RAHUL GANDHI

A day after Parliament passed the Lokpal Bill, hundreds of Congress workers led by senior party leaders today met party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi to greet him for his role in getting the anti-corruption measure become reality. Outgoing Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, newly- appointed PCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and his immediate predecessor in that post, JP Agarwal, were accompanied by the newly-elected eight Congress MLAs and former Delhi ministers as they called on Rahul. Senior party leader from Delhi, Jaikishan, said that the party workers had come to congratulate Rahul for the "key role" he had played in the passage of the anti-corruption law, which had been pending for decades. Security personnel had a tough time in controlling the Congress workers as they chanted slogans hailing Rahul and jostled to meet him.

The two are poles apart. One is soft-spoken, suave and taciturn. The other is flamboyant, astute and witty. And yet the political battle lines have brought them face-to-face into the electoral arena. As the poll-bound country watches Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi pull their parties' chariots at the hustings, much depends on what these leaders speak. The 63-year-old Gujarat Chief Minister has certainly more experience than the Congress scion which the former amply demonstrates in his poll rallies. His speeches are incisive, his criticism sharp and his rhetoric a fine blend of witticisms and subtle attacks. He is careful about what he is speaking and has been avoiding references to all controversial issues. Trying to put the past back, he is walking the extra mile to reach out to the minorities. By doing this, Modi is facing his weakness and at least trying to work upon this. If and how much he s...

Onboard PM's Special Flight to New Delhi:  Gandhi family scion  Rahul Gandhi  is an ideal choice for the top job in 2014, prime minister  Manmohan Singh  said, adding that he, one of India's longest serving PMs, would be happy to work under the  Congress vicepresident's leadership. While the 80-year-old Singh has in the past said that Gandhi was suited to become PM, this is the first time he has explicitly expressed his willingness to work under the younger leader. In April, he had created a flutter when he said he did not rule out a third term for himself. "I have always maintained that Rahul Gandhiji would be an ideal choice for the prime minister's position after the 2014 election. I would be very happy to work for the Congress party under the leadership of Mr Rahul Gandhi," Singh told reporters on the way back from the  G20  Summit in St Petersburg. Singh also said that he was an open book and he had nothing to hide anything from the parliame...

Dehradun:  Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who is visiting Uttarakhand to survey the expansive relief and rescue operation in the state, flew over epicentre Kedarnath this morning. He also stopped at a relief camp in Guptakashi and talked to pilgrims who are stranded there.    90,000 people have been evacuated from remote areas of Uttarkahnd after torrential rains pounded the hill state earlier this month; another 6,000 await rescue, but are safe in temporary camps.  Mr Gandhi flew into Uttarakhand on Monday as Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that VVIPs flying into the state can disturb rescue operations. Today, Mr Shinde said that aerial surveys of the state are not problematic. "Rahul Gandhi is not going there as a VIP. He is going there as a citizen, as the vice-president of Congress to oversee that the relief materials reach in place. Rahul did not say 'I am a Rambo and I did this and I did that'," Congress spokesperson Re...

  Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will visit his parliamentary constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to interact with party workers today, party leaders said on Tuesday. A leader of the Congress party's state unit said Mr Gandhi would fly to Lucknow from Delhi and then drive all the way from Amausi airport to Amethi in Sultanpur district, about 140 km from the state capital Lucknow. The Congress vice president will interact with party workers and district leaders in Shukul Bazaar, the party leader said. He will leave for Delhi the same evening. Mr Gandhi's agenda include a follow up on power supply in his constituency, and hear out difficulties faced by the people in getting employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act scheme and purchasing wheat. Mr Gandhi had held discussions on these issues during his last visit about three months ago.

Lashing out at non-Congress governments of Uttar Pradesh for "selling Ram, caste and religion" for the past 22 years, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today asked voters to give five years to his party for development of the state. "These parties have looted your hard earned money, sold Ram, religion and caste...never talked about progress and development in the past 22 years," Gandhi said addressing an election meeting here. The Congress general secretary said that he visits other states marching ahead on the path of progress and see people of the state contributing and the lack of development is UP fills him with anger. Attacking the BJP for its India Shining slogan of 2004 and Samajwadi Party for embracing former BJP leader Kalyan Singh, he said that his party has stood alone and never embraced people like Kalyan Singh and would not do so ever. Stressing that he would not budge till the state's progress is in place, Gandhi said that there was...

The ruling BSP on Wednesday targeted Congress's star campaigner in Uttar Pradesh -- Rahul Gandhi -- ahead of the assembly polls in the state. Addressing a rally in Sant Kabir Nagar, the BSP's Brahmin face, Satish Chandra Mishra, attacked the Congress general secretary calling him a beggar. Mishra slammed Gandhi for being an outsider "who only came to UP to beg for votes". The BSP leader's attack comes in the backdrop of Gandhi scion's beggar remarks in November last year. "Rahul Gandhi has studied abroad. He has spent most of his life abroad. His lifestyle is western. Then, why does he come to UP? If he is coming here to ask for you votes, then it means he is begging for votes," Mishra said. Lashing out at the Congress, Mishra alleged that the party was responsible for covering the BSP symbol across the state. The Congress's most vocal general secretary, Digvijaya Singh, was quick to return fire. He lost no time in hitting back at the...