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)

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...

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...

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...

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...

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: 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 ...

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...

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, as the party gears up for Lok Sabha polls in a few months. Details of the agenda were not disclosed. “Rahul Gandhi met the Prime Minister at his residence. It was a one-on-one meeting,” a source said. The meeting comes a week after  Mr. Manmohan announced  at a press conference that he would step down after the Lok Sabha elections and also commended Mr. Rahul on his credentials to lead the nation.

Congress will counter BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's February 8 rally here with ones with the party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in its strongholds in north Bengal. Congress will counter BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's February 8 rally here with ones with the party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in its strongholds in north Bengal. "We don't want to compete with Narendra Modi's rally. If we are given an option then we will hold rallies with Rahulji in those areas of Bengal where we can reap electoral benefits," a senior state Congress leader told PTI on condition of anonymity. Asked why the Congress did not prefer a rally by Rahul Gandhi at the same spot as Modi, the leader said, "How will it help us electorally? "Media persons will write about the rallies for a few days then everyone will forget. If we hold a rally in rural Bengal especially in Congress strongholds it would give us more benefit....

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...

Phagwara : Pressing for Congress Vice President to be made party's Prime Ministerial candidate, Union Minister Santosh Chowdhary on Monday said though a final decision was in the high command's hands, the common masses wanted to see him as the Prime Minister.  The Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare said Rahul was fully capable and had the required potential to take up the top post.  "Rahul Gandhi is young and icon of youth. He moves among people. 'Janata' (people) wants him to see as the next Prime Minister. He has the potential and capability and should take up the baton," she told reporters here.  However, she charged BJP's Prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of polarising and communalising the country's polity.  On the internal rift in Congress in Punjab over the newly constituted Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), she said it was unfortunate.  "The current developments in PPCC are unfortunate," she said, r...

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...

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.