1. 2 TMC Legislators, 56 Councillors in Bengal Quit Party to Join BJP
A mass defection of elected representatives from West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took place five days after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared, with two MLAs, 56 municipal councillors and three rural body representatives switching camps. A Left legislator, too, joined the BJP in the same event.
The BJP won 18 and the Trinamool 22 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. In 2014, The BJP had won two and the TMC, 34.
BJP leader Mukul Roy’s legislator son, Subhrangshu Roy, was among the three legislators who crossed over. TMC’s Tusharkanti Bhattacharya and CPM’s Debendra Nath Roy were two others.
With most of the councillors switching their political affiliation, three municipalities — Kanchrapara, Halishahar, and Naihati — will be now be controlled by the BJP. Currently, TMC controls these urban bodies.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Doctor Accused of Abetting Junior Colleague’s Suicide Held in Mumbai
Police on Tuesday, 28 May, arrested one of the three doctors accused of abetting the suicide of a 26-year-old postgraduate medical student at BYL Nair Hospital.
The police said they had arrested Dr Bhakti Mehare in connection with the suicide of Dr Payal Tadvi. Two more accused, Dr Ankita Khandelwal and Dr Hema Ahuja, are still absconding. The accused have applied for anticipatory bail and their plea will be heard on Wednesday.
Dr Tadvi, who killed herself on 22 May, was a student of gynaecology and resident doctor at BYL Nair Hospital. Her family has alleged that she was driven to suicide because Khandelwal, Ahuja and Mehare discriminated against her because of her caste.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
3. India Proposes Reply to Wuhan: An Informal Summit With China in Varanasi This October
India has proposed that the next informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping be held on 11 October in Varanasi, The Indian Express has learnt. The Chinese side is learnt to have conveyed that they are considering the proposal positively.
The first informal summit between the two leaders took place in Wuhan in Hubei province in China on 27-28 April 2018. The two leaders then spent two days at a lakeside guest house in Wuhan and held discussions for almost 10 hours.
Sources said that the Prime Minister wants to reciprocate the hospitality extended to him during the informal summit in Wuhan.
(Source: The Indian Express)
4. Rahul Refuses to Meet Congress Leaders, Lets Priyanka Do the Talking
Rahul Gandhi avoided meeting top Congress leaders who reached his residence Tuesday, 28 May, and instead fielded his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to hold talks with them.
Unrelenting in his decision to step down as Congress president following the party’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul has, however, indicated that he will continue in the post until a suitable replacement is found.
Sources in the party said he remains firm on his stand that a non-Gandhi should take over as Congress president. This could take time and till then, party insiders said, Rahul is free to carry out restructuring of the party, authorised by the Congress Working Committee.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. 14 Dead, Dozens in Hospital After Consuming Hooch in Barabanki
At least 14 people, including four members of a family, died and 42 others were taken ill after consuming spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district on Monday and Tuesday, 28 and 29 May, local residents said.
The district administration confirmed only 12 deaths, including the four members of a family in Raniganj village.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a high-level probe to look into all angles, including the possibility of a “political conspiracy”. He also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs ~2 lakh to the families of the dead and directed senior officials to ensure medical attention to all those who took ill after consuming the liquor.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
6. Nitish’s JD(U) & Paswan’s LJP to Join Cabinet
BJP’s two allies in Bihar — JD(U) and LJP — are set to join the Narendra Modi Cabinet. While JD(U) joining the government gains significance considering that it stayed out of power after its return to the alliance in 2017, LJP said it will send the name of its party supremo Ram Vilas Paswan for his induction in the Cabinet.
Announcing Paswan’s name as the unanimous choice for ministerial berth, his son and party’s parliamentary board chairman, Chirag Paswan said, “All of us decided unanimously that our party president will be represented in the Cabinet. It’s PM’s prerogative to choose the ministers. But he will be our candidate. I will only be leading the party in the Lok Sabha.”
Earlier, senior Paswan had said that there was a popular demand within the party for Chirag to find a place in the Cabinet. But Chirag said he wants to concentrate his energy on the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, where the alliance would try to win at least 220 seats. Since senior Paswan did not contest the polls this time after being assured a Rajya Sabha seat, he would have to be elected to the Upper House. Sources said it would suit the LJP supremo to get elected from Bihar where a seat falls vacant with the election of Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib even if the tenure will be only for five years.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. Mamata and Kejriwal Will be Among CMs at the PM Modi’s Swearing-In Ceremony
As invitations went out to Opposition leaders, Chief Ministers and Governors for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who led bitter election campaigns against the BJP, said they would attend the ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In Kolkata, Banerjee told reporters: “I have received the invitation to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I had a talk with two-three Chief Ministers and we together decided that we will try to attend it as it is a formal ceremonial programme and a Constitutional courtesy. As Chief Ministers, we can always attend ceremonial programmes of the Prime Minister and President. We are trying to attend the ceremony the day after tomorrow.”
Kejriwal’s office too said he will be attending the swearing-in ceremony.
(Source: The Indian Express)
8. ED Summons Vadra for Questioning on Land Grab
The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, for a fresh round of questioning in cases related to land grab in the National Capital Region and Rajasthan’s Bikaner, besides some benami properties abroad.
The ED has called Vadra on Thursday, 30 May. He is being probed for purchase of benami properties — a villa in Dubai’s Jumeirah worth Rs 14 crore and a flat in London’s Bryanston Square worth over Rs 26 crore — for which he has been questioned several times in the past.
Details of alleged benami transactions behind the purchase of the Jumeirah villa and the London flat were shared with him during three days of questioning at ED’s Delhi office in February. When asked to explain the source of huge cash deposits in Skylight Investment FZE, a company resembling his own Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd operated in India, Vadra refused to acknowledge the money trail.
(Source: The Times of India)
9. Old Fox on the Prowl
The bright sun which lit up the afternoon after a typically gloomy, cold, wet morning in this part of the world, was sort of symbolic for both India and KL Rahul.
It was only six months back that his career looked in doldrums. After poor form and a controversial interview given with India teammate Hardik Pandya, had seen both of them suspended from the tour of Australia. However, the 27-year-old slowly picked up the pieces of what seemed to be a dismantled career.
However, a self-generated crisis by India has now seen Rahul rise to the occasion, and hopefully, solve India’s No. 4 problem for good in the tournament. On Tuesday, 28 May at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, he cracked a superb century against Bangladesh in their second and final warmup match.
It was also a day when MS Dhoni smashed a brutal hundred (113, 78b, 8x4, 7x6), but it must’ve been Rahul’s ton which would’ve brought smiles of relief in the Indian dressing room. In conditions where the bowler always has a chance, their middle order batting looks in safe hands now. In another piece of good news, a reliable source revealed that Kedar Jadhav is now completely fit. “He wanted to play today but we told him to take it easy. But Rahul’s form at No. 4 is heart-warming,” he said.
(Source: The Times of India)
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