LEAD

The BJP on Sunday authorised its president JP Nadda and Union minister Rajnath Singh to hold consultations with different political parties, including those in the opposition, on the president's election, in what is being seen as an outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post.

In a statement, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the two senior leaders will talk to both ruling NDA and opposition UPA constituents, besides other political parties as well as independent members.

They will soon begin holding these consultations, the party said.

Maharashtra's ruling alliance suffered a massive setback today with the BJP winning a third seat in the state in straight fight against the Shiv Sena. With this, the state's numbers in the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state are split down the middle with the BJP and the alliance winning three seats each -- an outcome that is expected to influence the coming MLC and civic elections in the state.

The BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik beat Sena's Sanjay Pawar on the sixth seat, the results of which came close to dawn on Saturday. The results showed an unexpected 10 votes in favour of the BJP. A candidate needed 41 votes for victory.

Delhi Police has booked at least 31 people, including All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, for allegedly making inflammatory remarks that allegedly promote enmity between different groups. Expelled BJP spokesperson Naveen Jindal is also named in the same FIR.

During social media monitoring, the intelligence fusion & strategic ops unit of the special cell noticed that multiple Twitter handles, Facebook profiles, TV debates and other social media handles were posting material that was allegedly spreading hate and against the "maintenance of public tranquillity".

"One such tweet was posted by Naveen Kumar Jindal from his handle '@naveenjindalbjp' which used words and language against Prophet Muhammad. These words which were used by Jindal were highly provocative and more than sufficient to incite feeling of hatred amongst people which could be detrimental to maintenance of public tranquillity (sic),” the FIR lodged by police reads.

India and Vietnam on Wednesday inked a "joint vision" document to "significantly enhance the scope and scale" of their bilateral defence ties by 2030, while also finalising a reciprocal logistics support pact to allow their militaries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

This came after extensive and "fruitful" talks between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang at Hanoi, in the backdrop of both countries being wary of China's aggressive and expansionist behaviour in Indo-Pacific region.

The close defence and security cooperation between India and Vietnam is an important factor for stability in the Indo-Pacific region, Singh said. The "wide-ranging discussions" focused on "effective and practical" initiatives to further expand bilateral engagements, with regional and global issues also figuring in the talks, the minister further stated.

In the wake of Gyanvapi mosque controversy, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind has moved the Supreme Court seeking to become a party in the PIL challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which froze the religious character of structures as it were at time of Independence in 1947.

Seeking to be impleaded as a respondent in the PIL filed by Ashwini Upadhyay challenging the provisions of 1991 Act purportedly to open gates for restoration of temples which during the Islamic Rule were purportedly converted to mosques, Jamiat through advocate Ejaz Maqbool said judicial proceedings could not be resorted to set right historical wrongs.