Rahul’s UAE visit reinforced his image as a mass leader, claims Congress

Agencies
January 15, 2019

New Delhi, Jan 15: Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s recent visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reinforced his image as a mass leader whose message finds resonance with Indians all over the world, the party said in a press statement on Monday.

During the trip last week, Gandhi received an enthusiastic response and held meetings with several groups, including construction labourers, students, business leaders and the media. He also held closed-door meetings with senior members of the UAE government, the party said.

It said the showpiece event of the Congress president’s UAE tour was a massive public meeting at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, where over 30,000 Indians from across the UAE and the Middle East were in attendance.During his tour, Gandhi addressed the issues of “unemployment and the agrarian crisis”, and spoke against divisiveness. He interacted with students and business leaders, and visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Gandhi also discussed the alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, the controversy over women’s entry into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple and the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Rahul’s Tour Recap

In his visit to the UAE, the Congress president touched upon some of the key talking points in present-day India. Highlights of what he said:

On Intolerance

India has witnessed a great deal of intolerance and anger in the last four and a half years which stemmed from the “mentality of the people in power”, he said.

“Ideas have come to India, they have been shaped by India and India has been shaped by them. Listening to other people is also an idea of India,” he said, interacting with students at the IMT Dubai University as part of his global outreach programme ahead of the general elections.

“Tolerance is embedded in our culture and it is quite sad to see what has been going on back home in the last four and a half years. We have seen a lot of intolerance, anger and division between communities. It stems from the mentality of the people who are leading,”Gandhi said.

Gandhi said if the leadership is tolerant, it will act in a tolerant way and spread that message. “India is generally tolerant, we tend to listen and need to go back to that,” he said.

“We don’t like an India where journalists are shot, where people are killed for what they say. That is something we want to change, that is the challenge in the upcoming elections,” he said.

On UP Alliance

Hours after the SP and BSP announced their alliance without the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi said his party will fight the elections in the state with “full capacity”. At a press conference in Dubai, Gandhi said he has a “tremendous respect” to the leaders of the two parties and “they have a right to do what they want to do”. “BSP and SP have made a political decision. It’s on us on how to strengthen the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh and we will fight with our full capacity,” he said. “Congress party has tremendous to offer to the people of Uttar Pradesh...I have tremendous respect to the leaders of BSP and SP, they have a right to do what they want to do,” he said.

On Sabarimala

Gandhi also said he cannot take an “open-and-shut” position on Sabarimala issue as there is validity in arguments of both sides.

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Agencies
July 13,2020

New Delhi, Jul 13: Top Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, are in touch with Sachin Pilot and are trying to placate him, a day after the Rajasthan Deputy CM declared open rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, sources said on Monday.

Pilot has claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government is in minority and that he has the support of over 30 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly.

According to sources, top Congress leaders have talked to Pilot and have asked him not to rebel against the chief minister. They also assured him that his grievances would be redressed at the party level.

For latest updates on Rajasthan political crisis, click here

Besides Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.

It was not immediately known what transpired during the discussions.

Sources said the leaders asked Pilot to attend a Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaipur, but he has not given any assurance.

Pilot, who is in Delhi, has not been taking calls of many party leaders. AICC general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Avinash Pande has said that Pilot has not been responding to calls and messages have been left with him.

Pilot has raised a banner of revolt against Gehlot after the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police sent a notice to him for appearing before it in the case involving "horse-trading" of MLAs in the state.

The SOG has registered an FIR in this regard and has also sent notices to the chief minister, chief whip of Congress and some ministers and MLAs.

Meanwhile, Congress has pulled out all the stops to save its government in Rajasthan and CM Gehlot has convened a meeting of the state legislature party.

Pilot, who is also the state Congress president, is miffed with Gehlot and has alleged that he was not being kept in the loop on key decisions.

The Congress Legislature Party meeting began about three hours later than scheduled, with ministers and MLAs flashed victory signs for the cameras.

The Congress said 109 MLAs have already expressed support for Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, rejecting the claim by Deputy Chief Minister and the party’s state unit president Sachin Pilot that the senior leader does not have the majority.

About 100 MLAs had walked into the chief minister’s residence by 12.30 pm, an hour before the meeting actually started.

But some MLAs considered close to Pilot had not arrived till then. 

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News Network
April 5,2020

Alappuzha, Apr 5: Coming to the rescue of a toddler in need of crucial treatment for cancer, the Kerala health department scrambled its resources for transporting a toddler from here to Hyderabad on Sunday.

In a co-ordinated action, the department arranged for an ambulance and necessary travel permits for the nearly 16-hour 1,100 km inter-state journey that started at 7.15 am from Cherthala in this district with the entire cost to be borne by the state government.

Health Minister K K Shailaja on Saturday said all steps have been taken to facilitate the travel of the toddler and her family members to Hyderabad after local media reports highlighted the plight of the child.

The state Chief Secretary had discussed the matter with his counterparts of other states en route to ensure a smooth journey,the Health Ministry said.

"The travel permit and directions to other states through which the ambulance has to pass were issued from the police headquarters. All district police chiefs were given instructions from the headquarters to arrange for passage of the ambulance," it said in a release.

The journey started at 7.15 am and they are expected to reach Hyderabad at 11 pm.

"The state government will bear the expenses incurred for the journey. The ambulance will remain in Hyderabad and will return with the family," it said.

The first phase of treatment was done at the L V Prasad Hospital in Hyderabad and the family was supposed to travel again within 21 days for the next phase of treatment.

As the family could not undertake the journey in view of the nation-wide lockdown to check coronavirus scare, the state government swung into action to help the child.

The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 3,374 on Sunday while the death toll rose to 77, according to Union Health Ministry data.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Bhopal, Jul 7: Anil Mishra, personal assistant to BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, has tested positive.

He has been accompanying Scindia throughout his tours post-corona infection.

His contact trail is longer than that of Scindia. He has been in touch with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Mishra was present during Scindia's meetings with the MLAs and the swearing in ceremony of the MP ministry on July 2.

BJP sources say there is concern over the possible list of people who will be put in isolation to check the spread of the virus.

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