1. Mamata Bats For Regional Parties, Keeps Silent On Congress
The swearing-in of H D Kumaraswamy as Karnataka CM in Bengaluru on Wednesday went far beyond the formation of a state government. The event at Vidhana Soudha turned out to be a dress rehearsal for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, throwing up insights into how the anti-BJP alliance will shape up and who will be the major players in its formation.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee batted for regional parties and held that her party was working for a federal set-up. “Congress will say what they want to. We have nothing to do with what Congress says. We will keep in touch with all the regional parties so that we can work for the development of the nation, development of the people and development of the federal set-up also. This is the victory of a regional party,” she said, trying to carve out a route different from that of the national-level coalitions led by national parties earlier.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2.11th-Hour Change In Univ Guest List, CM To Skip Hasina Event
Kazi Nazrul University, where Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be conferred the D Litt on Saturday, has made a sudden change in the guest list barely 72 hours before the event: “Guest-in-Chief” and CM Mamata Banerjee’s name has fallen off the list, which is being interpreted as a snub from Nabanna to the state’s youngest university.
The changed guest list for the university’s third convocation, which was sent out on Wednesday, followed a call from a senior state government official to KNU vice-chancellor Sadhan Chakraborty, intimating the latter about the chief minister’s inability to attend the programme.
(Source: The Times Of India)
3. Want Panchayat Offices Painted Saffron: BJP’s Winning Candidates
The BJP’s winning panchayat poll candidates have written to their state leadership proposing that the gram panchayat and panchayat samiti offices where the party has majority be painted saffron. The move triggered strong objections and ridicule from opposition parties.
The BJP’s district committees have conveyed the proposal to the state committee. “We have no objection to it…it is a welcome initiative. If the state government does not allocate funds for this, our candidates will arrange funds for the same,” state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu told The Indian Express.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Euros Worth Rs 44 lakh Stuffed In Gourds, 2 Held
The Air Intelligence Unit of Kolkata Customs on Wednesday seized Rs 44 lakh in Euro notes, hidden inside pointed gourds (parval), and arrested two persons, sources said.
A customs official said, “310 Euro notes in the denomination of 500 were seized, which amounts to Rs 44 lakh.”
The two accused, who were flying to Bangkok, were allegedly carrying 5 kg of the vegetable in their check-in baggage.
Sources said officials initially grew suspicious as they found no clothes in the baggage. The duo reportedly claimed that they were carrying vegetables for their friends and relatives staying in Bangkok.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Tweak In Counting Reverses JEE Figures
Figures released on Wednesday showed that Bengal board students had trumped their CBSE rivals in the state JEE, a reversal of last year's pattern that can be attributed to a change in the method of calculating the success rates.
The Bengal joint entrance examinations board said as many as 47 percent of the students whose names figured on the merit list had studied in schools affiliated to the state Higher Secondary council, compared with the 28 percent who had studied under the CBSE.
Last year, the pattern was just the opposite – 47 percent of the students had studied under the CBSE and only 26 percent under the HS council.
The method of calculating this year's comparative success rates was, however, different from last year's, which can explain the dramatic change in the performance of the HS council students.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Mullick Bazar Fire Sparks Panic
A fire broke out on the top floor of a four-storey building in Mullick Bazar on Wednesday afternoon, forcing panicked residents to evacuate an adjacent building.
It took the fire brigade more than two hours and 10 fire engines to douse the flames at the AJC Bose Road address. There were no injuries.
Preliminary investigations suggested a short circuit might have triggered the fire, a fire officer said.
There are shops on the ground floor selling automobile spares. The other floors are used to store motor parts.
Traders in the area spotted smoke billowing out of a top-floor window around 12.15pm and alerted the fire brigade.
(Source: The Telegraph)
7. Labourer Buried Under Stadium Wall
A 25-year-old man died after a portion of a wall at Salt Lake stadium collapsed on him near gate number 1 on Wednesday afternoon.
Bapan Sardar was using a pneumatic hammer to chip paint off the wall in a room that is being refurbished to house a canteen when the accident occurred. A huge chunk of the wall – more than six-feet long and at least five-feet high – came crashing down on him.
Sardar was trapped under its weight. Other labourers at work in the room near Ramp 4 lifted the collapsed portion with iron rods and managed to pull him out.
The incident occurred around 3.15pm, when the labourers had just returned to work after lunch break.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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