Maneka’s stand ‘most ironical’: Congress

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Activists of Communist party of India and Socialist Unity Centre of India staged demonstrations against the increase in prices of petrol and diesel here on Friday. Shouting slogans against the ruling Congress party, protesters demanded the government to roll back the hike.

May 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India (CPI) Saturday said it would wait for some time to say whether it endorsed Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat's line that the Left would never support a Congress-led government, minority or majority. 'Please wait for two hours,' said CPI national secretary Shameem Faizee, hesitating to support Karat's stand.

May 11th, 2009 KOLKATA - Asserting that its tie-up with the Congress will stretch beyond the Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal's principal opposition Trinamool Congress Monday ridiculed the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for trying to endear itself to the Congress. 'Why are they (CPI-M) falling at the feet of the Congress? Is it because they have realised that the going is getting tough for them?' Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee asked at a press conference here Monday.

May 9th, 2009 CHENNAI - Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad Saturday reiterated there is no talk of an alliance between the party and AIADMK after elections. 'It has been nowhere said that the Congress is going to have a post-poll alliance with the AIADMK,' Azad, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu, told a news channel here.

May 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Often the target of political jibes for being a Gandhi scion, Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi said while he felt dynastic politics was 'undemocratic', he would use it to change the system. Asked by a foreign journalist at a press conference here Tuesday whether it was undemocratic to hold an important position like his because of his family background, Rahul Gandhi said: 'It is undemocratic, and it's a reality that my father, my grandmother, my great grandfather were so and so....

May 4th, 2009 PHEOWA -; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of terrorism and said that the saffron party was incapable of handling the matter considering its weak stand during the Kandahar hijack episode. Addressing an election rally here, about 30 kilometers from Kurukshetra, Singh said, "Our opponents claim is that only they can take a decisive and strong stand against terrorism, but by looking at the record of the BJP a completely different picture emerges." Three dreaded terrorists were released and sent to Afghanistan during the regime of BJP, he said, referring to the Kandahar hijack case.

April 21st, 2009 PATNA - Retracting from his stand on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said that United Progressive Alliance (UPA) does not necessarily belong to the Congress party and the coalition would meet after the completion of elections to decide their primeministerial candidate. The Railway Minister had maintained all along that Manmohan Singh is the UPA nominee for the post of Prime Minister.

April 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani has criticised the Congress for calling his party communal. "On issues like secularism and communalism the Congress party takes an indefensible stand.

April 8th, 2009 HYDERABAD - Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said that there is no issue more important than poverty in the country and that he will stand by the poor. He also accused the opposition of being 'ashamed' of India's poor.

March 13th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - A meeting of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) again ended here Thursday without the front partners agreeing on who among them will contest which Lok Sabha seats in the polls next month. In the 2004 elections, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) contested 14 seats, the Communist Party of India (CPI) four and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the Kerala Congress (Joseph) contested one seat each.

March 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party Monday exuded confidence about the party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) winning the Lok Sabha polls, and said the 'battle is already won even before the elections have begun'. 'We (Congress and UPA) have all the confidence that the battle is already won even before the elections have begun.

February 13th, 2009 KOLKATA - Senior leaders in the West Bengal unit of the Congress party Saturday explored the possibility of an electoral alliance with the state's principal opposition Trinamool Congress during the Lok Sabha polls, then said this could happen only if it distanced itself from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 'other non-secular parties'. The 17 member Congress state coordination committee, headed by Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, met and discussed a four-point agenda at the meeting, party sources said.

February 6th, 2009 CHENNAI - A Congress party worker in Tamil Nadu Saturday succumbed to burn injuries a day after he set himself on fire. The death trigerred a protest by opposition parties in the state, who said the immolation was over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

January 9th, 2009 KOCHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said Saturday it was open to forging electoral alliances for the coming general elections with any political party not aligned to the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Addressing reporters here after the conclusion of the crucial three-day central committee meeting, general secretary Prakash Karat said the party had already drawn up its strategy for the poll.

January 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Wednesday decided to send a show-cause notice to its two senior legislators - Somen Mitra who floated his own party, and Sudip Bandhopadhyay who joined Trinamool Congress - after leaving the party recently. 'We've unanimously decided to send a show-cause notice to both Congress legislators who broke from the party.