RAHUL GANDHI

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Toffee, Tata and Ambedkar entered 2014's campaign lexicon on Monday as Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi intensified what's already become a virtual competition of personal attacks. Adding to this were similar attacks on rivals by other leaders of both parties. Gandhi's targeting of Modi, which resulted in Tatas being named in political attacks for the first time this poll season, seemed more dramatic, as it persists in naming big companies. But so far at least, pundits in finance, marketing and academia don't see such a strategy change delivering major benefits for Congress. Gandhi, continuing his attack on Modi and India Inc, named Tatas in addition to Adani and termed Modi's policies as a 'toffee model'. "You get a toffee at Rs 1, but Modi gave away 44,000 acre at Rs 1 (per) sq m," Gandhi said. "This is not Gujarat model, this is toffee model." On Tatas, Gandhi said, "Tata can get a loan for 20 yea...

TUMKUR: AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi made a strong pitch for women's empowerment at his rally on Sunday, and said it's the only way for the country to become a superpower. Addressing a women's rally at Tumkur, 70km from Bangalore, Rahul said the country today was half a superpower because women had not been given equal status. "India will not become a superpower if women aren't given opportunities. We need equal representation for women at all levels to make them empowered," he told a mammoth gathering. Rahul, who is also co-chairman of the Congress campaign committee for the LS polls, was here on a two-day tour. Chanting the women empowerment mantra, he was critical of his own party. "Men outnumber women at this rally. This is the situation the Congress is facing today. Men are preferred over women while giving tickets for assembly and Lok Sabha elections. This has to change and I want more women to attend rallies and participate in the el...

NEW DELHI: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday described Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi as "marathon man" of politics as he sought to pin down BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on the 2002 riots and his government's social development record.  Charges and retorts came thick and fast as Ramesh and Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Amit Shah, debating at "Panchayat Aaj Tak", accused each others' parties of trying to polarise the coming Lok Sabha polls. The duo also exchanged barbs on the "clean chit" given to Modi by an Ahmedabad court with Ramesh suggesting that verdict had to be seen in the light of the court's location.  Shah accused Congress of trying for polarisation, and charged it with seeking to make the Gujarat riots an issue though Modi had been given a clean chit.  Attacking Shah's stand, Ramesh contended that the special investigation team that probed some cases of...

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held meeting with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and MPs from Northeast to discuss steps to prevent atrocities against people from that region. Rahul called the meeting on the backdrop of Nido Tania's death. The student from Arunachal Pradesh was allegedly killed after a brawl with some shopkeepers at Lajpat Nagar. Tania, son of Arunachal Pradesh Congress legislator Nido Pavitra, died Jan 30 after being attacked following a row over his appearance. A court here on Tuesday sent three people, arrested in connection with the death of Tania to judicial custody till February 18. The Congress vice president on Monday had gone to Jantar Mantar to address the candle light protest carried out by the Northeastern community against the death of the Arunachal Pradesh student. While addressing the protesters, the Gandhi scion said that there is only one India wherein all deserve equal respect. He further said that Nido deserves ju...

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...

Going by the number of times Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke of ‘opening up the system’ and bringing in ‘youngsters’ in his first one-on-one TV interview on Monday night, it seems as if an imminent crackdown awaits the party ahead of the Lok Sabha election.  The interview comes less than a fortnight after the AICC meet at which Gandhi was given the formidable task of leading the party’s election campaign for the upcoming general election. Youth Congress leaders have faith in Rahul: PTI “The Congress party is an extremely powerful system and all the Congress party needs to do is bring in younger fresher faces in the election which is what we are going to do and we are going to win the election,” said the Congress vice-president during the 80-minute long interview to Times Now.  Not exactly heartening news for many sitting Congress MPs, who have been essentially put on notice by Gandhi and told to make way of ‘younger fresher faces’. However, for the youth Con...

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...

For the first time, Congress Vice president and poll campaign chief Rahul Gandhi opens up to an elaborate sit down interview with TIMES NOW Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. For the first time after his political debut in 2004, Rahul Gandhi takes direct questions on wide range of subjects on Frankly Speaking with Arnab. In the biggest political interview of 2014 Arnab asks all the questions that India wanted answers from the Gandhi scion. Is he scared of a political face off against Modi? What is his view of the 1984 Sikh riots? Was he a reluctant politician? And what are his views on multiple scams that UPA 2 was affected by. The following are the transcripts of the 1 hour 20 minute long interview with Rahul Gandhi by TIMES NOW Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. For the excerpts of the interview follow us on @timesnow on twitter with #RahulSpeaksToArnab Rahul, Thank you very much. It's great to have you on Frankly Speaking show today. It's been 10 years as an MP for you,...

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 ...

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met 250 women from various fields in Bhopal at Minto Hall on Monday to seek inputs for the party’s Lok Sabha election manifesto. In the two-hour interaction, Mr. Gandhi made it clear that reservation for women is the foremost priority. In an indirect jibe on the BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, Mr. Rahul said, “We talk a lot about becoming a superpower in the world but till the women of our country do not feel comfortable and secured, our country cannot become a superpower. And to tell you the truth, we don't want such a superpower status, where women are not empowered.” Several leaders, including Sampat Pal of Bundelkhand’s Gulabi Gang, TV star Kunickaa Lall, Assistant Solicitor-General of India Fouzia Mirza, legal activist Flavia Agnes, Indore’s visually impaired activist Fatima Jamali in addition to Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury, Krishna Tirath, Mamta Sharma and Shoba Oza attended. Transgender activist Laxmi Narayan Trip...

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...

New Delhi: After being formally assigned to lead the campaign in the Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday held consultations with state leaders on the strategy ahead.  Gandhi met AICC delegates from each state separately seeking to know about the issues that will play in the next Lok Sabha polls in their state and the strength of the organisation there.  The party is all set to begin the process of its ticket distribution exercise by holding meetings of newly-set screening committess to meet its plan for early declaration of candidates.  A number of meetings of the party's committee on alliance, manifesto and campaign strategy have already been held and some quick decisions on all these are expected soon.  Gandhi's consultations with the chiefs of Pradesh Congress Committees and District Congress Committees are also intended at incorporating the views and suggestions from the states on issues on which Congress will go to Lok Sabha polls in ...

NEW DELHI:  Rahul Gandhi  as Congress's PM candidate is an idea whose time may have come. Just days after PM Manmohan Singh ruled himself out as the leader of a possible Congress-led coalition, chances of Rahul being named as replacement have dramatically brightened, raising the possibility that he may take the baton at the AICC session, set for January 17 in Delhi. The leadership has hedged its stand on whether  Congress  will be going into the Lok Sabha elections with a declared PM candidate, but well-placed sources acknowledge that momentum has been inexorably built up for the party to spell out its choice for the top job. "There is a greater recognition among us that times have changed and the party cannot go to elections without a face," said a source. A final decision is expected to be taken in a meeting ahead of the January 17 session. TOI had written about the rising possibility of Rahul's projection in its editions on December 27 and again...