RAHUL GANDHI

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi threw his weight behind keeping politicians out of sports bodies in the country and said sports persons themselves should be at the helm of affairs. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi interacts with sports personalities after the launch of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) and National Youth Policy, 2014 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi on Thursday disapproved of personal attacks on opposition leaders, indicating that the Congress leadership was not happy with Mani Shankar Aiyar's recent "chaiwala" jibe at BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. "It is wrong to make personal attacks on opposition," the Congress vice-president told a meeting of party spokespersons called to elicit suggestions on how best to get the message of Congress across to people in the coming Lok Sabha elections. He, however, did not name Aiyar. Rahul made the remark after party MP Bhalchandra Mungekar said that remarks like denigrating the "chaiwala" (tea seller) will not do the party any good. "Do not denigrate chaiwala. Such comments are unnecessary and they may derail the debate," Mungekar, who is one of the TV panelists of the party, said. Rahul's remark is significant given the fact that BJP is exploiting Aiyar's jibe at Modi to th...

As a part of the exercise to include demands and aspirations of sections of people, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday met women representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions. The women pradhans provided inputs for Congress's 2014 Lok Sabha elections manifesto. Gandhi had in January, held consultations with representatives from various minority communities, including Muslims to incorporate their views and suggestions for the party manifesto. Rahul Gandhi consults women Panchayat chiefs for Congress manifesto  The women pradhans provided inputs for Congress's 2014 Lok Sabha elections manifesto. The exercise comes in line with Gandhi's call for "opening the doors and windows of politics" for common man in formulating policies and programmes of the government as the party sought to reach out to the people directly in the manifesto-making exercise by launching a website to seek direct feedback from the public. As a prelude, Gand...

Rahul Gandhi has given his first major TV interview, predicting he would lead his ruling Congress Party to victory in this year's Indian general election. The Gandhi family has dominated Indian politics but Rahul vowed to open up the system, saying he was "absolutely against the concept of dynasty". He told Times Now TV he did not fear rival Narendra Modi, attacking him over his role in anti-Muslim riots in 2002. Polls show Congress doing badly, amid a slow economy and corruption scandals. Although Congress has named Mr Gandhi, 43, to lead its general election campaign, it has stopped short of saying he will be its candidate for prime minister. Correspondents say the move appeared aimed at protecting one of the party's main assets, in case the party loses the vote, which is due by May. 'Scared of nothing' But in the interview, Mr Gandhi said Congress was simply following the constitution. "Members of parliament are to b...

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will be meeting the party general secretaries and finalising the strategy for the General Elections on Saturday. The Gandhi scion is also expected to finalise the nominations of Rajya Sabha members today in the meeting to be held in Delhi. The party general secretaries have been asked to take feedback from the concerned party members before attending the meeting.  Ex-Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit is likely to be nominated for the upcoming elections from either Haryana or Himachal Pradesh.  The last date for filing nomination for the poll is January 28, scrutiny will be held the next day. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 31 and the poll will be held on February 7.

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 ...

New Delhi: In the recent past, actor Salman Khan has been quite vocal about political developments in the country. After speaking about Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and after flying kites with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat, the actor has now praised Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. In converation with Prabhu Chawla in IBN7's 'Teekhi Baat', Salman said that every state in the country is equal and has equal importance. He also complimented the politicians and said that they were doing a good job in the country. He said that he liked Rahul as a politician and would be willing to campaign for him whenever his help would be required. "Modi does not need me in GUjarat. He is very popular," Salman said. Defending Modi, Salman said that he had seen the CM's popularity and support in the state and thus there was no need to campaign for him. "I like Rahul Gandhi. If he calls me I will definitely go to campaign for hi...

Despite a majority of leaders at the Congress Working Committee meet pushing for Rahul Gandhi to be made the party's prime ministerial candidate, the party demurred from the decision and instead decided to appoint him the poll campaign chief. "We had one major resolution that has to be passed tomorrow and all the issues in it were discusses... The Congress President and Vice President placed their views on the resolution," Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi told reporters, refusing to disclose all its contents. "Many of the members in the CWC wanted that he (Rahul) should be made the Prime ministerial candidate but after some debate Congress president Sonia Gandhi intervened," he said. "She said that there was no such tradition in the Congress. If someone declares their PM candidate it doesn't mean that we have to do the same," Dwivedi said. Rahul Gandhi reportedly shot down the proposal to make him the PM candidate.  PTI He said t...

Ahead of the crucial AICC session on Friday, Union minister Oscar Fernandes said Rahul Gandhi is Congress candidate for Prime Minister even as suspense remains on whether the party will formally anoint him as PM nominee for the Lok Sabha polls. "Whether he (Rahul) accepts or not, he is our prime ministerial candidate. He will certainly accept (the responsibility), this is my opinion," the road transport minister told reporters. "Wait till tomorrow," Fernandes said when asked whether the announcement of Rahul Gandhi's candidature for the top post will be made tomorrow. He also said that there is no difference of opinion among senior party leaders on it. "No, no differences... we all are very happy." To a specific question as to how his name can be formally announced as the party's PM candidate amid different opinions in Congress on it, Fernades, who has held key positions in party organization for long, insisted, "It has t...