Rehana Fathima, a woman's right activist, was facing charges under various provisions of the POCSO, Juvenile Justice and the Information Technology (IT) Acts for circulating a video in which she was seen posing semi-nude for her minor children, allowing them to paint on her body.
The first round of ballots will be cast on Wednesday in the race to elect a new Conservative Party leader who will succeed Boris Johnson as United Kingdom Prime Minister, with British Indian former finance minister Rishi Sunak holding on to his lead.
Though a pyrrhic victory for the BJP, the party he chose to align himself against his former mentor Banerjee, it nevertheless is being seen as a morale booster for the saffron party as his former party, the Trinamool Congress under Banerjee's leadership, has garnered an overwhelming 213 seats out of 292 seats which went to polls.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged top opposition leaders to rise above political compulsions to take on the BJP in the interest of the nation and start planning "systematically" to realise the "ultimate goal" of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
"The BJP is in the best position to form the government, I am confident of getting necessary support from others," the former Goa chief minister said.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'That is the one headline the world is reading about India this week, and it is a potentially damaging story...' 'I don't think a panic mentality has set in, but this story is one that investors and market watchers are absolutely seized with.'
'There are voters that may only come out to vote for him because he's speaking to their issues and they may not be Democrat or Republican'
After facing a difficult election, the Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi are expected on Monday evening to deliberate on the strategy ahead. The Congress core group, headed by Gandhi, will be holding consultations at a time when exit polls would be out, giving indications of the shape of things to come when results are declared on May 16.
Government formation in Jammu and Kashmir could be delayed as both the BJP and PDP want more time from Governor N N Vohra when they meet him on Tuesday evening.
'We should move forward with a conviction that in 40-50 years we have to bring major changes in the country,' he said.
One of the G-23 leaders also pointed out that "we are not political tourists" and said the party leadership has to be conscious of "rumour-mongers and naradmunis".
'Outside the core voter base of upper caste Hindus, there is a large section unhappy with the performance of the BJP.'
The move came hours after Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence vote held early Sunday morning, becoming the first premier in the country's history to be sent home after losing the trust of the House.
Discussions to evolve a consensus on separate Telangana state is on and the Congress high command will take a final decision on it but it will take time, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Tuesday.
Sources in various parties suggest that two lakh votes of the Patel community, locally known as OBC kurmi, for which mother-daughter led Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are competing and over one lakh of OBC Rajbhars would be crucial in deciding the outcome of the assembly seats in Varanasi.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who is at the helm of managing the country's economy for a decade, said that he will be stepping down this year, setting in motion the once-in-a-decade sweeping leadership change in the Communist country.
There is disquiet and discomfort in the citizenry that can be touched and felt. No one is talking, but then, the Indian voter has not talked much -- with the conviction that all that goes up has to come down, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Opposition political parties this month sought a no-confidence motion in parliament to remove Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Many factors like women, caste combination, education qualification, age and performance of the legislators will be taken into consideration before the formation of the Yogi government 2.0, sources said on Thursday. Several rounds of meetings have taken place within the party after the poll results came out on March 10.
Both factions moved swiftly to take control of the party a day after Paras, the youngest brother of Paswan's father and party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, was recognised by the Lok Sabha secretariat as the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party in the House.
In a new political twist in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference on Tuesday formally offered support to the People's Democratic Party in a letter to Governor N N Vohra for forming a government that could break the logjam of over three weeks.
India, which abstained during the vote on a strong resolution against Sri Lanka's human rights practices at the UNHRC, on Tuesday urged Colombo to fulfill its commitments on the devolution of political authority, to carry forward the process of reconciliation and address the aspirations of the Tamil community in the island nation.
Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong said that China was happy that the matter was dealt with and Beijing and Colombo jointly safeguard each other's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Gandhi claimed that authoritarian tendencies are becoming clearer, with the erosion of fundamental rights being accompanied by a narrow imposition of conformity and obedience from dutiful citizens. voters polarised for electoral gains
Much depends on the BJP's electoral performance in next year's assembly elections. If the party fares well in UP and some states like Goa and Gujarat, it will be able to fob off the attempt at a reappraisal of its Hindutva doctrine, observes Amulya Ganguli.
'While they were respectful of the PM, it was clear that as ministers, they owed their positions as much, if not more, to Mrs Gandhi.' 'When attacks were mounted on the PM, there was very little coordinated effort by the Congress, UPA ministers or other politicians to speak up in his favour and strongly defend him.' B K Chaturvedi, Cabinet Secretary during the early years of UPA1, reveals how the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi equation worked. A riveting excerpt from Chaturvedi's memoir, Challenges Of Governance: An Insider's View
Vohra has called Mehbooba and Sharma for separate meetings on Tuesday to discuss the issue of government formation in the state which is under governor's rule since January 8
However, another quota agitation body Sardar Patel Group welcomed the government's move, but said they will assess how it will help Patel community and up to what extent.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was on Saturday appointed mentor of the new Lucknow franchise for IPL 2022.
Left parties on Wednesday said the government has no other option but to withdraw the ordinance on convicted lawmakers in face of huge public outcry against it, with Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta saying that Manmohan Singh has "proved to be a shadow prime minister".
Skipper Rohit Sharma will look to feast on a Zimbabwe bowling attack in his bid to play an innings that is long overdue in a must-win game of the T20 World Cup match in Melbourne on Sunday.
Most political leaders in Punjab have come out in the open to oppose him, unlike the early 1980s when political leaders were scared of speaking against Bhindranwale, observes Sudhir Bisht.
For the first time, Akhilesh is leading the SP almost single-handed into a major election, but he is not the only one running the show Shikha Shalini reports.
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On his maiden visit to Beijing, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during which the two leaders agreed to strengthen the all-weather friendship and the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
'When Uddhav Thackeray went in for surgery, he had presumed that Eknath Shinde would have looked after the Shiv Sena for him during this period.' 'He did not imagine that Shinde would use this period to backstab him.'
A crucial meeting of the Congress Core Group on Friday will discuss the Telangana issue with "both options open" as a decision "cannot be postponed anymore", said senior party leader Digvijay Singh.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday chose Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new Army chief to replace incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
'Hindutva doesn't teach you to stab someone in the back.'
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