Month: June 2022

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s office in Kainatty near Kalpetta here was vandalized on Friday allegedly by the Students Federation of India (SFI) activists.

Indian Youth Congress, in a tweet, alleged that “goons held the flags of SFI” as they climbed the wall of Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad office and vandalized it.
A protest march of the SFI, the students’ wing of ruling CPI(M), against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi turned violent as a group of protestors allegedly entered the Lok Sabha member’s office and vandalized it.

The student organization were protesting against the creation of buffer zones around forests in the hilly areas of Kerala.

“This happened in the presence of the Police. It’s a clear conspiracy by CPM leadership. For the past five days, ED has questioning him (Rahul Gandhi) after that I don’t know why Kerala the CPI(M) is going in the way of Narendra Modi to attack him. I think Sitaram Yehcury will take necessary action,” said Congress leader KC Venugopal reacting to the vandalization of the party office.

“I think CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury will take necessary action,” added Venugopal.

Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office in Wayanad.

CM Vijayan said, “There is freedom for democratic protests and expressing an opinion in our land. But going in the direction of attacks is the wrong tendency. The government will take strong action against the accused.” (ANI)

AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and P Ravindhranath on Friday met National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate for the presidential polls Droupadi Murmu in the national capital.

Notably, AIADMK has conveyed its support to the presidential candidate of the NDA in the forthcoming elections slated to be held on July 18.
The meeting of the leaders comes soon after Murmu filed her nomination papers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders of the party.

Earlier today, according to the sources, Murmu spoke to leaders of Opposition parties including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) seeking their party’s support for her candidature ahead of filing her nomination.

Murmu spoke with Congress interim-President Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

According to the sources, Mamata Banerjee did not make any commitment to Murmu but wished her all the best for the election.

Despite Yashwant Sinha being nominated as the presidential candidate of the joint opposition, Murmu sought the support of Opposition parties.

Meanwhile, Murmu filed her nomination papers at the Parliament Library Building in the national capital today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed her name for the nomination, which was seconded by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

She had met PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, a day ahead of her filing the nomination papers.

Notably, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday extended support to NDA presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu, who will be the first tribal woman to hold the position if she wins.

The presidential polls are slated to be held on July 18 and its counting will take place on July 21. (ANI)

After India reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the last 100 days, a top expert said that the surge in COVID-19 infections isn’t a concern but it is necessary to closely monitor the severity of the virus.
According to Dr Sanjay Rai, Senior Epidemiologist at AIIMS, the surge in COVID-19 cases isn’t a concern but there is a needs to closely monitor severity, deaths, and hospitalization.

“In the current scenario, what matters is hospitalization or severity, the number of cases should not be of any concern,” he added.

Further explaining the COVID-19 virus mutations, he said, “SARS CoV2 is RNA virus and in RNA virus mutations are happening not only in India throughout the world, but more than thousands of mutations have also already occurred. Although the variant of concerns is only five. We must monitor if the virus is increasing deaths and if the hospitalization is increasing, then definitely it’s a matter of concern,” Dr Rai added.

India has reported a significant spike in the cases of coronavirus infection as it reported 17,336 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours as compared to the 13,313 total cases recorded on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry informed.

With the latest surge in infection, India’s active caseload stood at 88,284 at the rate of 0.20 per cent, which was 83,990 at the rate of 01.19 per cent a day before.

“We have generated a lot of pieces of evidence in the last two years. It’s not a new virus. In the last two years, whatever evidence we have, we can say that it’s very unlikely that the increase of cases will increase the number of hospitalizations and a high number of severity or deaths,” Dr Rai stated.

According to him, there is the chances of severity are low.

“This type of pandemic like COVID-19 disease that the future course will be gone by the level of protection. We know that there we have two types of protection. One is from the natural immunity and another one is from your vaccine-acquired immunity. The limitation of vaccine acquired immunity is certainly six to nine months and that’s why we require a booster dose for natural infection.”

Commenting on the risk of children who are not vaccinated as schools will open soon after summer vacation, the expert said, “The global evidence which we have generated a lot of evidence in the last two years have demonstrated that closing of a school is causing more harm to the children regarding infection.”

“Vaccines are not preventing infections, even after 100 per cent vaccination, few countries have reported a very large number of cases either in children or adult population. So, the vaccine mainly provides prevention from severity and deaths in case of children also.”

In view of an upsurge in COVID-19 cases in India, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday reviewed the COVID-19 and vaccination situation in the country.

In a high-level meeting, Mandaviya advised strictly to monitor the COVID-19 situation in the country focusing on vaccination of the elderly population, school-going children and surveillance and genome sequencing.

India has been witnessing a high number of COVID-19 cases over the last couple of weeks. The Union Minister stressed the need to focus on districts reporting high case positivity and undertake adequate testing (with a higher proportion of RTPCR) and effective COVID-19 surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner.

Mandaviya directed the officials to continue to focus on surveillance and on whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation.

He also directed monitoring of hospitalizations due to COVID-19, and SARI/ILI cases. He also directed health authorities concerned to increase the pace of vaccination including booster doses in districts reporting high cases.

“As there are adequate vaccine doses available, let there be no vaccine wastage while focusing on accelerating vaccination among the eligible and vulnerable groups,” he directed. (ANI)

Amid the political turbulence in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said rebel Shiv Sena MLAs who are camping in Guwahati want to “break the party”.

As Eknath Shinde appears to be tightening his grip on Shiv Sena with the number of rebels rising to 38, Thackeray called a meeting of the party’s district chiefs today where he said that he left the Varsha Bungalow but not the “will to fight”.
“I have said it earlier also that I don’t have anything to do with power. The people who used to say that they would rather die than leave Shiv Sena have fled today,” the Shiv Sena chief said during his virtual address at the meeting.

“The rebel MLAs want to break the party. I had never thought in dreams that I would become the chief minister. I have left Varsha Bungalow but not the will to fight,” he added.

Targetting Shinde, Thackeray said that he did everything for the rebel leader and yet a lot of allegations are levelled against him.

Notably, the Chief Minister had vacated the official residence of the CM on Wednesday night and moved to his family residence ‘Matoshree’ along with his family.

“I did everything for Eknath Shinde. I gave him the department which I held. His own son is an MP and comments are being made regarding my son. A lot of allegations are levelled against me,” he said.

“If they have courage, they should go among people without taking Balasaheb & Shiv Sena’s names,” he added.

Thackeray, who underwent a cervical spine surgery last year, said, “I had pain in my neck and head, I was not able to work properly, I could not open my eyes but I did not care about it. Shivaji Maharaj was defeated but people were always with him.”

Earlier today, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut expressed confidence that Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government would win the floor test in the State Assembly.

He also said that the rebel MLAs have taken a very wrong step and said that the MVA government will complete the rest of the remaining years of the five-year tenure in office.

“We will win on the Floor of the House, we won’t give up. They (MLAs) have taken a very wrong step. We also gave them a chance to return to Mumbai. Now, we challenge them to come to Mumbai,” he said.

The Shiv Sena leader also challenged the leaders to fight face to face.

“We won’t relent…we will win on the floor of the house (State Assembly). If this battle is fought on roads, we will win that too. We gave the opportunity to those who left, but now it’s too late. I challenge them to come on the floor of the house. MVA govt will complete rest of 2.5 yrs,” said Raut.

He further added that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar are in constant touch.

“All leaders of NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena are in touch with each other,” he added.

Raut also warned Ekanth Shinde-led rebel MLAs and said that if needed ‘Shiv Sena workers will come on the roads.

“Eknath Shinde faction that’s challenging us must realise that Shiv Sena workers are yet to come on the roads. Such battles are fought either through law or on the roads. If need be then our workers would come on the roads,” said Shiv Sena leader.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday administered the oath of office to five newly elected Members of Rajya Sabha from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha in the Rajya Sabha chamber in the Parliament House.

Those who took oath are Niranjan Reddy Sirgapoor and Ryaga Krishnaiah (both of YSRCP) from Andhra Pradesh, Damodar Rao Divakonda and B Parthasaradhi Reddy (both of TRS) from Telangana and Niranjan Bishi (of BJD) from Odisha.
While Ryaga Krishnaiah, Damodar Rao Divakonda and B Parthasaradhi Reddy took oath in Telugu, Niranjan Reddy Siragapoor did so in English.

Niranjan Bishi has been elected to the Rajya Sabha in the Bye-election to fill the casual vacancy caused in the Rajya Sabha due to the resignation of Subhash Chandra Singh. He took oath in Oriya.

Harivansh, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and External Affairs, Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha and other senior officers of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat were also present on the occasion.

The MPs were elected unopposed from the respective states earlier. (ANI)

India provided a humanitarian consignment worth more than SLR 3 billion to Sri Lanka, which is facing the worst economic crisis since its independence.

According to the High Commission of India in Colombo, the consignment comprises rice, milk powder and essential medicines.
“From the people of #India to the people of #SriLanka!!! High Commissioner, Hon’ble Ministers @Keheliya_R, Nalin Fernando, MPs, various dignitaries and officials welcomed a large humanitarian consignment worth more than SLR 3 billion from #Tuticorn today. The 15,000 MT consignment consists of rice, milk powder and essential medicines,” the High Commission said in a tweet.

India was among the first few countries to extend its aid to Sri Lanka to mitigate the unprecedented economic crisis. New Delhi has provided a concessional loan of USD 1 billion to Sri Lanka for the supply of food, fuel, medicines, and other essential items.

In May, the food inflation in Sri Lanka stood at 57.4 per cent, while shortages of key food items, as well as fuel for cooking, transport, and industry, remain widespread, with ongoing daily power outages.

The economy is bracing for a sharp contraction due to the unavailability of basic inputs for production, an 80 per cent depreciation of the currency (since March 2022), coupled with a lack of foreign reserves and the country’s failure to meet its international debt obligations.

The high-level Indian delegation led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra visited Sri Lanka recently and underscored that the recent economic, financial and humanitarian assistance of over USD 3.5 billion to the island country was guided by New Delhi’s “Neighbourhood First” Policy.

The delegation comprising Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor and Kartik Pande, Joint Secretary, Indian Ocean Region, Ministry of External Affairs was in Colombo on Thursday.

The delegation had meetings with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during the visit. The talks between the two sides were held in a frank, cordial and constructive manner, the High Commission of India Colombo said in a statement. Both sides had a productive exchange of views on the current economic situation in Sri Lanka as well as India’s ongoing support. (ANI)

As rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and some Independents legislators from Maharashtra continue to camp in Assam, state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday invited his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray to come to Assam for a “vacation”.

Speaking to ANI on Friday, Sarma said, “If the rebel MLAs stay in Assam for more days, then it is a good thing for me. I invite everyone. He (Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray) should also come to Assam for vacation. I invite all the MLAs of the country to come to Assam.”
Further, the Assam Chief Minister brushed off allegations of hosting Maharashtastra rebel MLAs in Guwahati saying that he could not stop anyone from visiting his state.

Speaking on the opposition’s jibe related to violation of federal structure, he said, “How can I stop people from coming to a hotel? Can I tell you not to come to a hotel in Assam because there is a federal structure in the country? I am happy when anyone comes to Assam, they can stay as long as they want,” he added.

On Thursday, Sarma denied connection with the Maharashtra political crisis. He said, “There are many good hotels in Assam, anyone can come there and stay…there is no issue with it. I don’t know if Maharashtra MLAs are staying in Assam. MLAs of other states can also come and stay in Assam,” Sarma told.

The opposition leaders have also launched an attack on the CM for ignoring the flood situation in the state and indulging in politics.

The crisis in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra erupted after a majority of party legislators joined a rebellion led by Eknath Shinde who is staying at a hotel in Guwahati.

Shinde camp has claimed the support of 38 Shiv Sena MLAs and nine independents. The rebel MLAs who are at a hotel in Guwahati since June 20, authorized Shinde on June 23 to decide on a further course of action.

Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde is appearing to be holding a tight grip on the Shiv Sena, as the strength of MLAs supporting him is expected to cross 50 as more legislators are likely to reach Guwahati on Friday.

Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat claimed that both Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are trying to eliminate Shiv Sena politically from Maharashtra and the MLAs made countless attempts to inform Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray about the malafide intentions of alliance partners.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut even urged rebel MLAs to return to Mumbai and discuss their issues with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Raut also claimed that the Shiv Sena is ready to “consider exiting out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if this is the will of all the MLAs” but with a condition that the rebel MLAs will have to convey the message directly to CM Uddhav Thackeray and discuss the issues with him.

Earlier, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge held the central government led by the BJP responsible for the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra where around 40 Shiv Sena MLAs have revolted against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and are currently camping in Guwahati.

Kharge alleged that the BJP-led Centre is attempting to “destabilize” the “strong” Maha Vikas Aghadi government in view of the forthcoming presidential poll next month as they need numbers to get their presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu victorious in the poll slated to be held on July 18.

However, BJP had said the Maharashtra crisis is Shiv Sena’s internal matter and the party has nothing to do with it.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil had said his party is “firmly standing with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray”.(ANI)

Actor-singer Shibani Dandekar is surely one of the coolest actors in B-town. She recently shared an adorable unseen picture of her husband Farhan Akhtar, on her social media account.

The actor took to her Instagram stories and treated fans with an adorable childhood picture of Farhan.

Sharing the picture, she captioned, “what is this face???????????!!!!! all mine”

In the picture, Farhan was seen donning a printed tee as he posed innocently for the camera.

Meanwhile, Farhan and Shibani who dated for almost three years tied the knot at Farhan’s family farmhouse in Khandala in the presence of close friends and family members on February 19.

The daytime wedding was attended by several celebrities including Farah Khan, Rhea Chakraborty, Satish Shah, Ashutosh Gowariker and Ritesh Sidwani. Hrithik Roshan also attended the wedding with his parents, Rakesh and Pinkie Roshan.

On the work front, Shibani was last seen in Telugu comedy-drama ‘That Is Mahalakshmifilm’ directed by Prasanth Varma and produced by Manu Kumaran (ANI)

Eknath Shinde is appearing to be holding a tight grip on the Shiv Sena, as the strength of MLAs supporting him is expected to cross 50 as more legislators are likely to reach Guwahati on Friday thus further deepening the political crisis in Maharashtra.

It seams that the legacy of Bal Thackeray, who founded Shiv Sena, has slipped from the hands of Uddhav Thackeray with the rebellion of Eknath Shinde as he claim of being a true Shivsainik, the battle of who holds the true legacy of Balasaheb has started.
The political crisis in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra erupted after party legislators joined a rebellion led by Eknath Shinde who is staying at a hotel in Guwahati. Shinde camp has claimed the support of 46 MLAs, which includes 37 Shiv Sena MLAs and nine independents. The rebel MLAs who are at a hotel in Guwahati since June 20, authorised Shinde on June 23 to decide on a further course of action.

Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsat claimed that both Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are trying to eliminate Shiv Sena politically from Maharashtra and the MLAs made countless attempts to inform Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray about the malafide intentions of alliance partners.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut even urged rebel MLAs to return to Mumbai and discuss their issues with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Raut also claimed that the Shiv Sena is ready to “consider exiting out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if this is the will of all the MLAs” but with a condition that the rebel MLAs will have to convey the message directly to CM Uddhav Thackeray and discuss the issues with him.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has filed a petition before the Deputy Speaker of the state assembly seeking the cancellation of membership of 12 rebel MLAs including Eknath Shinde for “not attending” the legislative party meeting held on Wednesday.

Apart from Shinde, Shiv Sena has sought disqualification of Prakash Surve, Tanaji Sawant, Mahesh Shinde, Abdul Sattar, Sandeep Bhumare, Bharat Gogawale, Sanjay Shirsat, Yamini Yadhav, Anil Babar, Balaji Devdas and Lata Chaudhari.

However, the Shinde camp has written to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari stating that Shinde continues to be the legislative party leader. Shinde also wrote to the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly regarding the reaffirmation of his appointment as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party.

Amid the continuing turf war within Shiv Sena, the Shinde faction also said that Bharat Gogawale has been appointed as Chief Whip of the party.

The letter has the signatures of 37 Shiv Sena MLAs and a copy of the letter has been sent to Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, and Secretary to the Legislative Council Rajendra Bhagwat.

The three legislators who arrived in Guwahati on Thursday include Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse, MLA Sanjay Rathore and MLC Ravindra Phatak.

Phatak is believed to be a close associate of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who had sent him as an emissary to Surat where the rebel MLAs were lodged.

The situation for Thackeray continues to become grimmer with his close aide switching sides and the chief minister himself falling short of numbers.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge held the central government led by the BJP responsible for the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra where around 40 Shiv Sena MLAs have revolted against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and are currently camping in Guwahati.

Kharge alleged that the BJP-led Centre is attempting to “destabilise” the “strong” Maha Vikas Aghadi government in view of the forthcoming presidential poll next month as they need numbers to get their presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu victorious in the poll slated to be held on July 18.

Shinde also made a veiled reference to BJP and said “a big national party” has told him that his decision was “historic” and they will be present whenever he needs them.

However, BJP had said the Maharashtra crisis is Shiv Sena’s internal matter and the party has nothing to do with it.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil had said his party is “firmly standing with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray”.(ANI)

The presidential candidate nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA, Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to file her nomination papers on Friday.

The sources also informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be proposing her name for the nomination on June 24, which will be seconded by the party’s national president JP Nadda.
The sources also informed ANI that the BJP has invited all of their allies to join in the nomination ceremony including the chief ministers of NDA-ruled states of the country.

Meanwhile, the National People’s Party (NPP) chief and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Nagaland Chief Minister Nephiu Rio have already confirmed their participation in the nomination for the Presidential election on Friday. It is also being said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will also be present during the nomination.

On Wednesday evening Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made an appeal to all MLAs of Odisha to support Murmu’s candidature.

Notably, Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is not an ally of the NDA but is often seen supporting the NDA government on crucial bills and legislature. He openly came out and endorsed the candidature of Murmu for the upcoming presidential elections that are scheduled to take place on July 18.

While addressing a press conference at the party headquarters on Monday, JP Nadda announced Droupadi Murmu as the NDA candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Nadda also said that over 20 names were discussed by the BJP Parliamentary board and all the allies of the NDA before finalising Murmu as a candidate for the presidential election.

Droupadi Murmu is all set to become the next President of India and if that comes through she will be India’s first woman tribal President and the second woman President of India since its independence.

Droupadi Murmu, a former Odisha minister, is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance. She continues to break barriers and was the first woman governor of Jharkhand. She served as Jharkhand Governor from 2015 to 2021.

In 2007, the Odisha assembly honoured her with the ‘Nilakantha Award’ for best MLA. She served as a junior assistant in Irrigation and Power Department between 1979 and 1983. She has held several organisational posts in BJP and was vice president of state ST Morcha in 1997.

The voting for the next President of India will kick start on July 18 while counting will take place on July 21. (ANI)