Sangma apologises to Sonia Gandhi for foreign origin remarks

September 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A senior Congress leader here Tuesday said time had come for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to merge with it since the reason for the formation of the NCP was no longer relevant. "The issue is no longer relevant and the existence of NCP thus has no purpose.

August 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi will arrive in Rae Bareli on Monday on a three-day visit. During her visit, she will inaugurate the Rajiv Gandhi hostel building at the Feroz Gandhi Engineering Institute.

July 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In an apparent reference to Uttar Pradesh party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has urged party workers never to lose "mutual respect" for political leaders and ideologies and always observe "diplomacy and decorum". In an editorial in the latest issue of party mouthpiece Sandesh, Gandhi has asked partymen to "inculcate the habit of diplomacy and decorum in expressing our anguish whenever required".

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress President Sonia Gandhi expressed regret over the remarks made by UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, but at the same time described the actions of the Uttar Pradesh Government as high handed. Earlier in the day, Mayawati condemned Gandhi for remaining silent on the Joshi incident, and said it was shameful that she had not taken any action against Joshi.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday said Congress president Sonia Gandhi should apologise for Uttar Pradesh party chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mayawati. Merely the Uttar Pradesh Congress chief's apology will not do.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party Friday hedged on speculation of a possible merger with its UPA ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), saying both parties have been running a successful coalition in Maharashtra as well as at the centre and that was the "present situation". "We have been running a successful coalition for 10 years in the state of Maharashtra and for five years in Delhi, this is where the present situation stands, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters when asked about the possibility of the two parties merging.

June 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Days after her father and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Purno A. Sangma apologised to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for raising the issue of her foreign origin, Agatha Sangma, the youngest minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Tuesday said the controversy was "an issue of the past".

June 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Just over a decade after she entered Indian politics amid charges that she was a foreigner, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is today arguably the country's tallest politician, with her critics going silent on her once controversial Italian origin. Although it is her trusted colleague Manmohan Singh who is the prime minister, it is the 62-year-old Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), who is widely considered the real power behind the throne.

June 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - P A Sangma, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), apologised to Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi for having raised the issue of Gandhi's foreign origin, over five years ago. Admitting that it was his fault, Sangma said that the issue he had raised has now been resolved.

May 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - She went slow and flumbled twice, but the entire hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan erupted in applause and smiles as Agatha Sangma, the youngest minister in the Manmohan Singh government, took oath Thursday. Wearing a traditional stole and sarong in beige and white, 28-year-old Sangma folded her hands into a gentle namaste for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi sitting in the front row, before taking her place beside President Prathibha Patil to take oath in Hindi.

May 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Thanking the people of the country for the Congress led UPA's stupendous performance in the 2009 general elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that he would try to make party general secretary Rahul Gandhi a part of the new cabinet. Addressing media persons jointly with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath here, Singh thanked the people of the country for the faith they had shown in the Congress party.

April 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - It was the first political rally of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi since campaigning for the 2009 general elections began. And it was held on the hottest April day in the capital in over 50 years.

April 26th, 2009 BHOPAL - Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Narendra Singh Tomar has been booked for allegedly making 'personal' remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi during an election rally, an official said Sunday. The District Returning Officer registered the case on a complaint filed by Congress polling agent Ankleshwar Dubey against Tomar.

April 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress party on Sunday welcomed the Election Commission's (EC) decision to reject the demand for disqualification of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi as a Member of Parliament for receiving a foreign award. "We welcome the EC's decision.

April 12th, 2009 PATNA - Raking up the issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, a senior leader of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal (United) Sunday said he disliked 'her face, voice and language' and termed her popularity and acceptance as a national leader 'unfortunate for the country'. 'I don't like her face, her voice and her language,' Prabhunath Singh, the former deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, told media persons here.