Asked about his remarks at the Udaipur chintan shivir earlier this year that the Congress' connect with the people had been broken, Gandhi insisted that he had stated that the connect had weakened.

Amid questions over his future, many political observers believe he has enhanced his political stature.

Also, with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not in the running for the party president's post, a non-Gandhi would be at the helm after over 24 years following the polling on Monday and counting on Wednesday.

Tharoor also said the Congress must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party.

Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday claimed many electors have been instructed by 'their leaders' to support his rival but they may eventually vote for him in a secret ballot.

He said the answer to the Congress' current challenges lies in a combination of effective leadership and organisational reforms.

'In some quarters it has been suggested that there will be an 'official candidate' backed by the leadership but on the contrary, it has been repeatedly stressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in my conversations with them over the last two weeks that the Nehru-Gandhi family welcomes these elections'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he has made his decision on whether he will become the next party president and asserted that he will give his reasons if he does not contest.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, along with several party leaders, embarked on the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Kanyakumari on Thursday, marking the beginning of a challenging journey through which the party is seeking to reach out to people and rejuvenate its organisation.

Eyeing the revival of the crisis-ridden party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party chief Sonia Gandhi described the march as a "landmark occasion" and hoped that the march would help rejuvenate the grand old party.

Before the launch of the 'Bharat jodo yatra, former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Wednesday take part in a prayer meeting at former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's memorial in Sriperumbudur.

Tharoor said the message is also that the Congress is the party that can unite India and if the public is sufficiently inspired by this message, it will indeed inaugurate the revival of the party.

The RJD leader said the coming to power of the Mahagathbandhan government with the JD-U, the RJD, the Congress and other parties uniting "augurs well for opposition unity".

The Karnataka Congress is a "united house" and it will fight the assembly polls next year on its own under a "collective leadership", party's state unit chief DK Shivakumar said on Thursday.

Singh, 91, rejected as "rubbish" the charge by critics the Rajiv Gandhi government's decision to ban the book was driven by appeasement towards Muslims.

Senior state leaders of the two parties pointed to propping up of the "new set of leaders not having much political stature" and lack of communication for the failure to reconcile differences.

Amid the row over a new set of unparliamentary words, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor Sunday said he would treat the list as indicative rather than definitive, and 'speak normally' in the House and see whether it is applied in a 'draconian manner' to stifle meaningful criticism.

Animated or aggressive? Debate over the emblem atop the new Parliament building rages with several historians dismayed that the essence of the original 'protective' Ashokan lions has been effaced while others say the differences are minuscule and no two pieces of art can be identical.

Sibal also said the present dispensation wants an 'Opposition-mukt Bharat' not just a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'.

Amid outrage over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by the Bharatiya Janata Party's now-sacked two functionaries, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said it is high time Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the 'proliferation of hate speech and Islamophobic incidents' in the country, asserting that his silence is interpreted by some as condoning what has been happening.