News Analysis India

Tag: Ambika Soni

  • Congress conundrum: Gehlot stays closeted with his confidantes at Jaipur; delays meeting Sonia

    Express News Service

    Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot remained closeted with his confidantes in Jaipur on Wednesday thereby delaying his meeting with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi by a day while Rahul Gandhi contiued with his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

    Gehlot was originally scheduled to leave Jaipur at 5.30 PM on Wednesday. But his departure was delayed. “The Chief Minister is going to Delhi at 5-5.30 pm today to express the feelings of 102 MLAs, as their guardian, with the party leadership and organisation,” cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told reporters after a meeting with the chief minister.

    Besides Khachariyawas, Assembly Speaker C P Joshi, PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra, Minister Shanti Dhariwal, and Mahesh Joshi also met the chief minister.

    Gehlot reached Delhi late on Wednesday late night. He is expected to meet Sonia today.Gehlot appears to be on the offensive despite the High Command reportedly bracing up to crack the whip on Gehlot loyalists’ and ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi. The two spearheaded the protest against signing the resolution authorising Sonia Gandhi to appoint a new Chief Minister after Gehlot files the nomination papers for the party presidential polls. Gehlot and his loyalists are figjting tooth and nail the high command’s move to make Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan Chief Minister if Gehlot goes on to become party president.

    Gehlot is not averse to giving up chief ministership and entering the presidential race. But he does not want to hand over charge in the state to Pilot. He says he would hand over the chief ministership to anyone from the 102 MLAs who had stayed loyal to the party when Pilot had walked out, but not the latter.

    As suspense over whether or not Gehlot would agree to resign from the post of chief minister to file the nomination continues, names of many Congress leaders who are likely aspirants for the post have started doing the rounds. Among them are the party’s top Dalit leaders including, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, and former Haryana president of Congress Kumari Selja.

    ALSO READ| Rajasthan political crisis: Congress in a quandary even as it shows Gehlot his place

    Gandhi family loyalists Ambika Soni, who is considered close to Sonia Gandhi, and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh, who shares a close personal equation with Rahul Gandhi, are also among the frontrunners. Party treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal’s name is also being mentioned as a possible contender for the post after he took a nomination form from the Congress office.

    On Wednesday, Sonia Gandhi consulted senior party leaders Ambika Soni and A K Antony, who was called from Kerala where he is leading a retired life, on the Rajasthan crisis. She was advised to meet Gehlot one last time to try and iron out the differences.

    The two central observers – Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge – have shielded Gehlot in their report after returning from Jaipur where they were not able to meet the party MLAs loyal to the chief minister. These MLAs are opposed to the leadership’s plan to replace Gehlot with his former deputy Sachin Pilot and refused to sign a resolution authorising the party president to choose Gehlot’s successor.

    Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot remained closeted with his confidantes in Jaipur on Wednesday thereby delaying his meeting with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi by a day while Rahul Gandhi contiued with his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

    Gehlot was originally scheduled to leave Jaipur at 5.30 PM on Wednesday. But his departure was delayed. “The Chief Minister is going to Delhi at 5-5.30 pm today to express the feelings of 102 MLAs, as their guardian, with the party leadership and organisation,” cabinet minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told reporters after a meeting with the chief minister.

    Besides Khachariyawas, Assembly Speaker C P Joshi, PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra, Minister Shanti Dhariwal, and Mahesh Joshi also met the chief minister.

    Gehlot reached Delhi late on Wednesday late night. He is expected to meet Sonia today.
    Gehlot appears to be on the offensive despite the High Command reportedly bracing up to crack the whip on Gehlot loyalists’ and ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi. The two spearheaded the protest against signing the resolution authorising Sonia Gandhi to appoint a new Chief Minister after Gehlot files the nomination papers for the party presidential polls. Gehlot and his loyalists are figjting tooth and nail the high command’s move to make Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan Chief Minister if Gehlot goes on to become party president.

    Gehlot is not averse to giving up chief ministership and entering the presidential race. But he does not want to hand over charge in the state to Pilot. He says he would hand over the chief ministership to anyone from the 102 MLAs who had stayed loyal to the party when Pilot had walked out, but not the latter.

    As suspense over whether or not Gehlot would agree to resign from the post of chief minister to file the nomination continues, names of many Congress leaders who are likely aspirants for the post have started doing the rounds. Among them are the party’s top Dalit leaders including, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, and former Haryana president of Congress Kumari Selja.

    ALSO READ| Rajasthan political crisis: Congress in a quandary even as it shows Gehlot his place

    Gandhi family loyalists Ambika Soni, who is considered close to Sonia Gandhi, and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh, who shares a close personal equation with Rahul Gandhi, are also among the frontrunners. Party treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal’s name is also being mentioned as a possible contender for the post after he took a nomination form from the Congress office.

    On Wednesday, Sonia Gandhi consulted senior party leaders Ambika Soni and A K Antony, who was called from Kerala where he is leading a retired life, on the Rajasthan crisis. She was advised to meet Gehlot one last time to try and iron out the differences.

    The two central observers – Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge – have shielded Gehlot in their report after returning from Jaipur where they were not able to meet the party MLAs loyal to the chief minister. These MLAs are opposed to the leadership’s plan to replace Gehlot with his former deputy Sachin Pilot and refused to sign a resolution authorising the party president to choose Gehlot’s successor.

  • Rajya Sabha polls to 57 seats from 15 states on June 10: Election Commission

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August, the Election Commission said on Thursday.

    Prominent among those retiring are Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal, and BSP’s Satish Chandra Misra.

    Members are retiring between June 21 and August 1.

    While 11 seats are falling vacant in Uttar Pradesh, six members each are retiring from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, five from Bihar and four each from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka.

    Three members each from Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, two each from Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Punjab Jharkhand and Haryana, and one from Uttarakhand are also retiring.

    The notification for the polls will be issued on May 24 and voting will be held on June 10.

    According to established practice, counting will take place an hour after the conclusion of polling.

    Most of the new members who get elected are likely to vote in the President’s election, due sometime in July.

  • Congress chief Sonia Gandhi forms panel to check on Prashant Kishor’s strategy paper for 2024 polls

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has formed a three-member committee comprising party veterans AK Antony, Ambika Soni and Mallikarjun Kharge to examine election strategist Prashant Kishor’s strategy paper for contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The committee has been asked to submit its report in a week.

    Kishor had made a three-hour presentation at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence on April 16. It was attended by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, General secretary Priyanka Gandhi, and senior leaders AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijay Singh, Mukul Wasnik, KC Venugopal,  Jairam Ramesh and Ajay Maken, besides the Congress president.

    In the presentation, Kishor outlined the mistakes the party has been making and presented an alternative plan that could help the party succeed at the hustings.

    Among his suggestions was to focus party resources on winnable seats, which he said were only 370 out of Lok Sabha’s total strength of 543. He said Congress is a great product which lacks proper marketing. He was particularly critical of the party’s media strategy.

    He brushed aside the rising communal polarization as an insignificant issue and said it could be countered by galvanizing and empowering workers at the booth level. He said the party should fight on its own in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and enter into alliance in states like Andhra, Telangana, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

    After the presentation, Sonia asked the leaders about their opinion on the presentation. Sources said Digvijay Singh and AK Antony appeared not very impressed by the proposal. Digvijay said this is exactly what the party had said after its last two chintan shivirs at Pachmarhi and Shimla. Antony said most of the points mentioned in the proposal were similar to those he had mentioned in his report after the party’s loss in 2014.

    The response of others was muted. But Jairam Ramesh was full of praise for the ideas presented by Kishor and said they were worth trying.

    Kishor faced an awkward moment during the meeting. When he referred to media reports about his appointment as Congress general secretary, and said he is not hankering after any party position, Kharge cut him off and said “PK, didn’t you come to me asking me to recommend you to be made Congress vice-president.”

    After the meeting Congress leaders said it was now certain that Kishor would join the party. He may, however, not get the number two slot in the party. Going by what Kharge said during the meeting and what key party functionaries feel, Kishor had been bargaining for a post next to only the Congress president. He is reportedly keen on reporting only to the Congress president.

    Congress sources said some leaders were of the view that before giving him full responsibility of strategizing the 2024 general elections, he should be asked to prove the efficacy of his plan in the impending state elections.

    “Elections are due in over a dozen states before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Congress holds a little over 400 seats out of the 1500 plus seats in these states. Let him first help the party improve its tally in these states before taking a big bite,” said a senior Congress leader.

    Kishor has already announced that he would be part of a political party by May 2, when his sabbatical ends.