Month: August 2022

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governer Manoj Sinha lent his shoulder to the mortal remains of ITBP jawans at the wreath-laying ceremony at the DPL Srinagar on Wednesday.

Seven ITBP jawans who lost their lives after a bus carrying them fell into a riverbed in Pahalgam yesterday.

The ITBP on Tuesday informed that seven of its 32 personnel lost their lives in the accident while nine others were evacuated by a helicopter to 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar as they were critically injured.

According to the ITBP, a total of 32 injured were shifted to Srinagar.

The jawans were reportedly injured after a bus carrying 37 ITBP personnel and two J-K police were on its way to Pahalgam from Chandanwari when it rolled down into the deep gorge reportedly after its brakes malfunctioned.

On the accident, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha expressed condolences to the bereaved families of the deceased ITBP personnel.

“Deeply anguished by the bus accident near Chandanwari in which we have lost our brave ITBP personnel. My condolences to the bereaved families and prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured. All possible assistance is being provided to the injured personnel,” Lt Governor Sinha said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also expressed his grief on the tragic incident and took to Twitter to wish for the early recovery of those injured.

“Anguished to learn about the accident of a bus carrying ITBP and police personnel in Pahalgam, J&K. My prayers and thoughts are with the bereaved families. The injured were rushed to the hospital. May they recover at the earliest,” he tweeted.

A doctor at the Government Medical College of Anantnag, Dr Syed Tariq said that 30 people were injured in the accident.

The mishap took place at Frislan in the Pahalgam area.

The jawans were deputed in the area for the Amarnath Yatra.

“We are in touch with local administration and teams of disaster management have been rushed to the site for a rescue operation,” an ITBP official said.

The Amarnath Yatra began on June 29, from Jammu amid tight security arrangements made by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with the army and the local police.

The Amarnath shrine pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva, located in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, is held from the twin routes of Pahalgam and Baltal. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher, on Tuesday, shared a happy group picture from director David Dhawan’s 71st birthday bash in Mumbai.

Taking to Instagram, ‘The Kashmir Files’ actor dropped a string of pictures, which he captioned, “With the birthday boy #DavidDhawan and my dearest friends who I have spent some memorable times with!! We are the best!#Friends #Actors.”

In the first picture, the ‘Special 26’ actor could be seen sharing a smile with the legendary director David Dhawan in their casual outfits.

In another picture, actor-director and producer Satish Kaushik could be seen joining Anupam and David.

The third post is a group picture, in which the ‘Baby’ actor could be seen posing with Satish Kaushik, Shakti Kapoor and Rajpal Yadav.

In the last group picture, actor Chunky Pandey can be seen joining the legendary actors. All of them could be seen donning black outfits for the big birthday bash.

Soon after the ‘Hum’ actor shared the post, fans swamped the comment section with hearts and fire emoticons.

“Old gems,” a fan commented followed by red heart emoticons.

Another fan wrote, “ALL LEGENDS”

Meanwhile, talking about the work front, Anupam will be next seen in Sooraj Barjatya’s next family entertainer film ‘Uunchai’ alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani and Parineeti Chopra. The film is all set to hit the theatres on November 11, 2022.

Apart from this, he will be seen in ‘The Signature’ alongside Mahima Chaudhry, and ‘Kaagaz 2’ to be the 526th film of his 38 years of career in Indian cinema. The movie is helmed by VK Prakash who directed the original version of the movie in Malayalam. And it’s produced by Satish Kaushik production.

Recently, the actor announced another project with director Neeraj Pandey after ‘Baby’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Special Chabbis’, and ‘M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story’. (ANI)

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday resigned from the post of chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress campaign committee hours after his appointment.

According to sources, Azad has refused to assume the post of Campaign Committee chairman of Jammu and Kashmir due to health reasons. He has conveyed this to the Congress leadership and has also thanked the leadership for giving him the responsibility.
The development came after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday appointed Vikar Rasool Wani as the party’s J-K unit president and Raman Bhalla as working president.

Earlier, the J-K Congress president post was held by Ghulam Ahmed Mir, who is believed to be a close aide of Azad.

Sonia Gandhi accepted the resignation of Mir from the post of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president.

Congress on Tuesday constituted the campaign committee, political affairs committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee, publicity and publication committee, disciplinary committee and Pradesh election committee for Jammu and Kashmir.

The campaign committee was formed constituting 11 members with Azad as the chairman and Tariq Hamid Karra as vice chairman. Further, the committee includes the PCC president and working president as permanent invitees while G M Saroori has been made the convenor.

However, the reshuffle in the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit is believed to have angered many leaders.

Former Congress MLA Gulzar Ahmad Wani stepped down from the coordination committee as a mark of protest against the appointment of the PCC chief in J-K.

“I have resigned from Congress coordination committee in J-K as a protest against the recent appointment of PCC chief in UT. The decision is not in favour of the party,” said Wani.

Another leader and former MLA resigned from the committee soon after its formation.

“We are unhappy as senior leaders were not consulted before taking a decision on J-K PCC chief. We have resigned from the party’s coordination committee as a protest against the recent announcements of the PCC chief. I have resigned from Congress’ primary membership,” said Former Congress MLA Haji Abdul Rashid Dar.

Pertinent to mention here, Ghulam Nabi Azad is one of the group of 23 leaders who were vocal about leadership change in Congress. (ANI)

Days after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) parted ways with the National Democratic Alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set a target of winning 35 seats in Bihar in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Bihar BJP Core Committee meeting was conducted at party headquarters in Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party’s national president JP Nadda.

Bihar BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal, BL Santosh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sahnawaz Hussain, Mangal Pandey, Janak Ram, Nand Kishore Yadav and many other leaders were present at Tuesday’s meeting.

After the meeting, Jaiswal said, “the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is an alliance of deceiving the people. BJP will fight against it from the street to the state Assembly. The part has set the target of winning 35 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”

“The meeting of Bihar Core Committee was held today in the presence of President JP Nadda ji and Union Home Minister Amit Shah ji. There has been a very thorough and detailed discussion on all the issues. It is well known that this coalition betrays the people and this is a backdoor alliance which is trying to re-establish Lalu Raj,” he added.

Jaiswal said the BJP will set the record by winning more than 35 seats in Bihar in the 2024 general elections.

There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar out of which 17 are presently held by the BJP while JD(U) has 16 seats. Further, Lok Janshakti Party has six seats and Congress has one seat.

Earlier on Tuesday, a total of 31 ministers were inducted into the Bihar cabinet from various parties that are part of the Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance in the state.

The new Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan here.

The RJD got 16 ministerial berths and the Janata Dal (United) 11.

Two legislators from the Congress, one from Jitin Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and the lone Independent MLA, Sumit Kumar Singh, also took oath as cabinet ministers.

From RJD, Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav’s brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar, Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav, Surendra Prasad Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh and Alok Mehta took oath.

Congress legislators Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam were inducted into the cabinet as ministers, while Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Santosh Suman was also sworn in.

The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said.

Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy – RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav – took oath on August 10.

The Bihar Grand Alliance has a combined strength of 163. Its effective strength climbed to 164 after Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh extended its support to Nitish Kumar. The new government is likely to prove a majority in the Bihar assembly on August 24.

The 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar were a tight one with the National Democratic Alliance winning 125 seats, with BJP winning 74 of these, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party 4 and the Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) 4. This put the NDA just above the requisite 122-majority mark needed to form the government.

The RJD and its allies, on the other hand, had won 110 seats. The RJD finished as the single-largest party with 75 seats, while Congress won a mere 19 seats. Of the 29 seats the Left parties had contested, they won 16, with the CPI (ML-Liberation) winning 12 of them. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had won five seats in the Seemanchal region of the state. Four of its MLAs have switched to the RJD. (ANI)

After the failed Twitter bid that has left Tesla’s chief executive officer (CEO) in an arduous legal battle, Elon Musk has now set his eyes on buying the English football club Manchester United.

“To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party,” he tweeted. And shortly after this tweet, he said, “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome.”
One can never know how serious Musk is when it comes to his Tweets but the hint of this news has left Manchester United buzzing.

ManU fans are already calling for the exit of the current American owner Glazer family owing to poor performance by the club in recent years.

Musk’s tweet, which was published not too long ago, has amassed a huge response.

One of the Twitteratis asked, “Do you really think he’s gunna buy? Or just talking rubbish.”

Referring to Tesla CEO’s legal battle over Twitter, another user took a shot at Musk and pointed at the deal that failed to materialise.

“You don’t want it man, trust me This man singed a deal to buy Twitter for USD 44 billion without doing any due dilligence then realized it was a bad deal. Backed out, and is being sued,” the user said.

Elon Musk is locked in a court battle with Twitter over a failed acquisition bid that Twitter now intends to force through.

The microblogging website and the world’s richest man are now heading to trial after Musk sought to abandon his deal to acquire Twitter over what he says is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.

Twitter is trying to compel Musk to follow through on the deal while accusing him of sabotaging it because it no longer served his interests. (ANI)

Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Core Committee meeting was conducted at party headquarters on Tuesday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party’s national president JP Nadda.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday reached Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Headquarters to attend the Bihar BJP Core Committee meeting.
Days after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP and formed a new government in the state, the saffron party is likely to deliberate upon the opposition’s role and issues to be raised by them.

Selection of a new Bihar BJP chief, selection of LoP in Assembly and Legislative Council and the party’s head is also on the agenda.

The BJP’s central leadership are likely to discuss the BJP’s future course of action, and the strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources said, adding organisational changes may also come up for discussion.

The meeting will be chaired by BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and the general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh will also be present, as per the sources.

Earlier on Tuesday, a total of 31 ministers were inducted into the Bihar cabinet from various parties that are part of the Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance in the state.

The new Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan here.

The RJD got 16 ministerial berths and the Janata Dal (United) 11.

Two legislators from the Congress, one from Jitin Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and the lone Independent MLA, Sumit Kumar Singh, also took oath as cabinet ministers.

From RJD, Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav’s brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar, Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav, Surendra Prasad Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh and Alok Mehta took oath.

Congress legislators Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam were inducted into the cabinet as ministers, while Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Santosh Suman was also sworn in.

The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said.

Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy – RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav – took oath on August 10.

The Bihar Grand Alliance has a combined strength of 163. Its effective strength climbed to 164 after Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh extended its support to Nitish Kumar. The new government is likely to prove a majority in the Bihar assembly on August 24.

The 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar were a tight one with the National Democratic Alliance winning 125 seats, with BJP winning 74 of these, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party 4 and the Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) 4. This put the NDA just above the requisite 122-majority mark needed to form the government.

The RJD and its allies, on the other hand, had won 110 seats. The RJD finished as the single-largest party with 75 seats, while Congress won a mere 19 seats. Of the 29 seats the Left parties had contested, they won 16, with the CPI (ML-Liberation) winning 12 of them. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had won five seats in the Seemanchal region of the state. Four of its MLAs have switched to the RJD. (ANI)

Following the recent surge in COVID 19 cases in the national capital, Delhi lieutenant governor (L-G) VK Saxena on Tuesday appealed to people to adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour and also said that the “pandemic is far from over”.

“We are witnessing a rise in COVID19 infections, consistently high positivity and cases of reinfection. It is essential that we realize that the pandemic is far from over. I appeal to all to strictly adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour. We cannot afford to let our guards down,” he said in a tweet.
According to health department data, Delhi on Monday reported 1,227 new COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 14.57 percent, along with eight fatalities.

The surge in COVID-19 cases is being reported for the last ten days as the city administered more than 2,000 cases daily for ten consecutive days.

Delhi had reported 2,162 COVID-19 cases and five deaths on Sunday and 2,031 cases were reported on Saturday.

The country recorded 15,040 recoveries in the last 24 hours which takes the total recoveries from the infection to 4,36,38,844. The current recovery rate is 98.56 percent.

According to the Health Ministry, the country’s daily positivity rate stands at 4.15 percent, while its weekly positivity rate is 4.79 percent.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them with COVID Vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75% of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs. (ANI)

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has kept the crucial Home Department portfolio with himself and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has taken charge of the Health Department’s portfolio in the first Cabinet expansion of the newly formed Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar.

JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary got the Finance Department and RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav was given charge of Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Of the 31 ministers sworn into the Bihar cabinet, 16 were from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), 11 were from Nitish’s Janta Dal-United (JD-U), two were from Congress and one was from Hindustani Awam Morch (HAM) and one was an Independent lawmaker.

Shortly after the cabinet ministers were sworn in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters that the portfolios will be allocated soon to each minister and will hold a meeting in this regard.

The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan here.

Two legislators from the Congress, one from Jitin Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and the lone Independent MLA, Sumit Kumar Singh, also took oath as cabinet ministers.

From RJD, Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav’s brother Tej Pratap Yadav, Samir Kumar Mahaseth, Chandrashekhar, Kumar Sarvajeet, Lalit Yadav, Surendra Prasad Yadav, Ramanand Yadav, Jitendra Kumar Rai, Anita Devi and Sudhakar Singh and Alok Mehta took oath.

Congress legislators Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam were inducted into the cabinet as ministers, while Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Santosh Suman was also sworn in.

The Bihar cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Some ministerial berths will be kept vacant for future cabinet expansion, sources said.

Nitish Kumar had broken away from the BJP and formed a government with the RJD and other parties earlier this month. The Chief Minister and his deputy – RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav – took oath on August 10.

The Bihar Grand Alliance has a combined strength of 163. Its effective strength climbed to 164 after Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh extended its support to Nitish Kumar. The new government is likely to prove majority in the Bihar assembly on August 24.

The BJP’s central leadership will hold a meeting with the party’s Bihar unit leaders here on Tuesday, days after the JD(U) parted ways with it and formed a new government in the state.

They are likely to deliberate upon the BJP’s future course of action, and the strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources said, adding organisational changes may also come up for discussion. The meeting will be chaired by BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and the general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh will also be present.

The 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar was a tightly contested one with the National Democratic Alliance winning 125 seats, with BJP winning 74 of these, the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar 43, the Vikassheel Insaan Party 4 and Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) 4. This put the NDA just above the requisite 122-majority mark needed to form the government.

The RJD and its allies, on the other hand, had won 110 seats. The RJD finished as the single-largest party with 75 seats, while Congress won a mere 19 seats. Of the 29 seats the Left parties had contested, they won in 16, with the CPI (ML-Liberation) winning 12 of them. Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had won five seats in the Seemanchal region of the state. Four of its MLAs have switched to the RJD. (ANI)