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: 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...

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...

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...

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.

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 ...

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 ...

Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari talks about PM Manmohan Singh’s work and his support to Rahul Gandhi with The New Indian Express Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla on Teekhi Baat on IBN7. Excerpts: What was the motive behind the press conference held by the Prime Minister? The complaint that journalists have pertaining to Manmohanji is that he does not speak to the press. Maybe the press conference was to address that complaint.  PM has decided that public does not want him. Hence he is retiring and won’t be PM in 2014… For 10 years he served the nation. Then, he decided that youth leadership should be given a chance. Let me tell you something that happened off the record. In an editorial guild meeting with the PM held three months ago, he told them he is not the claimant for PM’s post in 2014. Do you feel he was sad and had nothing to say? There was no sadness and helplessness. He gave political stability and internal security to the...

Rahul Gandhi has evolved as an effective communicator and a true leader of the masses during his frantic campaign in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.  Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is making the most out of his stint at the helm of party's campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The impact of his personal touch to politics' strategy will only be known on March 6 - when the counting of votes will be undertaken - but at a personal level, political commentators believe, Rahul is going from strength to strength as a leader of the masses.

SITAPUR: "Has Mayawati ever drunk water from a well in the past five years," asks Rahul Gandhi, rolling up his sleeves, the trademark style he has acquired before addressing a gathering. "No," roars the crowd in Sitapur, a town in central Uttar Pradesh, about 95 km north of Lucknow. "Is it not your right to get jobs in your own state," he asks and pauses for the crowd to answer. "Why do you need to migrate to other states for a livelihood," he asks again, sounding very much like a seasoned politician. Rahul, the tireless campaigner, has been a familiar sight these past four years. The Congress general secretary has hopped onto general compartments of trains, spent nights in huts and eaten with villagers, especially Dalits. But Rahul, the public speaker, has largely been in hiding. The Congress leader has been at best a hesitant speaker. That is changing. Rahul's new style of speech is as measured as it is aggressive. The crowds respond...

LUCKNOW: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday asked people to reject 'caste and communal' parties in the upcoming UP assembly elections and vote for the development. He promised if voted to power, Congress will develop the state in five years.  Addressing a rally in Kasganj, Kanshiramnagar, Rahul said: "Other parties make tall claims and promises. We made just one promise. We will bring a government that would be representative of all classes of society. For last 22 years, UP is being ruled by the parties which talk on caste and communal lines. The people of the state should give the Congress just five years, after giving other parties a chance for the past 22 years," he said.  Rahul said that UP chief minister Mayawati had on October 9, 2007 said that no one would benefit from MNREGA. "Go to Rajasthan, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab. Even the poorest of the poor people would tell you what they have got from MNREGA. They ...

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...