Manmohan is PM candidate for UPA: Rahul

Manmohan is PM candidate for UPA: Rahul

: Surat, Feb 14: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be the prime ministerial candidate of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday.

“I have answered this question so many times in the past. Manmohan Singh is the prime minister (candidate) from the Congress and UPA,” Gandhi told reporters in reply to a query.
“My prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha elections is Manmohan Singh,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi on Saturday began a three-day tour of Gujarat to spruce up the Youth Congress in the state ahead of the general elections slated for April-May. (IANS)

Operation Bluestar, a tragedy: Rahul Gandhi

AMRITSAR: Rajiv Gandhi had tried to rationalise the violence that claimed the lives of 300 Sikhs

A quarter century after his father Rajiv Gandhi justified the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said the violence against the community in the aftermath of his grandmother's assassination was 'wrong'.

"The 1984 riots against the Sikhs were wrong and people responsible for this should be brought to justice," Gandhi told media persons in the Sikh holy city yesterday.

The Gandhi family and the Congress party have been blamed by the Sikhs for the army's operation in the Golden Temple against Sikh militants and the anti-Sikh riots following the assassinations of then PM Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.

Gandhi called Operation Bluestar, the name of the army operation, as a "tragedy for Punjab".

"I have seen with my own eyes how everyone left my grandmother after she lost the elections in 1977. Only her Sikh friends stayed with her," Gandhi said, trying to strike an emotional chord with the Sikh community.

Gandhi had toured Punjab for three days in September this year to revive the Youth Congress in the state. He started his tour with an unannounced visit to the Harmandar Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple in the early morning hours, catching everyone by surprise.

After his mother's assassination on October 31, 1984, Rajiv Gandhi, who became prime minister, sought to rationalise the violence that led to the death of over 3000 Sikhs, by saying "when a big tree falls, the earth shakes".

Soruce: www.mid-day.com

Rahul bonds with students at alma mater St. Stephen's

New Delhi: Less than a month after he ruffled feathers by saying that questions were not encouraged in St. Stephen's College, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited his alma mater to a warm welcome.

Gandhi was welcomed by a thunderous applause and the girls jostled with each other for photo ops with the "good looking" young Congress MP.

During the visit to the college, he spoke of the need for youth to be more active in the political process saying "they being a major part of the Indian population should take the lead".

Students that attended the session, closed to outsiders, said that Gandhi insisted that there were avenues to enter politics, once "one sheds all fears and inhibitions before stepping into the political arena".

To a question by a student as to how one can enter politics without political contacts and backing, Gandhi reportedly said he had the political backing and advantage and did not know the other way.

The son of Congress President Sonia Gandhi in his speech also emphasized the need for good and higher education.

Less than a month ago, after comments from Gandhi that his questions "were looked down upon", the college authorities had dismissed his remarks saying that his personal experience could not be generalised and that "he hardly participated in any discussion forums during his year-long stay".

Gandhi had attended a year in the St. Stephens College till 1990 following which he studied at Harvard and Cambridge University.

"He was given a warm welcome. He spoke well, but many expected more in his speech," said Ajitesh Kir, a first-year student of history honours in the college.

Another student found him "not impressive" and on the condition of anonymity said: "He harped on the same note over and over - that one should not be scared. It seemed more like a moral lecture." IANS

Soruce: http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Rahul_bonds_with_students_at_alma_mater_St._Stephen's_6563/