Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, MP poll results energise Congress in Dakshina Kannada

New Delhi, Jan 30: In a major shift of strategy ahead of the Delhi assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to rope in its senior leaders for massive public rallies.

Its star campaigners like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and other union ministers would now be addressing massive public rallies in addition to ongoing neighbourhood meetings.

"The big rallies would begin from February 1. While 'Nukkad' meetings will take place till the last day of campaigning, there would be big rallies of the top leadership of the party, " informed a senior party leader.

Sources said the BJP has changed its strategy after the success of its grassroots contact programme as the party wants to consolidate its gains.

"As part of the reworked strategy the BJP has asked its various Mandals to organise public meetings of 10,000-15,000 people in each assembly segment to reach out to the masses," sources added.

While there are two planned for Prime Minister Modi, two have been planned for JDU chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with Nadda and Amit Shah. Yogi Aadityanath too would be addressing 12 rallies.

The party is leaving no stone unturned to secure massive gains, which it feels can be converted to victory in the forthcoming polls.

Party sources feel that the relentless campaigning under the guidance of Amit Shah and Nadda has ensured that the morale of party cadre is at an all-time high.

"The neighbourhood meetings have ensured that we have been able to make the people of Delhi aware of the lack of work under the Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party government. They have also been apprised about the anti-national views of the opponents and we think that this is expected to turn the polls into our favour," sources added.

Delhi is scheduled for assembly polls on February 8 and the results for the 70 constituencies will be declared on February 11.

As part of the new strategy, senior leaders like JP Nadda, Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, ministers like Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani would be holding public rallies in various parts of the city. Several other chief ministers from various BJP ruled states are also expected to be roped in for the campaign.

The strategy for reach out to the masses is an attempt at weakening the hold of AAP on Delhi. With positive feedback coming after the success of the neighbourhood meetings in the past week, the BJP is now looking to increase its potential reach with polls just days away.

Till now the party had deployed 70 union ministers to hold at least one public meeting and one 'padayatra' each as part of the campaign.

Six months since the new coronavirus outbreak, the pandemic is still far from over, the World Health Organization said Monday, warning that "the worst is yet to come".

Reaching the half-year milestone just as the death toll surpassed 500,000 and the number of confirmed infections topped 10 million, the WHO said it was a moment to recommit to the fight to save lives.

"Six months ago, none of us could have imagined how our world -- and our lives -- would be thrown into turmoil by this new virus," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing.

"We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is this is not even close to being over.

"Although many countries have made some progress, globally the pandemic is actually speeding up.

"We're all in this together, and we're all in this for the long haul.

"We will need even greater stores of resilience, patience, humility and generosity in the months ahead.

"We have already lost so much -- but we cannot lose hope."

Tedros also said that the pandemic had brought out the best and worst humanity, citing acts of kindness and solidarity, but also misinformation and the politicisation of the virus.

In an atmosphere of global political division and fractures on a national level, "the worst is yet to come. I'm sorry to say that," he said.

"With this kind of environment and condition, we fear the worst."

New Delhi, Jun 16: Jet fuel or ATF price on Tuesday was hiked by 16.3 per cent while petrol price was increased by 47 paise per litre and that of diesel by a record 93 paise on the back of firming international oil rates.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by ₹5,494.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 16.3 per cent, to ₹39,069.87 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies.

This is the second straight increase in ATF price this month. Rates were hiked by a record 56.5 per cent (₹12,126.75 per kl) on June 1.

Simultaneously, petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to ₹76.73 per litre from ₹76.26, while diesel rates were increased to ₹75.19 a litre from ₹74.26, the price notification said.

In 10 hikes, petrol price has gone up by ₹5.47 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.8 a litre.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The hike in diesel rates is the highest daily increase since the state-owned fuel retailers started daily revision in rates in May 2017.

Hike for 10th consecutive day

Tuesday’s increase in petrol and diesel price marks the 10th straight day of rise in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

The freeze in rates was imposed in mid-March soon after the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up additional finances.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of fall in international oil prices.

The June 1 hike in jet fuel price had come after seven consecutive reductions in rates since February. ATF price in Delhi before the reduction cycle began in February was ₹64,323.76 per kilolitre, which got reduced to ₹21,448.62 last month.

Industry officials said the hike was necessitated because benchmark international rates have bounced back from a two-decade low.

While ATF prices are revised on 1st and 16th of every month, petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis.

Oil companies used to revise ATF prices on the first of every month, but adopted fortnightly revisions on March 21 to pass on the benefit of falling international oil prices to airlines.