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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday described the RSS-BJP combine as «poison» that has «destroyed» the country, and called on all opposition parties to unite to defeat the ruling party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This election is to save democracy, the country and the Constitution, he said at 'Loktantra Bachao' rally of the opposition INDIA bloc at the Ramlila Maidan here. The rally seeks to highlight the «threat to democracy» after the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. The wives of both Kejriwal and Soren were also present at the rally and addressed it. «We need to unite and only then will we be able to fight the BJP. We won't succeed if we keep attacking and fighting each other,» Kharge said.

Bharat Ratna upon Shri LK Advani Ji. This honour is a recognition of his enduring contributions to our nation's progress.

Mallikarjun Kharge jibbed “elections are the trigger. Your desperation is palpable". Citing “misdeeds" of PM Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge urged the PM to stop “obsessing" over Congress.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah is holding a roadshow at Channapatna in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment, as workers of BJP and JD(S), who are fighting the polls in alliance, are not united there. Shivakumar's brother and sitting MP D K Suresh is the Congress candidate in Bangalore Rural, while the BJP has fielded noted cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath, who is the son-in-law of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, on its ticket. Shah will kick off his campaign in Karnataka on April 2. He is scheduled to hold a roadshow at Channapatna in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment. «Why they have selected Channapatna is because BJP and JD(S) are not united there, their workers are not united there. BJP and JD(S) workers who have fought each other day in and out, and even during local body polls, are not working together. So, Amit Shah is starting his campaign from there,» Shivakumar said.

BJP allegedly clashed over the selection of Bharat Sutariya as the candidate from Amreli Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat after a meeting organised here to resolve the issue of differences between them over his nomination. The incident took place on Saturday night after the meeting was organised here under the leadership of former state cabinet minister and BJP's cluster in-charge for Amreli Bhupendra Chudasama, as per some party members. No police complaint has been filed so far in connection with the incident. Chudasama said there was no discontent and that Sutariya will remain the BJP's candidate from Amreli.

Modi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday claimed that his guarantee is like Chinese goods and is only meant for polls, as he urged people not to fall for the BJP's «propaganda» in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the INDIA bloc rally at the Ramlila maidan in Delhi, Yadav alleged that an «undeclared emergency» was prevailing in the country and asserted that the opposition will not let the RSS agenda to be implemented in the country. Yadav also sang lines from a Govinda-starrer movie with a play on the lyrics «tum toh dhokebaaz ho, vaada karke bhool jaate ho», to allege that Prime Minister Modi did not fulfil his promises made in the last election. The former Bihar deputy CM charged that the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and IT department are cells of the BJP.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on November 20th 2023 to take in the results of Argentina’s presidential election. On November 19th Argentina elected Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist", to be its next president. He defeated Sergio Massa, the economy minister in the current Peronist government. Mr Milei owes his victory to the troubled background against which the election took place.

BRS in Telangana suffered another jolt as its sitting MLA and former minister Kadiam Srihari and his daughter Kadiam Kavya on Sunday joined the Congress party in the presence of Chief Minister and TPCC president A Revanth Reddy. Congress leaders have earlier invited Srihari to join the party. For various reasons, people are moving away from BRS. So, to serve the people and to do something for the constituency, he will take a call (on joining the Congress party), Srihari had said. Kavya, who was BRS candidate from Warangal, also announced her decision to opt out citing recent allegations of corruption and phone tapping against the previous K Chandrasekhar Rao-led regime.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said the BJP is «worried» about losing power as he attacked the ruling party for «misusing» probe agencies to target the opposition. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said that the BJP is being "criticised" across the world for the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Yadav, who arrived in the city for the INDIA Bloc rally at Ramlila ground, told reporters at the airport, the «BJP is worried that it is going (out of power). While we (opposition leaders) are coming to Delhi today, the PM is going out of Delhi. This shows who is going out (of power)». He was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Meerut later in the day.

BJP leader LK Advani. President Murmu paid a visit to senior BJP leader LK Advani's residence and conferred him with the prestigious award. This was decided in view of the ailing health of the veteran BJP leader Advani.

₹1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17, the party said. With this, the total notice for assessment years 1994-95 and 2017-18 to 2020-21 now stands at ₹3,567 crore. The fresh notices were issued on Friday evening after the Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being indulged in tax terrorism to financially cripple opposition parties ahead of Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to take place in seven phases beginning from April 19.

BJP in Arunachal Pradesh has won as many as 10 assembly seats unopposed. BJP claimed that it will win all the 60 seats. There were celebrations in Itanagar where BJP supporters burst crackers. Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein won unopposed from Chowkham constituency while Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu also won unopposed to the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Dasanglu Pul was elected unopposed from the Hayuliang Assembly Constituency. Dasanglu Pul's nomination went uncontested following the withdrawal of her sole opponent, Bafutso Krong of the Congress party. She is wife of former chief minister Kalikho Pul.

Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of maintaining a «studious silence» on key issues affecting the people of Uttar Pradesh, as it alleged that he has «failed» women, farmers and youth. Ahead of the prime minister's rally in Meerut, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions for him on behalf of the people of Uttar Pradesh. To avoid having to come clean on his real intentions, he has maintained a «studious silence» on these key issues so far, Ramesh said and went on to list the issues which he claimed the people of Uttar Pradesh are hoping to hear from the PM on. «Publicly, PM Modi loves talking about women's empowerment and 'Nari Shakti' but he has repeatedly failed Indian women, even within his own party. Just two weeks ago, the BJP Mahila Morcha's National Vice President quit the party, citing that female party workers were being 'insulted' and 'treated harshly',» Ramesh said.

Joe Biden is facing criticism from Donald Trump's campaign and religious conservatives for proclaiming March 31 — which corresponds with Easter Sunday this year — as "Transgender Day of Visibility". The Democratic president issued the proclamation on Friday, calling on «all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity». But in 2024, the March 31 designation overlaps with Easter, one of Christianity's holiest celebrations. Trump's campaign accused Biden, a Roman Catholic, of being insensitive to religion, and fellow Republicans piled on.

Mohamed Muizzu took over as the Maldives President, he has offered China many opportunities to invest in the island nation. Here's in 10 points how China has been helping Maldives in the past few months: Earlier in March, China signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives. As part of the deal, China would provide Maldives with free military assistance to foster "stronger" bilateral ties.

The ruling party in power, BJP, are on the defensive with the Kshatriya Community against Union Minister Parshottam Rupala for comments against kings at an event organised by the Valmiki community on March 22. The minister remarked that the kings had bowed before the foriegn tormentors and retained relationships with them, unlike the lower castes. Despite Rupala apologising on many occasions, the controversy has erupting further in the state. To control the agrevating situation, Gujarat BJP President CR Patil had rushed to Rajkot, while Congress turncoat and former MLA from Gondal Jayrajsinh Jadeja held a conciliatory meeting of the community at his house in Gondal on Friday. Eating a humble pie, Rupala went on to reiterate his apology with “folded hands” and said that while he does not remember withdrawing any of his comment in his entire life, this time his party (BJP) has come under criticism because of him. However, his gesture or the party manoeuvre did precious little to douse the anger of the community. Karni Sena Chief of the state, Raj Shekhawat, on Saturday resigned from BJP’s primary membership calling the meeting at Gondal a BJP sponsored move.

The Environmental Protection Agency has set strict emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses and other large vehicles

Lok Sabha polls, Chief Electoral Officer, Satyabrata Sahoo announced here on Saturday. With the last date for withdrawal of candidature ending on Saturday, the CEO said 950 candidates, 874 men and 76 women, are in the fray. On the last date (March 30) for withdrawal of candidatures, 135 aspirants withdrew their nomination papers. On March 28, the day of scrutiny of nominations, a total of 1,085 nominations were found to be valid. Nagapattinam constituency in the Cauvery delta region has nine candidates, the least and Karur segment in western region, 54 candidates, the highest.

Engineers in Maryland are focused on the daunting task of removing what had been the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River

Ajit Pawar, from Baramati Lok Sabha seat, pitting her against sister-in-law and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule from the home turf of Pawars. In her first reaction, Sunetra Pawar said this was a lucky day for her. The announcement of her candidature was made by Maharashtra NCP unit president Sunil Tatkare, hours after the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) declared its first list of five candidates for Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra. The NCP(SP) retained Supriya Sule from Baramati and fielded Nilesh Lanke, who switched sides from the Ajit Pawar camp, from the Ahmednagar constituency.

Congress leader Mukul Wasnik on Saturday said his party will win more than 10 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat. All 26 seats in the state were won by the BJP in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. Wasnik, who is the Congress' general secretary in charge of the state, said names of all candidates will be announced soon. The Congress is fighting on 24 Lok Sabha seats and has announced names of 17 candidates so far. It has given two seats, Bhavnagar and Bharuch, to the Aam Aadmi Party as part of an alliance.