” local Congress leader Sapna Merchant informed. According to Sapna, Little Maya will now fly to New Delhi with Congress general secretary and live with Rahul Gandhi at his official residence. She will also get to stud...

New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will be holding his first public rally in poll-bound Uttarakhand Friday, sources said. Gandhi, who has been aggresively campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, will address the rally at Parade Ground in Dehradun, the hill state's capital. Gandhi launched his party's election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in the country, from his grandfather and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's Phulpur constituency Nov 14. Elections to assemblies in seven states in India, including Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, are scheduled for early next year.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has completed his second phase of campaigning for the UP assembly elections. He started on November 14 from Phoolpur, the Lok Sabha constituency once represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, Rahul's great-grandfather and India's first prime minister. November 14 was also Nehru's birth anniversary. The day and place was specially chosen to give the message that Rahul has the same secular and socialist leanings, the qualities which made Nehru a much-admired leader. All through the campaign, Rahul Gandhi spoke on corruption in UP. During a Youth Congress meeting in between, he said that corruption was most rampant in political parties and only the youth could cleanse it and talked about merit playing an important role in elections instead of connections. Sounds good. But the question is, do Rahul and his party act as he speaks? Can Rahul explain what role merit played to make him general secretary of the Congress? He should a...

When Digvijaya Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the 6am queue of citizens at his home could often be seen handing their memorandums to or chatting with a young boy. Now 24, the boy is set to become the latest political son to enter the family profession. Jaivardhan Singh, son of Congress general secretary and “Raja of Raghogarh” Digvijaya, can expect some sort of rivalry with a fellow royal and Dosco, 16-year-old Scindia scion Mahaaryaman, who cut his political teeth a year ago. On December 21, Jaivardhan will start a 150km padayatra in Raghogarh, taking a short break from the MBA programme in rural development he is doing at America’s Columbia University. The former Doon School student plans to spend eight days and nights with villagers. “He will be spending nights at Dalit and tribal homes. The idea is to familiarise himself with the issues of the real India. Jaivardhan hopes to become a true follower of Rahul Gandhi,” said a Digvijaya confidant who did not want t...

RAMABAI NAGAR (UP): Rahul Gandhi said the country's telecom revolution ushered in by his father Rajiv Gandhi was authored by a "vishwakarma" , Sam Pitroda , introducing the technocrat as a poster boy of "most backward castes" (MBCs) and giving a final thrust to Congress's social engineering plank for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. In a short speech at a packed MBC rally, Rahul played the 'pride card' for sections struggling to find a place in the OBC monolithic that Congress thinks can help it slay backward champions Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav. Rahul said the cellphones in their hands were powered by a policy promoted by Rajiv Gandhi , but authored by a man (Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda), who is a "vishwakarma" by caste. "B a d a i h a i n w o h.... You can change the world but have been ignored and so you are backward," he said, stunning observers by his use of mascot and idiom in backward politics. The bu...

BADAUN, UP: Accusing Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav of playing caste politics, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday sought a change in power saying a "government of the poor" by Congress in Uttar Pradesh will change the future of the state. Gandhi, who is on the second day of his five-day trip in the Samajwadi Party stronghold, alleged Mayawati government was corrupt and the money meant for poor does not reach them. "Elephants normally eat leaves. But you have magic elephant in Lucknow which eats currency notes," he told a party rally here ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Seeking a five-year stint in power, he said corruption in UP government was affecting the future of the state as no employment opportunity is generated in the state. "UPiites have built roads in Maharashtra, they work in Kerala, they help the farmers in Punjab...but they do not have roads, electricity or water in their villages. Who built the Delhi Metro? Who is working in ...

Rahul Gandhi slammed the governments in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh for Bundelkhand's backwardness, saying lack of development in the region was because of diversion of funds from central welfare schemes.  Continuing with his tirade against the Mayawati government for corruption, Rahul said the Centre had approved a development package for the parched region but the money was not reaching the cause of digging wells and building infrastructure as intended.  The attack, without naming the UP chief minister, comes after Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's recent visit to Bundelkhand to review implementation of the special package. He had expressed dissatisfaction over the use of development money.  The focus on Bundelkhand is not new for Rahul, having put the region on the centrestage early in his political campaign against Mayawati's regime and having nudged the Centre to approve a Rs 7,000 crore package for development.  ...

Notwithstanding the telecom minister Kapil Sibal threatening to block Google for permitting objectionable material against Congress leaders, party general secretary and tech-savvy Rahul Gandhi is taking help of Google Apps to keep his ears to the ground. Indian Youth Congress has tied up with Google to lend its apps services to help Gandhi and other party leaders remain constantly in touch with the foot soldiers. Managing director of Google APAC Doug Farber here on Tuesday said working with the Youth Congress was a fantastic experience. Google Apps is independently customisable version of several Google products under a custom domain name, web applications with several functions to remain in touch via Gmail, Google Groups, Google Calender, Talk, Docs and Sites. Explaining how the technology was helping the party cadres, head of Google Enterprise Pradeep Agarwal said it was a low cost solutions to replace communication gadgets like fax, telephone and other parapherenalia. The...

In the backdrop of persistent reports that Rahul Gandhi may be elevated to the position of working president of the Congress, the party gave clear indications on Tuesday that his role would expand.  Without going into the specifics of the future position for Rahul, already a General Secretary, Media Department chief Janardan Dwivedi said that there was no suspense that he would have a bigger role in the party.  "There is no suspense about it. He has a role, which is increasing constantly. In natural course, his role will go on increasing. This is what Congressmen want and this is what in their opinion is natural. There is no doubt about it that Congressmen want his role to increase," Dwivedi, who is also General Secretary, told reporters.  The statement by Dwivedi came in the backdrop of speculation that the young leader could be made Working President in a month or two or it could be as early as November 19, Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary. One of the media rep...

To attract the youth of Jammu and Kashmir into the party fold, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi will “appeal to them to join mainstream politics”, sources here said Sunday. The Congress leader will interact with students of Kashmir University in Srinagar Sep 26 to strengthen the ongoing membership drive of the party’s youth wing, Indian Youth Congress, which is expected to have elected representatives in a few months, sources said. The visit will also help the Congress general secretary better understand the issues related to youth in the border-state, said sources. “During his interaction with the students in the Valley, the Congress general secretary is expected to appeal to them to join mainstream politics,” said a senior Congress functionary. Gandhi will also address a public meeting in Kargil Monday. Later in the day, he will attend a convention of elected representatives of panchayats and meet the potential candidates of the Indian Youth Congress. “Rahul Gandhi wants to e...

Rahul Gandhi will visit earthquake -affected areas in Sikkim on Tuesday and meet victims and their families. Gandhi was scheduled to visit Meghalaya on September 21 for a public meeting of Youth Congress membership. But as the tragedy occurred on Sunday evening leading to casualties in Sikkim, the plan was modified. Gandhi will now visit Gangtok on Tuesday morning before attending the scheduled Youth Congress meeting in Meghalaya. Sources said the AICC general secretary will visit the state capital at 9:00am in the morning and meet the earthquake victims lodged in hospitals and homes. His Youth Congress membership meeting is scheduled at 11:30am at Mini Stadium, Ampathi in West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya. The death toll in Sunday's powerful temblor has shot up to 92, including 53 in the Himalayan state while more than 3,000 people have been rescued in quake-hit areas of Sikkim by defence forces so far.

Rahul Said Sorry to students gathered at Darbhanga areas Lalit Narayan Mithila University