NEWS

Uttar Pradesh is in a political churn. That’s unsurprising because the state polls in eight months and given the political weight it almost always pulls in national politics, the stakes are exceptionally high for every political player, national as well as regional, regardless of their ground presence and strength. After all, UP contributes 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and has the country’s largest legislature with 403 elected members.

The Congress is the weakest link in a chain of national and regional parties, because entities such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and, of course, the BJP have worn it away gradually from the inside; all that is left is a shell, a protective cover of sorts. The Congress’s depletion was evident in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when Rahul Gandhi, the putative president, lost Amethi, the Gandhis’ pocket borough, to the BJP and migrated southward to Kerala.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy met Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Prakash Javadekar in Delhi on Thursday and sought the investment clearance for the second revised cost estimate of the Polavaram irrigation project, amounting to Rs 55,656.87 crore at the 2017-18 price level.

Reddy, who is on a two-day visit to the national capital, also sought shifting of the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) headquarters from Hyderabad to Rajamahendravaram at the earliest as it is difficult to travel from Hyderabad for project monitoring and inspection. The chief minister is likely to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He also called on Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar.

The Jharkhand government has cancelled the JAC Board Exam 2021 for Class 10 and Class 12 for this session in wake of the second wave of coronavirus pandemic.

"Today, in view of the circumstances arising out of Covid-19 and the demand of students and parents, I have decided to cancel the 10th and 12th examinations to be conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council in this session," Chief Minister Hemant Soren tweeted.

Several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Odisha have already cancelled the Class 10 and Class 12 board exams for 2021 in wake of the pandemic.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday met senior BJP leader and Union minister Amit Shah here, and is also likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit, sources said.

Adityanath’s visit to the national capital to meet the BJP top brass, including its president J P Nadda, comes close on the heels of the party holding a series of review meetings in Lucknow, which had fuelled speculation that there could a ministerial reshuffle in the state government.

“Met respected Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi as a courtesy and received his guidance. Heartfelt thanks to the respected home minister for his time,” the chief minister tweeted in Hindi along with a photo that shows him presenting to Shah a copy of the report ‘Solution of Migrant Crisis’.