JDU, BJP Leaders Skip Each Other's Iftar Parties in Bihar

Agencies
June 3, 2019

Patna, Jun 3: Hours after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his Council of Ministers on Sunday, BJP and JDU leaders skipped the ''iftar'' party hosted by each other.

JDU had organised an ''iftar'' party at Haj Bhavan. However, no BJP leader was present on the occasion, sources said. RJD ally and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi did participate in the ''iftar.''

BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi also organised an ''iftar'' party in which no JDU leader was present.

RJD leader and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi also hosted an ''iftar'' party at her residence in Bihar capital Patna. Several leaders of the grand-alliance including Jitan Ram Manjhi and Shivanand Tiwari attended the event.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his Council of Ministers on Sunday, with the inclusion of eight new faces from the JDU.

Ashok Chaudhary, Shyam Rajak, Laxmeshwar Prasad, Bhima Bharati, Ram Sevak Singh, Sanjay Jha, Neeraj Kumar and Narendra Narayan Yadav were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Lalji Tandon at Raj Bhavan.

Negating the claim that there is a rift between BJP and JD (U) over the allotment of only one ministerial berth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new cabinet, newly-inducted minister Shyam Rajak told ANI: "National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is intact. People are merely spreading rumours."

Echoing similar sentiment, another JD (U) leader Neeraj Kumar who also took an oath today, had said: "JDU will never leave NDA."

"Ministry formation is the prerogative of the Chief Minister. I have performed all the responsibility given to me by my party. I am glad that Nitish Kumar chose me," he added. Former Bihar unit Congress chief Ashok Chaudhary, who was inducted in the cabinet today, also instated that NDA coalition is intact.

The JDU on May 30 decided to not be a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet, saying it would not accept the BJP's offer of only one ministerial berth.

"They (BJP) wanted only one person from JD(U) in the Cabinet. So, it would have been just symbolic participation. We informed them that we do not need it (Cabinet berth)," Mr Kumar had said.

The JDU chief, who later attended PM Modi's swearing-in ceremony, said: "It is not a big issue. We are fully in the NDA and are not upset at all. We are working together. There is no confusion."

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, JDU won 16 seats in Bihar, while the BJP bagged 17. Despite being a part of the NDA, the party was also not part of the last central government.

The BJP, however, is sharing power in Bihar with its leader Sushil Kumar Modi as the state's Deputy Chief Minister.

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: With an increase of 14,821 new cases and 445 deaths, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,25,282 on Monday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 13,699 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The rise in confirmed cases today is lower than the highest spike of 15 thousand plus cases registered on Sunday.

The count includes 1,74,387 active cases, and 2,37,196 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,32,075 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 60,161 active, 65,744 cured, discharged patients while 6,170 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital today became the second-worst affected region in the country with the number of confirmed cases in Delhi reaching 59,746 as opposed to Tamil Nadu's 59,377 cases.

While 2,175 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far, the toll in Tamil Nadu stands at 757.

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News Network
June 30,2020

New Delhi, Jun 30: Amid calls for boycotting Chinese products after India-China face-off in eastern Ladakh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government claiming that imports from China have increased under the NDA regime.

"Facts don't lie. BJP says: Make in India. BJP does: Buy from China," Gandhi tweeted along with a graphic of the percentage of imports from China during the UPA rule and the NDA government.

The graphic claims that imports from China were at 12-13 per cent when the Congress-led UPA government vacated office in 2014 but now stood at 17-18 per cent in 2020.

The Congress leader has been vehemently targeting the Centre on the India-China border situation after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in violent face-off with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan valley earlier this month.

Indian intercepts have revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties, including dead and seriously injured, in the face-off.

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News Network
July 11,2020

New Delhi, Jul 11: India's COVID-19 case count crossed the eight lakh-mark on Saturday with yet another highest single-day spike of 27,114 new cases in the last 24 hours.

As many as 519 deaths were reported during this period.

The total number of positive cases in the country stands at 8,20,916, including 2,83,407 active cases, 5,15,386 cured/discharged/migrated and 22,123 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With as many as 2,38,461 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,30,261) and Delhi (1,09,140).

Meanwhile, 1,13,07,002 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 10. Out of these 2,82,511 samples were tested yesterday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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