LEAD

India on Thursday said the area where China is building a second bridge across the strategic Pangong Lake is perceived as an “occupied area”, and tensions arising from Chinese deployments since April 2020 “cannot be reconciled with a normal relationship”.
The Indian side has conveyed its expectations regarding the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to the Chinese side, including foreign minister Wang Yi, and will continue to take the matter forward in order to find a solution though talks, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

Bagchi made the remarks while responding to several questions at a weekly news briefing on the second bridge being built between the north and south banks of Pangong Lake. Bagchi indicated there was some lack of clarity on whether this was a second bridge or an expansion and widening of an existing bridge, and said the defence ministry was better placed to speak about details and implications of the structure.

Patidar leader Hardik Patel resigned from the Congress on Wednesday. He was the Gujarat Congress' working president.

In his resignation letter, Hardik Patel said the "big leaders of Congress in Gujarat are far away from issues of the state but are more focused on ensuring that chicken sandwich for leaders who have come from Delhi is delivered on time."

In the letter, he also said that despite several attempts to steer the Congress in the right direction, "the party has constantly been working against the interests of the country and society."

Amid the big push for more young faces in the Congress’s organisational hierarchy, the veterans stalled a key plan to impose an age cap for elections that could have further squeezed their political space, according to people aware of the developments.

Many of the internal reforms, including the youth quota and new panels, are likely to be implemented only after organisational elections in August-September, party leaders indicated on Tuesday. They added that some of the new proposals, including a new advisory group and youth quota in the working committee, are also likely to happen only after the organisational polls are over.

Unmoved by ally BJP’s objections, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Monday asserted that he would soon convene an all-party meeting to take a decision on conducting caste census in the state. It would not take long to begin the process, Nitish said in the presence of BJP leader and deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad.

“Zyada der nahin lagega (It will not take long). Every political party will be asked to give its opinion in the all-party meeting before taking further steps for caste census. The government will consider the suggestions before presenting the proposal before the state cabinet. I have already informed the leader of opposition, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, when he recently met me over the issue,” Nitish told mediapersons on the sidelines of a Buddha Jayanti function in Patna.

At the end of the three-day chintan shivir here, the Congress on Sunday announced a raft of organisational reform measures to bring in new and young faces to leadership levels at all levels. Buried in the Udaipur declaration adopted by the shivir was a suggestion by the youth panel that a “retirement age” should be fixed for all “elected posts” and in Parliament, assemblies and legislative councils.

All the other proposals which the party had been talking about over the past three days – one family, one ticket rule with a caveat; one person, one post; 50 per cent representation for those below 50 years of age at all levels, including the CWC and five-year term limit for those holding positions at all levels – were also announced by the party.