Sunday, 05 May 2024
Sunday, 05 May 2024
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav held a "historic" meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, and decided to bring together as many opposition parties as possible to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"We held a historic meeting here. A lot of issues were discussed and we decided that we will unite all parties and fight the upcoming polls in a united manner. We have made this decision and all of us will work for this," Rahul Gandhi told reporters while lauding the efforts of Kumar, Yadav and others sitting along with him.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday side-stepped questions at a press conference on his party colleague Sachin Pilot's protest, saying his government's focus was on easing inflation and nothing else is going to distract him from it.
He also sought to dismiss Pilot's charge of government inaction in cases of corruption during the previous BJP dispensation, saying the Rajasthan Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has raided several corrupt officers, something which has not happened in any other place in the country as reported by PTI.
Four Army personnel of an artillery unit were killed in a firing incident at the Bathinda military station in Punjab on Wednesday morning, with the state police terming it as a case of "fratricide".
"It has been ascertained that in the unfortunate incident, four army jawans of an artillery unit succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained during the incident. No other injuries to personnel or loss/damage to property have been reported," the Army's South Western command said in a statement. Punjab's Additional Director General of Police, SPS Parmar told PTI over phone, "It is not a terrorist attack, it is not an attack from outside. It is a fratricidal incident".
A court in the Bihar capital has asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on April 25 in a defamation suit filed over his purported remark on Modi surname.
The defamation case in the MP/MLA court here was lodged by BJP's Rajya Sabha MP and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he did not know “what exactly happened” when Twitter took down content related to a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year, adding that some rules related to social media content were “quite strict” in India.
"I am not aware of this particular situation... don't know what exactly happened with some content situation in India,” Musk said in an interview with the BBC broadcast live on Twitter Spaces, when asked if the site took down some content at the behest of the Indian government.
He also set a deadline of April 20 for purging legacy blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company's previous regime. Twitter Inc CEO also said that the social media company is “roughly breaking even,” as most of its advertisers have returned and its aggressive cost-cutting efforts have started bearing fruit after massive layoffs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday flagged off Rajasthan's first and the country's 15th Vande Bharat Express train via video conferencing. The PM called Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot a "friend", thanking him for attending the launch here of a Vande Bharat Express even when he is going through a "political tussle" in the state.
"I express my special gratitude to Gehlot ji. During these days of political struggle when he is going through several crises, he took out the time for development work and participated in a railway programme. I welcome him," Modi said.
Keshub Mahindra, a pioneer of Indian auto industry and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd Chairman Emeritus, died on Wednesday morning in Mumbai due to old age. Mahindra, 99, breathed his last on Wednesday morning at home peacefully, said a person close to the family.
He had led the Mahindra Group for 48 years as Chairman and expanded it from being an automobile manufacturer to other business segments like IT, real estate, financial services and hospitality. He played key roles in forging business alliances with global majors such as the Willys Corporation, Mitsubishi, International Harvester, United Technologies, British Telecom and many others.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi on Wednesday announced his decision to resign from primary membership of the BJP, a day after the ruling party denied him a ticket to contest in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections.
Sitting MLA Mahesh Kumathalli, who was backed by BJP leader and former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, was given a ticket in Athani in Belagavi district.
Twenty-nine of the 30 incumbent chief ministers are crorepatis with Andhra Pradesh's Jagan Mohan Reddy having the highest assets totalling Rs 510 crore, according to poll affidavits analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has the lowest total assets of about Rs 15 lakh, the ADR said.
China has reported the first fatal case of H3N8 bird flu in humans after registering two other non-fatal infections with the disease last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said late on Tuesday.
The death reported was that of a 56-year-old woman from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
