Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and the leader of Trinamool Congress has asked its partner Congress party to decide if it wants to stay in alliance or not, after Youth Congress protested against alleged attacks by activists linked to Trinamool.

She said that the Congress party should reconsider if it wants to continue the alliance in the centre and state level. She also affirmed that her government in the sate is not dependent on the support from the Sonia Gandhi led Congress Party.

There were rumors that Congress party members have received hefty bribes for supporting rescue of the landmark civilian nuclear deal between India and the United States in July 2008, declaring in Parliament on Friday.

He said that no member from congress party had broken law or get involved in any unlawful act.

He further added that the rumors have been aired by American diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks that is “unverified and unverifiable”.

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar expressed regret over his comments against the opposition leader Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha, which caused disturbances in the house for the last two days.

After the house restarted its meeting in the post-lunch session, Mani Shankar said he regretted to have inadvertently and without malicious intent used the words that were subsequently expunged by the chair.

Opposition Congress blamed BJP Government in Himachal Pradesh for not offering the centre its due credit for help to the province.

State MLA Kaul Singh Thakur raised the problem of corruption and the current CD controversy in the Motion of Thanks on the Governor's address, to forecast that the Government would be unable to recuperate the damages that have been made to its reputation.

Rajasthan Congress on Thursday accused the state BJP government of "deliberately" stopping scholarships for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students.

About 350 scholarships were given by the state government every year but after the Congress regime, no attention was paid to it and was stopped without any thought, leader of opposition BD Kalla said in a statement here.

About 3200 students who got these scholarships were studying for higher degrees and many have got jobs of IAS, IPS and allied services in the country, he claimed.

A court issued a non-bailable warrant against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on Wednesday in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The CBI now gets a free hand to arrest him. The agency has been asked to produce Kumar in court by February 23.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma said he took the “coercive method” of NBW to ensure Kumar’s presence in the court, as he did not appear in response to the summons for Wednesday.

The Congress condemned a statement made by the Pakistan Foreign Office that described as “immature” the remarks of External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna that any future terror attack on India could impact bilateral ties.

“Such statements by Pakistan’s Foreign office is an obstacle to good relations between the two countries. We condemn the statement,” spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said on Monday.

New Delhi, Dec 30 - With six floors, the Congress plans to make up in height what it will lose in expanse at its new central office.

The Congress plans to construct a six-storey office on the two-acre plot allotted to it on Kotla Road in central Delhi. Though the party is eligible for a four-acre plot according to its numbers in the two houses of parliament, it already has a plot in Rajendra Prasad Road -- which now houses the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation -- so it can only get two acres more.

With the Centre still grappling with the agitation for a separate Telangana, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh identified regionalism alongwith terrorism, naxalism and communalism as among the “big challenges” before the country that the Congress alone can tackle.

“This is because our party’s politics is aimed at uniting the society and country and not dividing it…We believe in resolving differences and grievances through dialogue,” Singh said at the short function to commemorate the party’s 125th Foundation Day on Monday.

External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna on Monday rebuked his junior minister, Shashi Tharoor, for publicly airing his differences on government policy.

Trying to soften Tharoor’s “liberality vs security debate” on twitter, a social networking site, Krishna said the government will go by the home ministry’s guidelines and stressed differences over issues should not be discussed in public.

The Home Ministry had issued a directive on November 4 that foreign nationals with long-term multi-entry tourist visa must have mandatory two-month gap between two visits. The new rule was introduced after disclosures that 26/11 suspect David Headley had visited India on a tourist visa.

New Delhi, Dec 28 - The Congress is set to launch its yearlong 125th anniversary celebrations Monday and leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi will address a rally in the national capital.

Sonia Gandhi will hoist the party flag at the Congress headquarters here. She will also lay a foundation stone for a new office of the party to be constructed at Rouse Avenue near Connaught Place, Delhi's business hub, party sources said.

New Delhi, Dec 26 - The Congress Saturday refused to officially comment on the sex scandal involving Andhra Pradesh Governor N. D. Tiwari, but party leaders privately said that the octogenarian leader will have to go in case there is truth in the allegations.

"The matter is before the high court of Andhra Pradesh. The court has passed an order and the matter is sub judice. We should not comment on it," party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said.

Congress leaders were more forthcoming in off-the-record conversation.

Chandigarh, Dec 26 - A Punjab legislator's brother-in-law, originally from Afghanistan but living here after allegedly procuring a passport with a fake identity and a wrong address, has been arrested, an official said Saturday.

Walid Khan, brother-in-law of Randeep Singh Nabha -- legislator from the Congress party -- was arrested late Friday after a complaint from intelligence agencies and the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here.

"Walid Khan had come to India in 1996 on a student visa after obtaining passport from Kabul, Afghanistan. After the expiry of his visa, he started living here on a refugee certificate that he got from the UN. We will also check the authenticity of this certificate," a police officer said.

Ranchi, Dec 25 :  The Congress and it's ally, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P), were Friday mulling the possibility of forming a government without the support of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) as they are against the idea of its leader, Shibu Soren, becoming the chief minister.

JVM-P president Babulal Marandi said Shibu Soren's demand was unacceptable. "There could be a government without the JMM," Marandi told reporters here.

Gandhinagar, Dec 24 : The Gujarat Congress has extended its support to the state government for the "Swarnim Gujarat" (golden jubilee) celebrations next year but criticised Chief Minister Narendra Modi for pushing through key legislation without proper discussions in the assembly.

The Modi government is planning to celebrate 50 years of formation of Gujarat on a grand scale in 2010 with a year-long series of events showcasing the developmental journey of the state.

Hyderabad, Dec 24 - Congress party MPs from the Telangana region Thursday decided to resign to protest the central government's move to put on hold the process for forming a Telangana state.

Congress MP Madhu Yashki Goud from Nizamabad and his colleague Ponnam Prabhakar from Karimnagar said they had decided to quit respecting the sentiments of the people of the region.

New Delhi, Dec 23 - The Congress said Wednesday that its improved performance in the Jharkhand polls was "short of expectations" and that the party will take a view on government formation after the final results come in.

"We have improved our position but we were hoping to get more seats. The results so far are short of expectations," party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told IANS.

The Congress contested the election in alliance with the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) of Babulal Marandi.

Ranchi, Dec 23 - The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were Wednesday morning vying for the support of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which emerged the key to government formation following the messy, fractured electoral verdict that gave no clear leads to any political grouping.

Latest results and trends indicated that the Congress-Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) combine and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led alliance will get 22 to 26 seats and JMM will be close behind with 16 to 19 seats in the 81-member assembly.

New Delhi, Dec 23 - The Congress Wednesday said it would talk to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren and seek his support for government formation in Jharkhand that seemed headed towards a hung assembly.

"I will be talking to him (Soren)," Congress general secretary and Jharkhand party in-charge K. Keshav Rao told reporters here.

He said his party's priority was to form "an honest, stable government with zero tolerance to corruption".

New Delhi, Dec 22 - The Rajya Sabha Tuesday witnessed the rare site of Congress ministers and MPs applauding a suggestion by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member on improving the country's civil defence preparedness.

"You have two billion eyes in this country. Involve them in your civil defence measures," BJP's Anil Madhav Dave said while participating in the debate on the civil defence bill which has been passed by the Lok Sabha.