NEWS

Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra stand suspended until further notice after the Marathi-versus-Kannada row erupted yet again in the border areas, leading to stone-pelting and ink-smearing campaigns on both sides over the past two days. After protesters pelted stones at Maharashtra state transport buses in Kolhapur late Friday night, corporations in both states deemed the environment unsafe and withdrew their buses.

The latest round of protests is believed to have started two days ago as alleged Shiv Sena members blackened Kannada signboards at the famed Mahalakshmi temple in Kolhapur. Videos of the incident went viral, and within 24 hours, pro-Kannada outfits in Belagavi defaced Marathi signboards.

Two days after the BJP released its star campaigners' list, the Congress on Friday released its list of 30 star campaigners for West Bengal Assembly Election 2021. As per the list of the Congress,

As per the list, party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sachin Pilot, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Abhijit Mukherjee and Mohd Azharuddin are some of the prominent leaders who have been chosen as the star campaigners for the Assembly polls in West Bengal.

Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and party leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Sachin Pilot, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Abhijit Mukherjee and Mohd Azharuddin are some of the prominent leaders.

The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Sunday announced its election manifesto that was filled with the usual freebies. Among the over 160 announcements, the biggest surprise from the EPS-OPS-led party came on the issue of the Citizenship amendment laws.

The AIADMK said it would make every effort to ask the central government to withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that had seen a mass protest, especially among Muslims, across the country before the coronavirus spread. However, the AIADMK had voted in support of the law in the Rajya Sabha three years ago.

The announcement is being seen as an outreach to the minority community ahead of the April 6 Assembly election. The ruling party, headed by Edappadi Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, also promised to subsidise expenses of pilgrims on Haj and to Jerusalem.

After the fiasco of the postponement of the state civil service prelim exam and the outrage of the aspirants, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar admitted that the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) handled the situation poorly and expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the candidates.

He also said that there should be no more politics on this issue and students should focus on the study as the new exam date has been declared.

“In my opinion, the MPSC handled this issue poorly. The commission should have handled this situation more appropriately, however, the CM has clarified, and a new date of the prelim exam has been declared. Whatever happened was unfortunate, students should not have felt a need to come out on the roads. Yesterday’s decision caused students to suffer. As the deputy chief minister of the state, I regret the inconvenience caused to the students,” Ajit Pawar said while talking to the reporters at Council hall in Pune.